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Small business owners are bombarded by opportunities to advertise. Some articles suggested spending 3% of revenue while others suggest you should spend as much as 6%. Radio, newspaper, sponsorships, shopping carts and bus benches, direct email, email, bag stuffers, silent auction donations, referral programs – there are plenty of ways to spend, but knowing which dollars have been spent in vain and which have brought in new customers and reminded current customers to come back in is a difficult challenge.
When I owned my retail store, spending 3% meant I had a little over $10,000 to work with. In your business, that might be $200 or $2,000 or $20,000 or more. But a bigger budget doesn’t necessarily mean your advertising will be more effective than the advertising spend of someone with just $200 to invest.
In fact, my biggest advertising flop was my most expensive. I wasted $2,500 on an ad campaign with a new local radio station. They handed out 10,000 bumper stickers with an entry on the back for a $500 gift card to my store. Customers had to bring in the ballot to enter the draw, so we’d be able to track how effective the promotion was, and how many new customers we saw. We had seven entries. Ouch!
When I started my business, it was on a shoestring. I had very little idea what my revenues would be, so my budget for advertising was miniscule. I picked up a copy of Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson () and highly recommend it to small business owners, regardless of your budget.
Using the book as a guide, I brainstormed ways I could get the word out about my business, without spending a cent. Here are some super low budget ideas that worked for me and other mompreneurs I know:
- Find some community baby/kid sales and see if the organizer will allow you to hand out bags or flyers to shoppers on their way in. It is cheaper than booking a table and will allow you a chance to connect personally with every single potential customer.
- Partner with companies who have similar customer bases (but not competing products or services) and share their sales and promotions in return for their sharing yours.
- Offer to guest blog tips and tricks related to your business (like I’m doing here!).
- Send regular press releases to local media on timely news and tie it in to your business.
- Host a Cutest Kid/Most Adorable Pet/Ugliest Sofa contest to draw fans to your Facebook page or into your business location. Have a panel of judges choose the winner, but offer a Fan’s Choice prize as well.
The old adage that you need to spend money to make money is true, but how much to spend drawing in old customers and finding new ones is entirely up to you. Make every dollar count, and you’ll have more of them in your pocket at the end of the day.
Sarah Deveau of Calgary, Alberta has written two financial guides, Sink or Swim: Get Your Degree Without Drowning in Debt (2003) and Money Smart Mom: Financially Fit Parenting (2010). She has owned a children’s consignment store with annual revenue topping $400k, and currently works from home around her three children. Sarah writes for a number of publications including the Calgary Herald and Today’s Parent magazine, and is a leader in direct sales company Stella & Dot, with more than 80 Stylists on her team.