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The $100.00 Marketing Challenge

Posted by James Kantorowicz on October 28, 2008 at 8:10am in Business Growth, Expansion, and Current Opportunit
This forum is dedicated for the discussion successful marketing techniques and strategies. Here's the catch, your marketing endeavor must cost less than $100.00 to implement.I encourage you to share your brightest/creative ideas whether your marketing a business,service or product line.My suggestion is the 3 foot rule, the cost to implement is $ 0 How it works: Simply strike up a conversation with anyone 3 feet around you, and share with them what you do for a living. It's a great way to make connections while waiting in the check out line at the store. Make sure you speak with a slightly higher volume so others around you can hear your discussion. It virtually free adverting unless you grab that extra candy bar.

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Tags: advertising, business, connections, marketing, products, sales, service
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  • James Kantorowicz December 23, 2008 at 8:37am
    I would check into your local flea market usually it's under $100.00 for the entire week end. Yes you will have to endure the salsa makers and the decorated T Shirts but you could potentially get your product or service in front of thousands in one weekend now thats exposure.
  • Merry Wise December 22, 2008 at 5:09pm
    My husband and I have been in the pool business for 38 years. My best marketing technique has been to write articles and get them published in the local newspapers about our business. There are techniques to use to get this done, but an article about your company, especially with a picture, is far more effective than a paid ad and costs nothing but a little time.

    Since I am a freelance writer, I have always done this myself, but if you do not have anyone on your staff who is able to do this, you can trade chemicals with an English or journalism teacher who might be able to write for you, use a college student for a nominal fee, etc.

    We always write articles about design awards, for example, and they will always put those in. You can also write about special events, charity projects, or anything special your company is doing that might be newsworthy. They are reluctant to use anything that is too much like an "advertisement", so you need to be careful to write your article as a news article and not just what is called in the publishing trade strictly a "puff piece", but you can still get some great free publicity this way.

    Thanks for the great thread! I'm sure many folks have some good ideas to share!
  • James Kantorowicz November 6, 2008 at 7:49am
    Lets not forget the power of home made infomercial. Making a home made video featuring your business or services is very effective. For basically the cost of the video tape and your time you can potentially reach hundreds of thousands of potential customers.

    I would even create your own swimming pool and spa maintenance videos splitting them into 2 -4 minute segments. Post them consecutively on YouTube, Meta Cafe, AOL, Google, Facebook, MySpace. Don't forget about your local news stations websites most stations have a spot for people to post their videos. And finally the home improvement websites they actually have specific areas on their sites for you to post your project videos.

    Don't forget your information so your viewers/customers can reach you, even if its a simple piece of cardboard with phone number written in magic marker.
  • Matthew Giovanisci November 5, 2008 at 1:44pm
    Move shock and other popular items to the back of the store. That way someone will have to walk all the way through your store just to get that quick thing they came in for. I know it's an old trick and probably well known. That's why milk and bread are usually at the back of the supermarket. $0

    Also keep children's toys lower to the ground, so that why they can grab it and force thier parents to buy it for them.

    Swim University shows people how to care for their pool or spa by writing articles, adding videos and answering questions Pool & Spa Care along with other topics.
    • James Kantorowicz > Matthew Giovanisci November 6, 2008 at 7:28am
      Yes location is everything your suggestion of putting the fun stuff within reach of the children is brilliant floor planning.
  • Jeremy Hine November 5, 2008 at 6:17am
    Hey Jim:
    I recently tried the 3 foot rule while at the park with my son a couple of weeks ago. The pool owner called me to the home because of a screaming pump motor. We were able to replace the motor, a new seal kit all the way around. We've just scheduled a return visit for an upgrade to the new variable flo pump by Pentair.

    I too am a big fan of low budget advertising. Costs go down, profits go up.!

    -Jeremy
    -"I fix broken pools, spas, and hot tubs"
    Florida Leisure Pool & Spa
    www.FLLeisure.com
    • James Kantorowicz > Jeremy Hine November 5, 2008 at 9:42am
      Jeremy,

      Good for you!!!! I too made a sale yesterday using the 3 foot rule. I was shopping for carpet for our expo booth and one of the employees overheard my conversation between me and my salesman. He said " I was just starting to shop for heaters" and before you know it, I made a sale. Its fun when you get paid for shopping.
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