The Zero Budget Marketing Plan

The ‘Zero’ Budget Marketing Plan EmbarkOnit Team

Contents Introduction Foundation of the plan Before you start – who, what and why Measuring for success Free tools Feedback/questions

Introduction This presentation has been something we've been wanting to write for some time now. We hope that you'll find it a useful tool to add to your repertoire in building your marketing initiatives The main principle of the plan is, if you can't spend the money then you have to use the other tools that you have.

Before you start ... It's critical to understand who you are targeting and what's in it for them, what will ultimately become your main message(s) in all your campaigns. A 'Value Proposition Statement” is a simple tool to create that focus

Value proposition statement Part 1: What We Do For: (Customers) Who want: (Compelling reason to buy) Our service is: (How the customer would categorize what you do) That: (Key benefit) Copyright David Dunne, University of Toronto

Value Proposition Part 2: Why We’ll Win Unlike: (our main competitors) Our service is: (key point of difference) As supported by: (what makes our difference possible) And protected by: (why the competition can’t easily overcome it) David Dunne, 2003, Rotman Business School

Even Guerrillas Plan Don’t Forget Your Objectives. Choose from: Brand Awareness Drive Traffic (In “Store”, Online, or Both) Building “Buzz” Garnering Press Keeping Costs Down

What DO You Have? So you don’t have a lot of Cash, take inventory of what you DO have A good network? Access to cheap/free talent? Samples of your products? Customer Testimonials? Cheap/Free Event Space? Time? Contagious Enthusiasm?

Foundation of the plan: Building the wave Web SEO/SEM Social media Newsletters Editorial/free print content/becoming the expert Blogging Networking and Events Partnerships/symbiotic relationships

Do Less…. It’s tempting to want to use ALL the marketing tools out there (especially the free ones!) but you will be better served by doing less With too many tactics, you spread your time, message, and money too thin Pick 3-4 marketing tactics that are valued by your audience, and that drive the action you want Brainstorm how to execute on these tactics in a creative, extraordinary way Choose tactics that resonate with YOU; you need to have passion for your marketing process, because you will need to stick it out; results won’t happen overnight. Persevere!

Web You have a web site, right? Rule #1 of Guerrilla and Viral Marketing: Either have a product/service that is so exciting people can’t help but visit you…OR… Bundle it with content that is so exciting people can’t help but visit you. If you have no call to action, you have no reason to be on the Web The most effective calls to action reward the consumer in some way A well designed landing page and easy to follow, short sequence of steps are key to helping your visitors “answer the call” Don’t alienate your potential customers; ask only for non-sensitive information that you really need. **The Most Successful Word in Marketing is “Free”**

Web: Some Basic Rules Keep navigation in Vertical or Horizontal Bars, where people expect to see them No more than 5 Navigation items in one location. No, no more. Allow for white space on your pages so users can find your good stuff easily Keep important info and Call to Actions “Above the Fold” No Black Backgrounds. Stay Consistent in your design to avoid confusion Make sure your pages load up fast (patrons will tolerate only between 3 to 7 seconds) The Credit Card is the last thing to ask for in a web sales transaction.

SEO Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the technique of structuring your web presence for Search Engines to rank them at the top of their list for certain search terms Search Engines are looking for Keywords first; this is done automatically by web “robots” Make a list of the keywords your audience might use to find your project and/or service Include these in your code AND your content as much as possible. Update your site OFTEN. Search Engines are looking for the newest information Post Regular Press Releases Create a Blog and keep it updated AT LEAST weekly. Open a Forum for users to connect with others about topics related to your business Create opportunities for users to share photos and videos on your site

SEO/SEM Consider using Paid Inclusion Google Adwords, Yahoo or MSN One of the most definitive sources still available on designing your campaign is Andrew Goodman's “Winning Results with Google Adwords” A small budget can go a long way in generating traffic to a website that is well designed and leads to a high conversion rate

Blogging Blogging serves a number of purposes Adding non-commercial content to your site Bolstering credibility as an “Expert” Adding a Personal Touch to your business Improving your SEO Building a Cultural Brand for your Business Sharing stories of customers, partners, and even competition Build a base of Content for your newsletters/email campaigns Driving Traffic to your site Cross Publishing Blogs Don’t keep you Blog sequestered; find similar or symbiotic bloggers to cross post Approach Industry sites and blogs requesting to be put on their site directly, through RSS, or on the their Blog Roll RSS Tagging

Newsletters Aggregate your blog content, news items, and industry knowledge into a Monthly Newsletter Build and maintain an ongoing list of your contacts, industry professionals, and PR outlets to share your Newsletter Ensure the majority of the content is relevant industry information, and not commercial; your newsletter should drive people to your site, and prompt them to call you as an “Expert” Use your newsletter as a “Teaser” with links to your site or partner sites with the “Full Story”

Online Infiltration Positive reviews of a product or service, for the purpose of promoting your own brand Either on your own blog, or on a forum or blog related to the topic, or product you are commenting on Make sure it is not an outright commercial; your comments must be relevant and insightful to the topic; your brand should be secondary Present yourself open, and honestly; no one likes to be lied to, and there is a good chance you will be caught if you misrepresent yourself on community sites By providing information with a newsworthy or helpful angle, you will begin to establish a reputation as an “expert” in your field (and we all want to give our business to the very best!)

Online Infiltration Find Forums, Groups, and Boards that are directly appropriate to your industry Participate a while before talking specifically about your product Look at existing comments and content to see if the particular forum responds positively to commercial messages before posting one

Reach Out to the “Cool Kids” Every industry has it’s “cool kids” of the web Blogs, sites, forums that have a good proportion of the industry readers Begin reaching out to well-read bloggers and business contacts that you are familiar with See who they are reading and sharing on their blogs and ask for introductions Think about opening a “conspicuous” conversation with your target expert on their site in an open, honest way

Web: Getting Social Facebook Start a Company Page Don’t make a personal profile for your product (unless your product IS you!) Start a group related to your product/service but open to topics in a broader sphere Advertise your “Events”, be they real or web based and invite users Share pictures, videos, trials, and contests Make sure you create content that is creative, clever, and viral-worthy

Getting Social MySpace Still the biggest platform out there Skews younger than Facebook Create a Company or Group page; keep it quick, clever, and to the point Get your visitors involved with contests inviting their own content related to your product/service **You may wish to keep your privacy settings such that all content is approved by you before publishing** Cross publish your Blog

Going Social Linkedin This is where YOU build YOUR network More about you , less about your product/service vs. Myspace and Facebook Build “personal” relationships with potential partners and customers Establish yourself and your company as an expert by joining group discussions, and providing insightful answers in the “question and answer” section

Going Social Twitter Networking and Marketing in 140 characters or less Follow (or be Followed) by potential customers, partners Through twitter tools, aggregate on topics of interest, and see who is talking about what By making informed updates with links to your blog or other interesting articles, establish yourself as an “expert” in your field “ Launch” your product on Twitter for Early Feedback and Warning Signals

Going Social: You Own Way Host an educational network Teach people something they can use. Use the opportunity to Brand yourself Tend to each person in the group as though they are your personal guest Host webinars, exclusive content, forums, chat rooms and in-person networking opportunities for your network

Courting the (free) Press Pinpointing and courting media outlets is essential in guerrilla marketing Build your network of Influencers, Opinion Leaders and Trend Setters Let them know you are the “Expert” in your field, and always available for interviews, quotes, and stories Establish yourself as the go-to source on a particular topic Participate in Speaking Engagements Submit Articles to local and trade publications “ Create” speaking events at Universities, Community outlets, and in tandem with large trade events

Courting the (free) Press Identify publications to court that fit your target demographic or industry (for B2B) Obtain the Editorial Calendars of these publications (mostly available from the web) Press Releases Follow the 5W’s Follow Standard Structure Lead, Explanation, Supporting Quote, Additional Info, Company Quote, Additional Info, Boilerplate Align your releases with the editorial content calendars you collected Send by email, in the body; no attachments FOLLOW UP with beneficial additional information, other “angles”, and a list of resources that the media can contact Build the story for them, and the will keep coming back for more.

Events Research and Evaluate events in the industries and geographies that you are currently targeting Industry associations are a great source of events and promotion of your product or service Evaluate each event based on the Total cost of the event/expected number of targeted leads Get a speaking engagement when you can, as more prospects will approach you as an “expert”

Partnerships Find other business owners who have invested time and money in your target market and who don’t offer products or services that directly compete with yours. Determine what you offer that would be of real value to them Offer bundles, specials, and referrals Offer your partner a percentage of sales if they will promote your business to their clients and subscribers Prepare all of your marketing materials and make order fulfillment easy for your partner Build relationships with potential customers who you can refer business to When they are in need of your product/service, they are going to think of you FIRST

Measuring success As you build your plan you'll want to be sure that each element is producing the results you're aiming for For each element create a leading and lagging indicator of success Lagging is defined as the end result e.g., Leads, Sales, Visits, etc. Leading is defined by indicating a higher probability of success

Measuring Your Success Measuring marketing success can take any number of forms from measuring your activities (how many blogs, twitters, shows attended, etc.) to how many eyes and ears you are getting (site visits, retweets, blog comments, etc.) to how many leads you are getting (email enquiries, phone calls, requests for proposals etc.) Some of the most elusive activities to mesure are online, but there are some free tools www.sitemeter.com (site traffic) www.statcounter.com (site traffic) Feedburner.com (blog traffic) Technorati.com (Blog search engine) www.google.com/alerts (set an alert for stories, blogs etc., containing your company name) Backtype.com (monitor blog comments) Boardtrakker.com (watch discussion boards for your company name) Search.twitter.com (see who’s tweeting you) Friendfeed.com (aggregator of social sites data)

Thanks for your time We really hope this was informative and useful in building your zero budget plan If you have more questions, call us toll free at 866-616-8452 or email us Sandra Macdonald [email_address] Mic Berman [email_address] www.EmbarkOnIt.com

The Zero Budget Marketing Plan

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