It’s simple to start
Despite what many marketing professionals might like their clients to believe, marketing at its basic level requires little in the way of specialist skills and needn’t cost a fortune. With just a few hours per week, a very small financial investment and the most basic of computer skills, just about everyone is able to put together a simple yet effective marketing campaign that will, over time, produce a regular supply of potential new clients. By starting to work on your marketing campaign today, you should start to see significant results from your activities before the end of the year.
How much of your time is it going to take to create a marketing campaign? When planning a marketing campaign, be aware that there is usually a trade-off in terms of time and money possible.
Low-cost strategies
If you have limited funds available for running an extensive marketing campaign, here are examples of several marketing strategies you can employ without spending a cent.
- Social media campaigns. Perhaps you are already using Facebook personally, but are you using it to promote your practice as well? LinkedIn is an even more effective business tool, which allows you to network with qualified professionals who could easily turn into new clients.
- Online directories. Google Local will list your business free of charge and so will all of the other major online directories, such as True Local. It takes just a few minutes to register your business with each directory and will make your business highly visible to search engines.
- Search engine optimisation (SEO). Being listed towards the top of Google’s search engine rankings can bring a regular supply of potential new clients to your company’s website. Although it takes a while to learn the rules for achieving top rankings for a website, the potential results are well worth the effort.
- Articles in local newspapers. Is there a local newspaper that may be interested in your writing an article explaining current tax or other finance issues? If so, the resulting publicity could be very valuable for your practice.
Benefits of advertising
Bear in mind, however, the opportunity costs of the time you invest in marketing. Every hour you spend on marketing is an hour that could be spent on something else instead. This means that it may well be more advantageous for you just to pay for advertising, so there’s little or no effort involved. If this is route is preferable, here are three options to consider.
