Market Yourself : 5 Basic Ways

Five Basic Ways To Market Yourself This Week
I have numbered and priced them, so they will be easier to comment/share about. Feel free to submit your own marketing ideas as well!

Note: Average cost based on hiring a good designer and using a quality printer for a print run of 1,000 pieces.

1. Business Cards
Whether you love them, hate them or are simply indifferent, you can’t discount how much business those little 3.5 x 2 inch cards can bring you. But are you aware of all the many things you can do with them? The standard image that comes to mind is passing them out at a networking event while chatting with interested prospects, but don’t stop there! You can include them in correspondence (this includes statements, invoices, thank you cards, etc), leave them at your favorite café/restaurant, have friends/vendors pass them out for you, leave them with tip/payments, throw a party and tie them to helium balloons all around the room, get magnet versions and pass those out, throw a bizcard party, and so much more. Be creative!
COST: $350 design, $250 print.

2. Postcards
Some people would prefer you to believe that -- with the internet as the “new” rage -- printed media and direct mail are dead. Never! With more and more companies turning to the world wide web, print is even better than ever due to the market becoming less saturated as companies try to save costs by choosing to advertise online. Now, I don’t want you to market en masse. I want you to be selective. Break out your contact list and send postcards that are tailored to keeping your current clients, prospects and vendors interested in you (preferably contacts that you’ve spoken with in the last 6 – 12 months). This will surely get you some business you didn’t know you could get.
COST: $450 design, $450 print.

3. Newsletter / eNews
Marketing to your current clients is the easiest way to get additional business. You’ve already earned their trust. They like you. They’ve already given you money and they are very likely to do it again. A good way to remind them that they need you and that you are available is to send them a great newsletter filled with your latest work, achievements, promotions and some cool tips/tricks/faqs/news that your clients would like enough to read your newsletter, because it can’t ALL be about you. =)
COST: $250 design, $40 per month to send.

4. Link Share
If you read a lot of blogs, you probably have some favorites that are just fantastic and gain a lot of readership – why not see if you can share some traffic with them? Write some articles and ask the blog owner(s), if they are interested in cross-promoting. Some bloggers LOVE to share the wealth of readers, some want it all to themselves. It doesn’t hurt to ask. The worst that can happen is that they either ignore you or say no. Either way, their loss!
COST: $0

5. Themed Promotionals
Do you have a theme to your business? Can you find a way to exploit and promote it? Let’s say you have a dance studio: you could get a gift certificate to a popular dance shoe supplier and hold a raffle for all members that sign up in a certain month or quarter. Maybe you are an architect and you want to drive traffic to your website: you could hire a web developer to build an interactive game that allowed prospects to create their dream home (obviously a rough version) and then be invited to meet with you to see it through. How about if you are a business coach who wants to promote their workshops: you could create a small booklet styled brochure of the top reasons why someone needs a coach that includes a free 30 minute session to test out your services or maybe include some sort of tool that most people need to get through their day ($10 Starbucks card, a nice ballpoint pen, $10 gas card, etc). You will be remembered and TALKED ABOUT for sure!
COST: Depends on what you choose to do. =)