No Marketing Budget? No problem!
5 Marketing Tips for a $100 Budget
So you’ve got a great business
idea, and you’ve spent some time setting up a basic
website to tell the world about it. Good for you, but
the idea is only half the battle. Communicating your
idea to the masses through marketing is the key to
driving traffic to your site and generating business for
you. If you’re like many new or small businesses on
the Internet you either don’t have a big marketing
budget or you are not willing to invest too much in your
new idea until you see some results.
How do you get started? If you
don’t market your site, nobody will visit it. If
nobody visits, sales will be zero. And if sales are
zero, the idea will die. Here are 5 tips to get your
on-line venture up and running:
Start Making Headlines: Is
your new product or service an interesting one? If so, a
publisher somewhere in the world will probably agree and
will be willing to write a news article about your new
website launch. There are thousands of publications out
there, both on-line and off-line, that are looking for
news stories to pass on to their readers. If you’ve
just invented a new type of model airplane, search the
Internet to find websites that are part of the Model
Airplane hobbyist community. Prepare a small news
release or write the website editor a quick e-mail to
invite them to visit your site. If they like what they
see, they will probably feature your new idea in an
upcoming article on their website or magazine and they
will likely include your website address. Now readers of
the publication can find you online, resulting in highly
targeted free traffic for your business. COST – $0
Write your own Article: If
you can’t get anyone’s attention for your new idea,
then write your own article. Since your site is all
about model airplanes, you are an expert on the topic.
Those same publications I mentioned above who are
looking for news items are also looking for expert
opinion articles and advice for their readers. So write
a 500-word (QUALITY) article on a current issue in the model
airplane community. Then find websites that publish
articles on the topic of model airplanes and send them
your article along with a request to publish it and your
URL if they find the article useful. (At the end of your
article, type a few lines about your business, just as I
have at the bottom of this article. This is called a
resource box, and it is included with your article
whenever it is published on another website).
COST - $0
Ask for a Review : If you
don’t have a new idea, and you aren’t much of a
writer, then ask for a review of your product or service
from an established website or e-zine. Reviews are
regularly published both on-line and off-line as a way
for editors to keep their readers up to date on new
product or service offerings in their industry. By
requesting a review, you are opening the door to some
very good publicity if the review is favorable. However,
there is some risk. An unfavorable review may hurt your
reputation, and once you ask for a review you can’t
control the opinion of the editor. COST - $0
Google AdWords : To generate
fast traffic, look to Google’s “AdWords” program.
Their AdWords program allows you to quickly buy an ad
that appears on Google when certain keywords are typed
in, such as “Model Airplane”. The price of the ad is
determined by the popularity of the keyword you are
targeting. Broad terms like “Hobbies” will be more
expensive than more specific terms such as “Model
Airplanes” or “American Coin Collecting”.
The key feature of Google is the
speed with which your ad can appear online. Once you
have signed up, written your two-line ad,
and selected your keywords, you ad will start
running within minutes. You also have the option of
setting a maximum daily budget that will limit your
daily expenses. For new websites, set your daily budget
to $10.00. In the first 5 days of your ad, you should
get a good idea of what type of results you are getting
from this service. COST $50
Ezine Advertising : Ezines
are electronic magazines (hence the name “e”zine).
There are ezines for just about every topic
imaginable. Most ezines will accept advertising from
businesses just like yours. The key to ezine advertising
is that your message is being sent to a highly targeted
market. Rather than place an ad for $100 in a
publication that deals with hobbies, you could place a
$50 ad in an ezine that deals specifically with model
airplanes. By narrowing your target audience down to
only those who are most likely to be interested in your
message, you increase the potential for business as a
result of your ad. COST – up to $50
Even with a budget as low as $100,
you can make an impact on-line by using a combination of
low cost promotion and highly targeted advertising. If
one of these 5 tips pays off and results in business,
you can re-invest that revenue into further promotion
and advertising, leading to a snowball effect that
eventually will turn your $100 budget into a powerful
on-line marketing force.
