Zero budget sign writing - no budget is no excuse

I always maintain that creativity can overcome the challenges of a low - or zero - marketing budget.

This little sign (that I recently spotted at a market) is such a perfect example of this.

It's compelling, it makes you smile, it makes you stop and notice it - and importantly: it makes you really want to buy that cake.

A hugely powerful marketing tool - that would have cost around 5 cents.

Whilst someone was pretty handy with their black marker, what is really clever about this sign is the copy-writing. "Shipped down from heaven early this morning" is a visual, new and emotive means of saying "baked fresh".

So what inspiration can you take from this? What copy can you re-write in a more meaningful, clever, funny, intriguing, engaging, smile-educing way?

Niche businesses are easier to market

For anyone who's been in business, you know the temptation of wanting to do anything to bring in the dollars. Yet there is real value in being "niche" - carving out a segment that's just yours.

I saw a great example of this recently, with publisher "A Book Apart". Their business produces "Brief books for people who make websites". It's very specific - but also very easy to market. It is PR friendly, it's easy to find the target market, it ha got built in repeat business (if someone finds one book useful, they'll buy more) and it's easy to talk about and spread the word.

This last point is so critical. I've never been involved in marketing anything where word of mouth wasn't critical. In fact, for most businesses, it's the number one source of new business. So if your business is hard to describe, hard to pin down, it's hard for others to spread the word about.

Niche is scary. But less that it used to be, thanks to the Internet. So if you're pondering starting a business, and you've got a cool enough idea, there's a lot to be said for finding your niche and sticking to it.

How to cut your marketing costs in 2013

Not all businesses have an allocated marketing budget. Some people just spend when 'something' comes up (ie. distressed ad space), some have no money to spend at all, while the budget of others are allocated an amount of percentage of sales.

If you do have some money to spend, odds are the amount is never quite enough. You may even find that the financial peeps are allocating you less this year in response to slow sales last year.

So what "zero budget" thinking can you apply to your budget this year, to make sure you get the absolute most from it?

1. Work out what you're spending the most "time" on - and if it's working, see if you can automate it.

The key to 'zero budget' is usually spending time over cash. So with time your most valuable resource, it's something to be protected.

When I first starting working with carsharing business Flexicar, all new member 'inductions" were done face-to-face. Whilst it was necessary to teach people how the service worked, it wasn't sustainable to keep doing this. So instead we made a fun and useful video that "automatically" did the same job, and was actually more convenient for members. It instantly saved MANY hours, and that time could be spent in other ways to help grow the business.

2.  Work out what you're spending the most "time" on - and if it's not working, stop doing it. Make the tough call.

We all have our pet projects, or things we feel we "should" be doing. But if you are really not sure you're getting a result, then it's time to allocate that valuable time elsewhere.

For more thoughts, you can check out what I said in this recent Sydney Morning Herald / Age article.

You can always spend more money...

Let's face it - in marketing, more money is always wanted, no matter the size of your budget.

The 'Shop a docket' founder was recently quoted in this interview when he was asked this question:

"If someone gave you $100,000 and said, “Invest this in your business by the end of the week – or lose it” what would you do?

His response was:  
"I’m sure I could use it, particularly as we have a bottomless marketing budget."

It struck me that the immediate response to the $100k question was (mentally) allocating it to his marketing budget...rather than his marketing team.

Funnily enough, $100k doesn't go that far in marketing - unless you spend it on PEOPLE or course.

$100k could THEN get you two great part time, marketing-related people that have some specialist skills - they could action everything from social media to list generation to great articles to lead generation events to fostering partnerships. I'm sure you have a LOT of things you'd like to get done, if only you had the resources.

So whilst it's pretty rare that a lump of $$ drops in your lap, if spare funds do come your way, don't just spend it in the obvious way. Really think about the BEST possible investment of your funds, which will be, more often than not, people over advertising. 

Don't ask if you're not going to action

Market research is a funny beast. We feel like we SHOULD be doing it - keeping in touch with our customers, checking how we're performing, working out what we should change, learning what's important to prospects. Yet the research is a waste of time if you don't do anything with it.In fact, it can even be damaging to your business if you ask but don't action.

Many times I've worked with clients who've done research - either one off, or ongoing - with little changing subsequently. I was browsing the web today looking for wall paper when I came across this site as an example. I saw they had a little poll about whether visitors to the site would like to buy wallpaper online or not. So I clicked yes, as I would like to buy it online. You'll see from the screenshot, so would about 80% of other people.

Yet this poll has been active three years and you still CAN'T buy wallpaper online at this site. Which is made just a little more frustrating because YOU KNOW that THEY KNOW that is what people want...which doesn't provide for a great first impression.

So the moral of this story - if you're not going to do anything about it, don't ask the question. Spend the time and resources elsewhere.

First: Make sure it works before you launch

What we saw

What we should have seen

You can put in all the love and effort and creative beauty into an online magazine, organise the best possible publicity on Australia's most-read design blog - but it all comes to naught if you don't check that it's working first.

This is a situation I came across recently when a new mag was launched via The Design Files.


I'm an avid reader of The Design Files (along with 20,000 other people) and it is very supportive of the Australian creative community, regularly featuring new projects and businesses. Due to the targeted nature of the readership, being featured on the Blog would be a huge (and free) marketing opportunity for a venture, tapping right into a perfect target market.

So this temporary fail of a new magazine launch (not being "live" when the blog story went live) was also a great reminder that your marketing work doesn't stop at the creative side. The best way not to WASTE money or an opportunity (as all zero budget marketers must know) is check all the details - and get it right the first time.

I felt bad for them, I really did. It was up later in the day - but not a 7am which is when The Design Files sends their email EVERY weekday. Always.

In this case,  I can't help wondering how many more people they would have reached if they'd just made sure their mag was live/published a few hours earlier? I'm sure they will always wonder the same thing.

So here's a checklist for any new launch / campaign/ initiative - these are all things that will trip you up (I've speaking from painful experience) so it's worth checking them every time.

CHECK THESE BEFORE YOU LAUNCH

- Emails and web addresses - type them in, even if you think you know them, and make sure they're live or go where you expect them to. Oh, and make sure they're actually ON there.

- Call any phone numbers - again, just in case. One misplaced digit is all it takes.

- Test - if it's anything technical, try and break it. If it's online, click on links and go to every page. It's boring but essential.

- Get it sub-edited - If you can afford a professional, invest in one - they are so worth it. (One that I use for a particular client ALWAYS finds something, even when I'm sure it's perfect!) If you dont have the budget, then ask a friend or colleague removed from the project that's good at grammar and spelling. Just have SOMEONE "sanity check" it. If there's no-one, re-read EVERYTHING carefully. Don't rely on spell check.

-  Call to action - even if it's not an advertisement, you always want people to DO something. That's the whole point of marketing. So is it clear what you want them to do, and how they should do it? For example: In the case of an online magazine, you want someone to READ but, more important initially, you want them to SUBSCRIBE.

- Is everyone informed? - Do all the people that this project impact on know that it's happening? For example, if you're running a promotion, do the people who answer the phones know all about it?

- Are all your marketing asset in sync? - If you're running a new offer, is it on your website, your Facebook page, your email signature.

- Have a  promotional calendar with everything on it - so you make sure you don't forget what is happening when. Check it regularly, to ensure a roll out is occurring in the right order, like a site being live before the PR program kicks off.

Do you have anything else on your "launch checklist"?

'How To' Tuesday: How to write a great subject line for your email marketing

Source Bottle always has fully descriptive subject lines

So what makes a good subject line for an email? And more importantly - why should you care?

I'm a BIG believer of the power of email, which gets lost these days in the hype of social media. That's not to say social media isn't important, but you OWN your email database (or at least the permission to email them whilst they remain subscribed) and so you have much more control over when you speak to them.

So back to subject lines. These little puppies are the MOST IMPORTANT part of your email. Why? Because we are all so busy, all we do is SCAN our emails - and wait for something to grab our attention or we simply delete it. And when it comes to our email inbox, where we routinely get 50+ emails a day, we are very picky about what we read. And how do we decide what to read? The email subject line.

A scan of your own inbox will show you that a LOT of email subject lines tell you nothing about what's in the email - the fatal flaw, in my opinion. The are either overly promotional, boring or completely uninformative.

A GOOD subject line is:

- Descriptive
- Enticing or intriguing
- Long enough to tell you something
- One that is appealing to YOUR target market

There is this odd perception with many people that "short is always good" in marketing - but in email subject lines, it can go either way. Some research says "the longer the better" and other research says "no difference".

I have found that it's much more about being relevant and interesting rather than long or short for the sake of it.

A good thing to remember is that an email subject line is your HEADLINE - so to help work out what works, consider what makes YOU read a news article...what "sucks you in" to read more?

A quick look at today's Herald Sun (which has the highest readership in Victoria) has the following headlines:

'Lance admits "tour drug use" to Oprah'

'Scam takes punters on $800 ride'

'Mum on drugs killed son, court told'

These headlines give you a lot of information in just a few words - and make you want to know more. You need to apply the same thinking to your email marketing.

Often you have more than one story to share - but don't feel you can only mention one. Why? Because different stories appeal to different people.

A fantastic example of this is the SourceBottle emails that come out twice daily, matching marketers and business people with call outs from journalists and writers.

Here's an example from a recent one:

"Personality types and health | New products to feature within TrailerBoat Magazine | How has motherhood changed you? | Small Business Pinterest Lovers | Unusual proposals, themed weddings, bizarre hook-ups | Back to school | Homework - agree/disagree"

A subject line this length - without knowing the context - would scare the pants off most marketers. Yet it's perfect for this market. I ALWAYS check the subject line to see if there's something relevant to me, and I must be one of many as their subscribers numbers are constantly growing.

A hard working subject line is worth the hard work it takes in coming up with it - don't just write anything and hope for the best. You have likely spent many HOURS (or dollars) on your email content - so don't throw it away with a barely considered subject line.

Put in the effort, test the results - and watch your email marketing performance improve.