Page 26 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

GETTING STARTED

marketing budget of hundreds of thousands of dollars to
produce results. There are thousands of small businesses
that have advertised very smartly for very little financial
outlay.

Look realistically at what you can afford on a weekly
basis, set this money aside and assess your marketing
options. Try not to be stressed about the amount of money
that you have available—spend the time and energy decid-
ing what to do with it.

Don’t be afraid of telling people what your budget is,
especially if they are trying to sell you some form of
advertising. Tell them what you can afford and ask them
what they can do to promote your business with this
amount of money. Every deal is negotiable. If they want
your business badly enough they will offer you an incentive
to do business with them.

Another point that is worth mentioning is that spend-
ing any money on marketing is a waste of time if you can’t
give your customers what they want and, more importantly,
what they expect. I always ask business operators to look
long and hard at their business before they start marketing
to make sure that they can meet these expectations. After
all, what is the point of spending money on getting new
customers only to have them come to your business once
and then leave in disgust.

I remember recently a themed restaurant opened up.
They had fantastic pre-opening marketing and there was
a very real air of anticipation that the place was going to
be very good. When it finally did open the food was lousy
and the theming ordinary so people didn’t go back. I expect
this business to close its doors in the near future. They sold
people the promise of a fun experience but they couldn’t
come up with the goods.

This book suggests many free and low-cost ideas that
will bring you business. First of all make sure that your

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