Online Marketing for the Budget Challenged

Nowadays, building a business from scratch is a gamble. It’s either you lose some and win big or lose big and win some. Nonetheless, it will still take some money from your side. Money taken, on the other hand, should be considered as an investment.

There are many people who claim they know online marketing well enough that you need not spend a dime to get rich. Truth be told, there’s no such thing. In fact, even marketing gurus spend hundreds of dollars in accumulation just to get their campaigns up and running. The difference however, lies in knowing where to put their investments and not waste anything in the process.

The simple logic behind return of investment or ROI should give you an idea if a certain investment is worth the loss. In layman’s term, the expected income should exceed the investment value. One good example is getting an internet connection for an online business that will yield double—even triple– the connection’s monthly fee. But how would you generate more dollars if you have money issues at the moment?

·    Focus your attention to your market more. Product branding is crucial but it requires people to pay while getting down and dirty with your market will bring you closer to what they really want and need. Start from your clients and study their behavior towards your product.
·    Dare to be different. Explore other venues like videos and website overhauls. Make the service easier for your clients, both potential and existing ones.
·    Targeted marketing. We need not be vague because the longer we keep on playing the game of hit and miss, the lesser our chances of landing a sale. Keeping the communication lines on a personal level will make your clients come back for more.

The Beauty of Offline Advertising

Let’s take a little break from online advertising, shall we? We all know how powerful online marketing can be and how far it can reach—not to mention how fast! Proof has it, when you spend 24 hours of your life doing nothing but solely advertising online, the fire of your efforts can still be felt, let say, for the next three days. In reality, the life of online marketing is indeed short but after the fire has died down, there will still be embers left that it can still give you leads and sales even after your retirement! That’s how effective it can be and must be the reason why most marketers prefer to go this route instead of gambling on other ways and means.

Trouble is, these busy bees have completely forgotten about the old, traditional ways which are still effective in this day and age. Old school marketing or what’s now known as offline marketing is an area that most modern marketers failed to appreciate. The best news however is that, since these big time marketers have already made the switch long time ago, the competition in this area is a little low giving you a little more space to move around. For those of you who are not too familiar with the “old school” marketing techniques, here are some to refresh your memory:

·    Print marketing—Critics aside, print marketing is still an effective way to advertise especially to those who have no access to the worldwide web. Brochures, flyers, leaflets, newspapers, and magazines—even your granny can read them!
·    Events—What better way to make your product known than making it an unforgettable event? Don’t forget to stamp your brand all over the place since it’s your event!
·    Mailing lists—Targeted mailing lists, that is. You can also do this via email although most mailing servers do block unsolicited emails. Personally, I recommend mailing lists for updates and follow-ups only and never for product launchings.