Cheap (free) marketing for startup ?

iMax

Guys,

Could do with some advice here, I have very little money to do advertising as I'm in extreme startup., Could anyone offer ideas for marketing that cost almost nothing ?

Thanks

f.daly

HiMax

There's a lot of free advertising sites which allow people to promote businesses. Gumtree.ie, Adoos.ie, mytown.ie and of course adverts.ie are a good start. There's a ton of them out there and the more sites you're on the better for your websites Google rankings, so don't rule out the small, regional classified ads sites.

Hope this helps. :pac:

premier10

Agree also.

Also, don't rule out local newspapers, i know if you do bargain a far bit with some of them you can get a relatively decent rate.

You could also usse facebook, am not too au fait with it but apparently it's great to connect with friends and friends of friends.

Good luck anyway

krd

What is your market and who are you selling to.

Mass Market is expensive - but if you're selling a business service to a small number of businesses - say all the hairdressers in North Dublin - then get the phone book and phone them or even walk round to them. You may even find something they all need - but they don't have.

Something people may not realise -- and may not do until they have their business up and running - if you can identify your market - get the names and phone numbers - call them. If your market is only a few hundred people - it only takes a few weeks to make a few hundred phone calls.

If your customer base is less than 100 or 50 businesses then find out everything you can about them. It absolutely depends on what you're selling.

What are you selling?

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Allocate your marketing budget as a percentage of a given sale. Micro test every idea before committing much resources to it.

For example if your business is selling a Jumper for €100 and the cost is €50 (no vat in this example) work out your over heads (€10) and then allocate a Percentage of the profits to your advertising. So if profits are €40 in this example you might decide to spend €20 of each sale on acquiring that sale.

If running a small ad in a niche magazine costs 200 euro (called the micro-test capital - pay by credit card and you have 30 days to get results before parting with the cash) and it returns 10 sales than this is a successful form of marketing, you then repeat with other magazines or try a big ad in the next issue to test those results. If it works in a small niche mag then slowly build up to the higher readership magazines etc.

Second thing to do is go back to customers who have already bought from you and ask them we're they happy with your product. Depending on your business you can then either try to sell them related products or ask for referrals for people who they know who might benefit form your service / product. So if they bought a jumper ask them do they need a christmas jumper for the upcoming holiday. If your a real estate agent ask them do they know anyone else trying to sell their homes who could benefit from your assistance.

Best of luck with the project iMax

OctavarIan

Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth. All three cost nothing and are well enough to get you up and running if you know how to use them.

Also on your site you might want to explain your service. I actually thought it was a new brand of bubblegum until I checked out the twitter page.

chillywilly

writing a press release on the launch of your business or a promotion you are doing and send it to different newspaper journalists/reporters and ask them to do a write up on your company. They will more than likely do it if you have something half interesting to say. It's a good way of getting in the paper without spending a penny.

TerryGorry

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, SlideShare and other Web 2.0 and social bookmarking sites can provide a good source of free advertising.

But you will need to know what you are doing which will take a little time to learn. It is free though and it is powerful.

For example, you can make a video and upload it to YouTube and then upload it to a crap load of other video sharing sites all for free.

This is how you do it for free:
1. Download OpenOffice and create a simple slide show
2. Download CamStudio screen capture/video making software and make your video
3. Upload it to YouTube
4. Then go to TubeMogul.com, sign up and they will automatically upload it to a load of video sites
5. Promoting your video and backlinking may see it ranking very well on Google which will give you free traffic to a FREE site you can set up on any number of sites such as Blogger,Wordpress,TypePad etc.
6. None of the above will cost you a cent.
7. Rinse and repeat
8. Good luck

Terry

byrne0f56789

Great advice so far.

Make sure you monitor which channels are generating the best results then focus more on them.

You need to put a good bit of work into it.

Start a blog and write good articles. Put together some free ebooks and videos that will get people to link to them.

You won't see results overnight but over time if you keep at it you will.

When you make a bit of cash invest this in search engine ads. These should pay for themselves if you spend time testing and measuring.

Also, don't be afraid to make a few calls to people you know well or may have met before at a meeting.

Ask them if they know anyone who could use your product and service.

iMax

...And after a couple of setbacks, I'm back to this. Hoping to launch in three or four weeks so any advice or tips on how to get "out there" for the least cost possible would be gratefully appreciated.

What do people think of "Old School" techniques like leaflets on car windscreens & through letterboxes etc

flash harry

maybe if you tell us is this a B2C or B2B or online or service or....it will help with ideas

iMax

My bad Flash Harry. It's going to be B2C, online only.

gavney1

iMax wrote: »

Guys,

Could do with some advice here, I have very little money to do advertising as I'm in extreme startup., Could anyone offer ideas for marketing that cost almost nothing ?

Thanks

boards.ie?

rolion

Sorry for the Q but i had to do it...
How is the Facebook and Twitter going to promote my business,let's say B2B !?

tia

deman

I've been using Facebook to promote my business and it's working very well. Set up a page, add info, add pictures, and promote away. I've even gone for the paid advertising on Fb. I've set the limit to 5 euro per day so it's not costing a lot but reaching almost 200,000 impressions.

iMax

Love to hear more about your FB campaign deman. your 200,000 impressions are they Irish or international & what's the return been on them (people clicking like) ?

Kinetic^

I offer B2C & B2B services. I use my social media mainly for B2C as my B2B is mostly word of mouth.

Twitter - ok, needs time to invested in it and not really relevant to my area. Not that big a fan of it tbh.
Facebook - I get work from it, more so from old friends/colleagues rather than through my facebook page so posting the odd thing about your job in your personal timeline can be just as effective.
Linkedin - nothing really yet but it's good to send an invite to someone after you've met them to say "nice to meet you" etc etc.
Blog - works ok for SEO, I need more content though and will be working on a plan for that over the coming weeks.
Local listings - good for seo, never really got anything out of them. I was given a weeks trial on a couple of them and was upped to No. 1 but didn't get a call from any of them.
Leaflets - got 10000 cheap enough (€200 from www.onlineprinters.com) and delivered ~2000 myself when I started up as I'd plenty of time. Got a small direct return but seeing word of mouth kicking back from these now as well.
Google adwords - Is now cheap for me now that I have a grasp on what I'm doing with it. I spend about €10 per week and get a return of anything from 10-50 times that initially, word of mouth has come back from that too.
Networking events - check linkedin for free events. It may not suit every business but you'd be surprised at the type of business people you will meet at them. It's good to get out and meet other people in your shoes and it can kind of be motivating. If you're nervous about attending, you can be sure others are too so just go for it.
Youtube - not something I currently do but I can see myself offering videos on my blog in the next 12-18 months.



Books - Read, read and read - nobody else is going to tell you when to change your marketing plan or how to manage your time etc etc. Not necessarily talking about "how to be successful in business" brain drains, read successful entrepreneurs books and see what they did.


If you're working for yourself, part of marketing your business is marketing yourself. I was at a networking event recently were someone had a presentation to go through - person had an unbuttoned shirt, really loose tie, shirt sleeves rolled up.... it looks bad. Basic etiquette goes a very long way. Shake hands with people you meet, give them your full attention when they're talking to you.