Sometimes marketing is an expense and sometimes it is an investment – depending on if it is working or not. But abandoning your marketing plan when cash is tight should never be an option!
First, let’s understand what marketing is. Marketing is everything you do that creates value in the customers mind so that they are enticed to meet with you. Marketing gives you the chance to sell.
Selling is when you convince the prospect that you can be trusted to deliver what your marketing efforts promised.
Based on these definitions, marketing must happen even if you are totally broke. How else will prospects learn about you, be willing to meet with you, and, most importantly, be excited to meet with you? The following are four things that can be done even if you are cash poor:
- Create new products and sell them to your current customers.
- Form strategic partnerships with companies that deal with your prospects. Get creative and remember to make it a win-win for both parties.
- Create and work a referral program that gets your customer to refer their friends.
- Learn more by buying Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson and The Referral Engine by John Jantsch. Both of these will provide you with tons of low-cost marketing ideas.
Thank you for your continued support and let's make this year our most profitable year ever!