Dear Professor Bruce: Experts say small businesses shouldn't cut marketing budgets in a recession. However, I can't afford to do much marketing. Can you recommend any "champagne" marketing ideas for small businesses on a "beer" budget?
Answer: This is not the time to cut marketing and advertising, but it is time to get creative. It's well-documented that businesses that increase their marketing during a recession can actually improve market share. However, you don't have to break the bank. Combining new, lower-cost media with your traditional marketing and advertising activities can be the winning combination to reach new customers and better serve existing ones.
Bob Pearson, Dell's vice president of communities and conversations, provides some excellent tips and resources on how small and medium businesses can leverage social media to reach and grow their customer base.
Social media present a big opportunity for small businesses as the online world undergoes its most significant transformation ever. With more than 600 million online conversations a day, your customers are discussing and defining your brand with or without you. Here are five ways small businesses can leverage social media to effectively market to customers:
Learn to listen. Listening to customers, prospects and influencers is the foundation of all successful social media programs. By listening to online conversations happening in blogs, forums and social networks, you can bring the voices of your customers directly into your organization.
Join the conversation. Many people equate PR to digital PR or "digital influencer relations." While they are similar in many ways, there are some important nuances to consider. Most importantly, online conversations are much more direct and personal, requiring the highest level of transparency and candor.
Start a blog. Once you have taken the time to listen to the online conversation and build relationships with digital influencers, starting your own company blog can be a powerful channel to share information and engage key audiences in fast, honest, two-way conversations.
Crowdsource your next big idea. Crowdsourcing is the process of enabling your customers to play an active role in creating a new product or service or, in some cases, solving a business challenge. Let's face it: Your customers know what they want and need better than anyone.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/dellsocialmedia.
See www.sba.gov or www.smallbizlending.com.
(Bruce Freeman, The Small Business Professor, is president of ProLine Communications, a marketing and public relations firm in Livingston, N.J., and co-author of "Birthing the Elephant" (Ten Speed Press). E-mail questions to Bruce(at)SmallBusinessProf.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Ask the Small Business Professor
Cost Per Action
Another way to get Champagne marketing on a "beer budget" is by utilizing Cost Per Action programs. CPA means you only pay when you actually convert a client to your desired action such as a lead or a sale. You get the most for your dollar when utilizing CPA in your marketing program.
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