Marketing on the Cheap in
2002
NoSpin Debunker
#36: January 21, 2002
You can also see this week’s debunker online at the NashvillePost.com, and read the last two as well: New Year's Marketing Resolutions for CEO's and New Year's Resolutions for Marketers. Click here to take the new (5 second) NoSpin Poll of the Week: Use of Marketing Contractors.
The good news for your business is that it’s a buyer’s market. Online and offline media vehicles from print to radio, TV, billboards, trade shows, etc. need to sell their open slots. Advertising, PR, graphics design, web design and other marketing firms need work. It’s a great time to find quality help AND get lower cost deals. But don’t you get what you pay for? Not necessarily. If you’re a good shopper and negotiator, you can get a lot more from your money this year.
If you’re not overly thrilled with the results that your large advertising and PR firm is getting, contract for lower cost expertise from multiple small firms or independents: you can get the same or higher quality work, faster, and cheaper (without all the overhead) if you choose good ones. Check their work and references. It just takes a little extra work to find them and then manage/coordinate the pieces.
Know what you want from your marketing contractors. Sounds trite? Unfortunately many companies blow a lot of dough by not being specific about what they want from their contractor(s); they overspend and are then disappointed with the results. If you use any outside help for creative, PR and media placement, graphics design, web design, etc., have a clear idea what you want from them and manage the process.
If you do use larger marketing firms, contract on a flat rate (vs. hourly rate) basis and/or put them at some financial risk. Let them put your money and their sweat where their mouth is: results in concrete measurable business increases: lower up front fees and/or penalties if they don’t produce and higher fees if they do. If they do great, don’t sweat paying them top dollar.
Think out-of-the-box when buying ad space online and offline. Negotiate and always be willing to walk away—you’ve got a lot of marketing vehicles to choose from. A good tactic is, “I’ve got x $ for to spend for the next 3-6 months, and I’m going to spend it with you or someone else. I need e.g. a bigger ad, more frequency, etc.” Heck, if you’re a “content” company, you might even consider bartering for ad space.
Cut deals but don’t necessarily commit to long-term arrangements or specific schedules. Keep your flexibility because you might want to go in another direction--quickly. Sure, you might get better rates for a year, but unless you are positive that a vehicle is going to work for you, try shorter time frames like 3 or 6 months.
Shop around for quality contractors versus continuing to add people to your own marketing department. You’ll get higher quality work at less cost (use on as needed basis only, no benefits or other overhead).
Even if your web site and online marketing isn’t the central focus of your marketing efforts, upgrade what you do now—and do it less expensively.
The Internet is a good way to find smaller marketing firms in your area e.g. via the Chamber of Commerce (e.g. http://www.nashvillechamber.com/) or online/print business media outlets in Nashville or your market—or do http://www.google.com/ search. Of course, you don’t have to find someone in town anymore. You can even bid out work at brokers such as http://www.guru.com/ and http://www.prosavvy.com/. With a little time and effort, you can find excellent marketing contractors.
If you are paying any more than $20-50/per month for basic hosting AND maintenance on your web site (and don’t have a huge database-driven site), you’re probably getting ripped off. Change hosting firms (there are tons of them, and they are definitely commodities). Typically, there is NO overwhelming reason to have your web site hosting company in town. Also, learn the basics of a web design software tool like Dreamweaver or Frontpage to be able to make your own web site updates, internally--in the Marketing department. No more outside “webmaster” fees.
If you have a very basic informational web site (and that’s all you want) and are overpaying for hosting and web site maintenance work, consider moving to a low cost, easy-to-maintain “template” site to cut costs and get better/easier control of your content—without having to learn any web site software. There are good options out there. Take a look at http://www.dillonfranks.com/--all you need to know is Microsoft Word to build and maintain a simple, solid site.
If you haven’t done much with your web site for a year or two (and it makes you gag), focus your investment on a plan for your web site and content—before you get into any new design. Then shop for a designer—web site design costs vary wildly and are dropping fast this year. Supply and demand.
Upgrade your web site print capabilities. Cut out some of your expensive 4- color print brochure stuff, product information, and other print information that gets easily dated. Instead focus your efforts on better content delivered via your web site, e.g. in downloadable PDF files. Put your best content on your web site and email it! You’ll save mailing costs, too.
Use online marketing firms and/or purchase online tools (almost all will now license tools on a monthly basis) to help with email, fax, print and other marketing campaigns, and even PR and media placement. There are an increasing numbers of low cost tools and service providers to help you. Here are a few to check out: http://www.constantcontact.com/, http://www.mailnetexpress.com/, http://www.logicmediagroup.com/.
Make it a lot easier for search engines to find your web site by focusing on “key words” in the <<title>> tags on all of your web pages, and put key words in your content. Do an analysis of key of words at http://www.overture.com/. Don’t just submit your url to a zillion search engines—it’s a waste. Focus only on the biggies (http://www.google.com/, http://www.dmoz.org/, http://www.yahoo.com/, http://www.looksmart.com/, http://www.inktomisubmit.com/, http://www.hotbot.com/, http://www.lycos.com/, http://www.northernlight.com/, http://www.altavista.com/, and http://www.alltheweb.com/ ). Check to see if you’re already listed, and if you’re not, submit the correct way (this can be screwed up if you aren’t careful): Contact me if you have questions.
If you have a niche business and niche product(s) or service)s) that you are selling online, consider bidding for and buying “key words” at http://www.overture.com/ ; it can be relatively inexpensive for actual click-throughs to your web site.
There’s no substitute for the selling closing a sale in person, but cut your travel costs by conducting online demos and meetings (see http://www.webex.com/ , http://www.placeware.com/ , etc.) and save that plane ticket until deeper into the sales process. And if you have a number of remote offices and/or do a lot of ongoing demo and meeting work with staff, customers and clients, videoconferencing is almost a no-brainer anymore.
Before you get into any pricey CRM “solution,” for managing customer and sales contacts, make sure that you’re doing the blocking and tackling of capturing and organizing basic contact information (at tradeshows, all prospect meetings, networking functions, etc). Buy a Cardscan at http://www.cardscan.com/ and create a contact list that you can share in Excel or Access via your Intranet. Then, graduate to another product(s) if you need more horsepower.
Let me know if you have other ideas for marketing on the cheap in 2002. Talk to you in 2 weeks—NoSpin Debunkers is now going biweekly (twice a month).