A Dozen Low/No Cost Marketing Ideas

• Develop your point of differentiation, i.e. what you offer that is different from your competition and write it down. Use it as a basis of all your marketing efforts.
• Ask your satisfied customers for a referral of someone else you could similarly help. Ask permission from your customer to use their name when you contact the referrals. Then write a letter to each referral and follow up with a phone call a week later. If the referral becomes a customer, send a thank you note or small gift of appreciation to the customer who provided the referral.
• Use your phone to market! Call customers to keep in touch, offer help or just say hello. Use the phone to follow up after completing a job for a customer.
• Prepare a direct mailing using a personal letter detailing a service or product you have to offer. Include a personal line or two in each letter (preferably in your own handwriting).
• Prepare a short press release about your business or latest customer and send it to local papers.
• Seek out opportunities to speak in public about your area of expertise.
• Use technology to contact customers. E-mail, fax, web site.
• Let your business card tell your story. Print a list of products or services on the back of your card.
• Make networking the center of your marketing efforts. Join and participate actively in an organization where you feel comfortable.
• Make customer service an intentional activity. Devote at least ½ hour a day to contacting and thanking customers.
• Develop a one-page newsletter and regularly mail it to your best clients and prospects.
• Carry blank, stamped postcards ready to write and mail to customers anywhere you are.

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