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More and more small business owners are finding ways to cut costs.  However, there are areas in your business that you can’t afford not to spend money on such as Marketing.  There are ways to get the word out about your business that won’t cost you an arm and a leg.  If you have a tiny marketing budget, you can try the following examples.  I’m pretty sure there are other entrepreneurs that may find a few marketing ideas to try as well.

Word-of-mouth advertising and referrals cost nothing yet very powerful. There are a couple of ways to go about this. Contact your customers and ask them to refer a friend or a business associate. Or, you can ask each of your friends and relatives to recommend three of their friends. Then, write a letter to them introducing your services. Generally when you have customers that appreciate your service they are usually happy to help you stay in business.

Consider seasonal promotions.  Say, you own a carpet cleaning company, with the end of winter just around the corner, spring cleaning will be on most folk’s to-do list. You could design attractive flyers and drop them off at coffee shops, supermarkets, churches, gyms, car washes, laundromat — any place that has a good flow of traffic. Usually there are community bulletin boards that you can post your leaflets on; by all means take advantage of that.

You can also offer your service as a fundraiser for your favorite charity. For a designated period of time give the organization a percentage of each sale they send your way. Organizations that are involved in raising money to fight cancer have raised millions of dollars this way.

Have you considered co-op advertising? Sometimes local newspapers offer this option. If not, start co-op advertising program yourself. Invite several small businesses that complement your service or product to join in with you on an advertising campaign. For example, you could contact a window cleaning company, drapery cleaning company, maid service and maybe even a chimney sweep to join in an ad campaign aimed at building business for that coming spring-cleaning season. Once you pull the other small business owners together, sit down with an ad agent from the newspaper and work out something attractive and eye-catching.

Also talk with other small business owners to learn what they have done creatively to enhance their market share. Try out one or two things that fit well with your company. Marketing a business is all about testing, testing and re-testing to see what works. Never underestimate the power of even the simplest marketing idea. The very thing that you think to be ridiculous could be the thing that has the most impact. Sometimes the best marketing and promotion ideas can come from simple ideas.