Find My Niche:
Affordable Marketing Strategies
for Small Business

So, you're looking for affordable marketing strategies.  Well, you're in the right place.

Before we begin, I have to ask you a hard question: define "affordable."

See, for some people, affordable means less than $50.  For others, it's less of a question of cost and more of a question of return on investment. 

A long time client of mine relayed a conversation she had with a fellow Chamber of Commerce member who was bitterly complaining about the effectiveness of his marketing efforts. 

My client asked, "What is your marketing budget?" 

His response, "I just want to spend as little as possible."  

My client's reply was priceless,

"Everything sounds expensive when you don't have a budget." 

So as you begin your search for "affordable marketing strategies," let's begin by setting some realistic expectations.

First, define your budget. 

What can you AFFORD to spend on implementing an effective marketing plan.

If you're like most businesses, you don't want to spend any more than you have to in order to achieve results.  So start with a budget.  For most business owners, setting a budget as a percentage of sales is the easiest way to budget for marketing and advertising.

As for the figure to use, one fast food franchising giant required that franchisees spend 7.5% of gross sales on advertising.  If you're in the fast food biz, then use that as a guideline.  Even if you're not in the fast food biz, 5-10% is a great starting point. You get to decide if that is a percentage of net or gross. 

Once you have a budget defined, then it's time for the next step which is to:

Define your expectations.

A reality check is in order here.

It's not realistic to expect a $30 investment to yield a $3,000 return in less than 30 days. 

I know you've gotten spam email messages telling you otherwise, but remember, this is your reality check. If you were purchasing a $30 stock you wouldn't expect it's value to climb to even $300 per share over the course of 30 days. 

Advertising and marketing are INVESTMENTS!  They are investments you'll make in your business.  As investments, you expect them to deliver a return.  Just make sure your expectations are realistic about what kind of return you should expect.

I must admit that marketing professionals themselves are partially to blame for the unrealistic expectations of most business owners for their advertising and marketing.  Many information gurus will sell their e-books and services by touting their most incredible returns.  I must admit, I've done that myself as well. 

I had a client who saw a 480% increase in sales in one quarter as a result of a site redesign.  What I don't mention is what a train wreck the site was when we started or how pathetic sales were before the redesign.   Traffic was high, but response was low, so fixing the web site's many flaws and putting a professional face on the web site was all that was needed to break the log jam and allow the sales to begin flowing through the site. Had the site been "healthy" to begin with, we never would have been able to achieve such an incredible increase in sales.

So take a look at where you are now. Where can you realistically expect to be in 3 months? Six months?  A year?  

Which below describes your situation:

• Do you have lots of traffic (either virtual or actual) but aren't able to convert those visitors into customers?
  
  OR
   

• Do you have low foot traffic but you convert most of those visitors into customers?
  
  OR
   

• Are you lacking in both traffic AND conversion of that traffic into sales?

Each situation above requires a different strategy and demands a different expectation.  If you have lots of traffic but are failing to convert those leads into customers, then you may realistically be able to expect triple digit growth in your business with the proper marketing strategy. If however your traffic is low, then you need to diagnose why it's low.  Is there little interest?  Not enough demand? 

I have a client whose business offering is light years ahead of the competition.  This cutting edge company came to me expressing frustration at the lack of response to their marketing efforts.  Turns out there isn't a lot of demand for their cutting edge product.  That's natural, considering how cutting edge their product is.  The evolution of product offerings tends to follow a bell curve and my client find themselves speaking only to the "early adopters" at this point in time.  

For a recent example, take a look at the internet.  About 6 years ago, there was a real "boom" in internet stocks.  Dot coms were taking the airwaves by storm, encouraging customers to purchase everything from jewelry to dog food via the internet.  During this time frame, a new company called "Google" launched their service.  If you've ever seen the Google homepage, it's quite simple.  Way back in the early days, it was too simple.  Researchers would sit people down in front of the Google page and ask them to "search."  The study subjects would sit and stare blankly at the screen.  "Search for what?"  they would ask. 

Today, when researchers sit random folk down in front of the Google homepage and command them to "search," users jump right in and begin typing.  While it comes as little comfort to those who spent, crashed and burned during the initial dot com boom, their efforts educated a society as to how to use this new toy we call the internet.

My client's expectations are in line now.  They know the odds.  They know what they're up against.  Do you?

What's your situation?  Is your product or service in the "market maturity" phase or the "early adopter" phase?  Do you need to increase traffic?  Increase customer conversion? Both?

Now that you know where you need to go, you need to draft a plan to get there. You can read more articles on the web site about creating strategy here.

Or, if you're ready to hit the ground running, a great shortcut is to pick up a copy of Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results

Beyond the Niche takes you step by step through the sometimes confusing process of choosing a target audience or "niche" market and then developing and delivering your tightly targeted marketing message. Beyond the Niche will also show you how to create marketing messages that will break through the clutter and CONNECT with your customers.

Pick up your copy of the book here.