What are some marketing methods that a company with a small budget could use to attract new customers?
Our target market is guests seeking a quiet vacation away from crowds. Other than Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels, what are some cost effective marketing ideas?
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Mar 4, 2015
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Jan 6, 2015
What do you consider a small budget? For me, any budget without an return on investment specified would be risky. There are many Guerilla Marketing techniques available that would cost nothing but sweat equity to put in place. Trading with other businesses works well for me. I have clients that I coach and consult for in the exchange for mechanical work, deli products, admin tasks, etc. It keeps costs down, improves cash flow, creates trust, and all parties come out on top if the quality of product and service is comparable.
Jan 21, 2015
My pleasure! Thanks for attending to us introverts;-) Let me know if you require more information. I can always provide edutainment for free. Application & accountability will cost you;-)
Jan 4, 2015
Beside the one you mentioned and a website and offering quality article on your website, Email marketing is one of a successful marketing venue I highly recommend! But whichever you choose, learn about that platform, master it, use it as your marketing venue and once done, go to the next one, and the next one, and so on!
Jan 2, 2015
You might look at creating a word of mouth contest, where you ask previous clients to share their best memories of staying at your place, online and/or with people they know. You might also set up a youtube channel and post occasional videos along with anything you do on instagram or pinterest.
Jan 2, 2015
These are all fantastic thoughts for you. I would add video and right now is the best time! I'm in Chicago and could be more than tempted by videos of all kinds. It's a great way to make that emotional connection with people:
1. Fun, sun, silly
2. Calm and relaxing - just environment and music
3. Indulgent - show me what I am missing freezing in Chicago
4. Lifestyle - show me the fab lifestyle I can enjoy
5. Viral - you can never really predict a viral video but...you also never know.
The more videos the better and release one each week. Utilize social media. Encourage people to share and say "I wish I was there" with a contest, or a moving video itself. Contests are better and easier to manage if you bring in other travel/trip related partners.
When you get some videos done, be sure to send to me. I will gladly share on social media...as I shiver up north, drooling over the beautiful warm sand! :)
@SmallBizPRXpert or https://www.facebook.com/CascadePublicRelations
Jan 2, 2015
You should target corporates by meeting the HR's/Admins and reach out to their employees .. Spend on Referral campaigns .. Start building value to your vendors by driving visitors to them and get them to spend on acquiring customers.. Get your Customers to vouch for your service by getting them to post on their Facebook page and give incentives if they do it.. Get your Vacationers post their pictures on your Facebook page and get the public to rate it.. get some excitement on .. Give some surprises to your Vacationers and capture their reactions on Video and promote .. Make it viral
Jan 1, 2015
Send a personalized email including Itinerary and highlight your privileges and details of vactions to the perspective client and maintain the list so that you can update them regularly. This will help to materialize the deal in due course of time.
Jan 1, 2015
All of the below are great ideas...I propose businesses seek out 5-8 marketing tactics and employ them at any one time. Sounds a lot, but they add up fast...and the below mentioned a number of them:
- Facebook, Twitter, Linked In
- Pinterest, Instagram
- You Tube Videos
- E-Newsletter with articles, posts, images, promo packages, etc.
- Blog and/or Linkedin posts
- Have your own radio show or seek out to be a guest on Travel/Lodging/Resort type of shows
- Write articles for industry based online/hard copy magazines and major bloggers
- Get Entrepreneur/Business Owner profile interview (of you) on other sites
- Find affiliates, strategic partners, advertisers (for your website), etc. of others who serve your same customer
- Write and publish complimentary content, i.e. a Vacation Top 10 List on your website, and other social platforms
- Network and socialize with groups where your customer networks
- Hold lunch and learn webinars, teleconference calls, etc. that are educational and informative about your industry (that then provides messaging on your packages)
etc...
Jan 1, 2015
Hi,
Facebook organic reach has took a dive since the new algorithm was introduced, meaning that unless you free up a budget for media spend, your results will be very minimal.
If you can spare some cash for media spend (even a few dollars a day can make a huge difference), forget about increasing fans and concentrate on increasing reach, that is to be able to deliver your message to more people. Furthermore, Facebook allows you to fine tune your targeting in order to reach those who are most likely to convert to trials.
I would also suggest starting a presence on Instagram if you haven't yet, as the visuals and tags can reach further to the people who are interested.
As always, content is king, so work on your content, work on your targeting, and hopefully your digital exposure will increase.
further to that, you can develop some kind of reference program, where you will offer a 10% discount on your patron's next visit (Or any kind of incentive) if they refer someone to your establishment.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Jan 1, 2015
There are a ton of online and offline marketing ways to promote your business. You mentioned a few social platforms but there are others that might make sense for you.
Anything visual - take a photo a day of your location and post it on flickr, instagram or upload it to your site and then pin it on pinterest.
As David Moadel said - write blog posts. You could use all those photos and include a story of what a day of vacationing with you would look like. Then use the same content (written and visual) in emails that you send out.
When your budget is tight you will want to reuse anything you produce across different places and if you do it right it will save you time & money but also pay off with visitors, leads and sales.
Jan 1, 2015
Craigslist/BackPage, Google ads, write blogs for popular websites catering to your niche, phone book ads, coupons in ValPak/PennySaver/etc., host an AM radio program
Thank You