5 Easy Ways to Market Your Product in Tough Times

Let’s face it; the first budget that is usually cut in tough times is the marketing budget.  But as marketers know, it is one of the most important ways to get out messages about product and services that can actually boost sales.  Even if you are facing some budget cuts this quarter, there are simple ways that you can get a message out about your company.

1)      Find those free press release sites.  Every journalist will always go through a week where it’s crunch time and some desperate space to fill at the last moment- whether it be print or online.  Every writer in every industry knows that the best place to go is free press release sites, as it is a treasure trove of information if they need a lead to a good story.  Don’t overlook those sites-you just might get a great news story out of it.

2)      Using LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook.  Author Guy Kawasaki has made his latest book, ENCHANTMENT a best seller by his ardent (and frequent) tweets.  Using LinkedIn to send out messages to your customers is a great way to connect.  Make sure you have a company site, and have as many of your employees as you can post approved messages about your company.  You’ll be surprised how many people find out about you.  Same goes with Facebook. 

3)      Networking events.  Even for medium to larger sized companies, going to a large industry networking event, or hosting your own, have great benefits.  Someone, even it is only one person, is looking for something- a new product, service or staff.  That could be the place where you start a beautiful friendship.

4)      Hosting a focus group. Taking your best customers and turning them into brand ambassadors for the price of lunch once a month is a steal.  Loyal customers always want to talk about your company to others and recommend it.  Let them.  Ask them questions to get a better insight about your products or services.  In turn, give them some guided statements that they can post on their webpages or discussion points if they are out networking.  People love hearing about good products and services from other people.  Recommendation works quite well for a little company called Apple.

5)      Promotions.  Try to work out something with sales for a promotion and advertise it on your website. Tell people about it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.  But make sure the offer is only on the website.  See how website traffic increases and how many people are talking about your company.  Fast-food places constantly have this problem. They will offer a coupon only on their website to have servers crash. That’s a good thing (well, sort of).

While having a reduced marketing budget isn’t ideal, there are still ways to use what you have to increase awareness. Be creative.  Think of all the great ways you have heard about something, and then think, wow, that probably didn’t cost that company a dime. You can make it happen for yours.