How to market your business on a shoestring budget

I’ve met many entrepreneurs over the years and also seen some brilliant ideas and inventions, but the one thing that everyone underestimates when they go into business is just how difficult it is to market your product – especially if you are working on a shoestring budget.

Consumers are bombarded by something like 5,000 marketing messages every single day – whether that is TV ads, eshots, billboard hoardings, special promotions in supermarkets or junk mail – and many of these are big brands with multi million pound marketing budgets, so as a small business it’s really difficult to stand out from the crowd. Here are three really simple, low cost ways to market your home business which can be hugely effective:

Use PR to the max

Gaining publicity is the fastest way to get lots of free coverage - but the secret is not in writing a brilliant Press Release, it is about daring to be different - and thus building your PR strategy into the heart of your business. For example, unknown chef Heston Blumenthal got acres of coverage for his snail porridge which attracted customers in droves to his Fat Duck restaurant; eBay was all over the news when a man put his whole life up to auction in Australia – his home, motorbike, clothes, his job and even all his friends; Skype was marketed by its customers to all their friends on the strength of the fact it’s international calls were free. Think about what you can engineer to make your business really different – whether that’s an outrageous product, and amazing service offer or something completely unusual about your business - and what will get people talking about you. 

Write a blog

The most famous example of an entrepreneur turning his business around via blogging was Thomas Mahon of www.englishcut.com whose ‘Savile Row Tailor’ blog displayed his passion and knowledge for every aspect of tailoring. As a result, Mahon’s business mushroomed – even though he does all his work from his workshop in Yorkshire and didn’t originally even have a presence on Savile Row! I could write a whole article about blogging; the keys to writing a successful blog are 1) keep it fascinating 2) vary your keyword tags to attract new viewers 3) constantly link to other sites to improve your search engine ranking and 4) stick with it – it can take months to build a following. 

Find niche markets on Google

Again, Search Engine Optimisation is an art, but the key to success on Google (as well as marketing in general) is that it’s easier to have success marketing specific products/services to tiny niche markets than to try to be all things to all people. For example, it’s easier to get to the top of the Google rankings with the specific term ‘Burberry Warrior Handbag’ than it is with ‘Designer Handbags’. Putting the search term in the name of your URL page will also put you higher in the rankings for example: designerhandbags.com/burberry_warrior_handbag People putting specific terms into Google are also far more likely to be ready to buy - and by creating a really detailed attractive webpage specifically for that target product alone with a BUY NOW button you’re far more likely to get a purchase. OK this takes far longer than creating a website which is a laundry list of all your products but the payoff is far higher. Next month I will give you three more ideas to market your home business. 

Rachel Elnaugh is the award winning entrepreneur who created the experiences company Red Letter Days. She also appeared on the first two series of BBCTV’s Dragons’ Den. She has just launched an online business coaching and training forum at www.rachelelnaugh.me aimed at inspiring, motivating and helping entrepreneurs achieve business success.