How to advertise on a limited budget
Marketing is essential to any successful business. However, more often than not, this requires some kind of advertising budget. If your business is just getting started, raising enough funds to create an ad campaign can seem overwhelming.
There are many marketing options, from social media to old-school print mailings; it’s hard to decide which route will work best for your business. Of course, fundraising isn’t the only way to increase your budget; sometimes you just need to think outside the box and tap into your creativity.
Leave it to Russia
A bar in Russia came up with a great concept to think outside the box when it comes to marketing. They wanted to promote their bar but had very little money to work with, so they contacted Red bell pepper with an idea.
Every time they received tips, they gave 50% to the bartenders and invested the remaining 50% in advertising. On the first day, they generated 54,350 rubles (about $847.12). That was enough to kick off their two-week ad experiment.
Add billboards into the mix
They decided to run their ads on outdoor TV screens (much like our billboards) and created a new ad every day based on the advice they received. These ads promoted the bar, encouraged extra tips that would fund the next round of ads, and thanked patrons and bartenders who donated money to the current campaign via a slogan on the ad. By the end of the campaign, they had raised over 281,270 rubles (about $4,401.83).
Every day the budget increased, due to increased tips resulting from increased exposure. Pretty impressive considering they started with nothing.
What can you learn from this experience?
Not everyone can start a business without money, but everyone can get a little more creative with marketing efforts. Negotiate advertising space in exchange for your services. Share ad space with someone else. Take your advertising the old fashioned way and use print media through a third party that often offers steep discounts. Every little you can save allows you to spend elsewhere and stretching your dollars is more important than ever.
