The $1000 Startup Marketing Budget

Is it really possible to effectively market a business by spending around $1000 per year?  Yes.  Use a blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and email marketing outreach and you've got the ingredients for a real marketing plan.  This won't, of course, allow you to sponsor a PGA tournament but it will allow you to target your customers, project your expertise, and methodically reach your market over time.

What about events?  Save your dough.  If you are recognized as a subject matter expert you will be invited to speak.  This is a much better use of your time anyway as most conferences corral the exhibitors into another room and try to force interaction by positioning food or booze nearby.

This creates a dynamic where attendees avoid eye contact, move quickly, and retreat to safer areas with their food or drink.  It is much better to be on the attendee side of things versus standing helplessly in your pen waiting for anyone to come to you and want more than the logo golf balls you have on the table.  But I digress..

Here's your working budget.  It does not factor in your time, travel or infrastructure, so my number is more a marketing spend number than fully loaded.

• Blogging service - $5-20 per month (Typepad or Wordpress); don't use a free service - you're not that cheap.
• Twitter - no charge
• Facebook page - no charge
• Linkedin group - no charge
• Email marketing service (like Vertical Response, Constant Contact, or Emma) - you can send ~10k emails for around a hundred bucks with reporting, unsubscribe monitoring, and list management.
  
• Survey - ask your targets/users questions and learn more about them.  SurveyMonkey is free at its basic level and most email marketing services also have survey capabilities.

No print ads, no adwords, no phone calls, no list purchases, no Super Bowl ads.  Why?  You don't need them to get the word out.

Sit down and make a list of all the on-line influencers that cover your space or that your target customers pay attention to.  See what they are writing about, comment (intelligently) on their stories and posts, link back to them often, and expand upon what they are saying with your own expertise.  If you know what you are talking about, people will find you.  They will then reference you, link to you, or even interview you. 

Collect email addresses on your website and add all these people to an email nurture program.  DO NOT SPAM THEM.  People hate email so sending something useful and meaningful about every 6-8 weeks is about the right interval.  Always point to where you can be found - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, your blog, etc. and share stories about your users, their success, and your expertise on the problem/problems you solve.

Comments

[Grant]

Thanks.

This was a nice and concise post on marketing - I was looking for information about marketing with something other than buying lists and then blasting them with emails.

[thom singer]

All good advice. I am not a fan of sponsoring other people's events, as having your banner on the wall is not that compelling.

The one area that is worth spending the money is hosting your own events. When you host the informative breakfast panel and bring in other speakers (not just someone from your company!), it does get you the attention that you don't get in sponoring others events.

Also, hosting an intimate dinner with about 7 VIP's at a local steakhouse is sometimes another useful expenditure, if you can attract the right mix of attendees. It is not to sell or showcase, but instead an open discussion on an industry topic where all can network and share. As the host, you will create some good bonds.

But you are right on about utilizing other methods that are free and cheap to get the word out!