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Mega-Marketing on a 'Boot-Strap' Budget

Dear Colleagues,

It is about four hours before the biggest television event in the world is about to take place. I am talking about the Super Bowl in New Orleans between the Rams and the Patriots. In a little while I will take off to attend a super bowl party with a bunch of great friends. 

At the end of this newsletter, I will give you my prediction for the winner of this year's Super Bowl.

I will thoroughly enjoy the game, because I am a huge sports fan. But I have to tell you the truth. Unless the Cowboys are playing I just don't have the same level of interest. 

And that is why I can't wait to see the commercials. Oh, the commercials. Huge companies pouring millions of dollars into thirty or sixty seconds of airtime. I absolutely love these commercials, not only for their entertainment value, but because they teach me so much about the psyche' of the average consumer, including me. 

Every commercial is predictably intended to tug at some emotional response that we consumers will have. 

And therein lies the key to their advertising success.

If you watch the commercials beyond their entertainment merit, you will see that their marketing strategies will make us laugh, make us wonder, make us excited, make us question and even make us cry.

Most every human emotion will be addressed in some form or fashion in these advertisements. 

And that can be the key to your marketing and promotional strategies as well. Just because you don't have 2.5 million dollars to run a commercial during the Super Bowl, doesn't mean that you can't be just as successful with your targeted market of customers.

In fact, you may only have a 'boot-strap' budget. There are hundreds of ways to get mega-marketing results with low-cost or no-cost marketing strategies. 

I am often asked, "What is the best way to promote my business on a very low budget?" 

There is not one absolute strategy that will create a windfall for your business. However, after careful consideration of the question, I will suggest one strategy that I know first hand will result in more business than you can handle.

Create an 'incentive-based' referral program. Reward your existing clients for referring you to their friends, neighbors and work associations. Here is how it can work.

Each time you sell a project, immediately inform your client that you appreciate their business so much and that your long-term success is highly dependent on their satisfaction AND THEIR REFERRAL. At that point introduce your new client to your incentive program.

Perhaps you can offer a $250 cash back bonus for every qualified lead that turns into a sale. Or you may offer a $100 gift certificate to a local restaurant. Or you can offer a small discount on some additional services or products. 

The point is…. have a disciplined plan in place and just start somewhere. Every time you obtain a new client, go to visit a new prospect, or attend a business mixer event, let everyone know about your referral program. The word will spread very fast and you will have more prospects and customers that you can imagine.

And whatever you do, please remember to include your employees, vendors, contract laborers, accountant, lawyer, banker and chiropractor in on the referral plan. These folks already have an established relationship with you and they usually will not hesitate to recommend you to their friends. Especially when they know there is a reward.

This is just one strategy that I teach in my book, 101 Power Strategies; Tools to Promote Yourself as The Contractor of Choice. I also write about a way to make your referral plan a condition of your contract with you client. If you haven't got your copy yet, visit here to invest in your copy. http://www.ContractorOfChoice.com/101powerstrategies.htm

One more thing about your marketing strategies before I get to my prediction for the Super Bowl. You must have the mindset that you are not just in your primary line of business. What I mean is that whatever product or service you sell is not what you do. The main focus for your enterprise should be marketing and promotion. You can offer the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it, then what good have you done? Something to think about.

Ok, so you are going to pin me down for my prediction. Here it goes. I say the Rams will win by at least 28 points. Maybe that is a no-brainer for this year's game, but that is my two-cents worth. Don't lay any money on my prediction with your bookie. Instead save your money and invest it in your business.

Until next time, take great care,

February 3, 2002

Paul Montelongo

"America's Construction Industry Motivator"

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