Small Business Marketing on a Budget

People say they do their best thinking while in the shower or on a long walk. Some, like me, find their best ideas popping up while on the road driving. I know that might be a scary thought for any poor soul on the road at the same time I am… crazy woman driving with her mind in the clouds. I’ve been known to record forty-five minutes to an hour of ideas during a half hour trip to see a client. Rest assured, I am still alert enough to realize when some idiot is cutting into my lane. You can tell by my ranting and laying on my horn to let them know I know we both just escaped a collision.

In any event, last week I was headed north on I-71 , returning to my office after a lunch meeting with a colleague. It’s a boring stretch of highway with nothing more than farmland and a few billboards as far as you can see. Trying to keep my mind on the road for a change, I glanced at a car passing me on my left. I didn’t recognize the make or model of the car, so I took a closer look. I never did figure out what kind of car it was, but noticed it had one of those magnetic door signs affixed to the passenger door.  A clear example of  an inexpensive approach to small business marketing.

It was a simple, very basic sign that spoke volumes about the company and brand it represented. Three things were clearly printed on the sign:

• The company logo – a golden crown atop the company name: Royal Car Care
• The phrase – Customer Courtesy Car
• The company phone number

That’s all it included. No address, no tag line, just those basic pieces of information in a font size and style readable at 70 miles an hour. From that limited information, I gleaned:

• The company brand – We treat customers like royalty
• Customers are important – customers who leave their car for service get a courtesy car.
• They were located somewhere in my area – same local area code

Car service is not something that is ever at the top of my mind unless I’m sitting at the side of the road after my car has broken down. But, they had captured my attention. After returning to my office, I logged onto the Internet to look for the Royal Car Care website to learn more. And more I found. We’ve probably all been in car care places that looked like they had been thrown together over night, dirty, uninviting and definitely not interested in treating their customers like royalty. This company is so out of the ordinary for car care centers. Even some of the better ones – those who have day-old coffee and a television in the waiting area as their version of customer service – don’t hold a candle to this company.  They clearly know about small business marketing while others appear clueless.

The Home page of their website, at first glance, is pretty crowded. But, their brand still resonates.  Royal Car Care‘s identity program is based on a royal blue color scheme – it’s on their building facade, their magnetic signs and their web page. Their location – address and map – is clearly visible, as is their phone number and hours of operation. All key information is easily found – above the fold- on the first page you see.

Need to schedule an appointment? You can do it right there on their web site. Want to know how to do basic car fixes yourself? Videos show how to change a tire, check tire pressure, hook up jumper cables and check an air filter. They offer lifetime warranties on their services. How can you beat that? Royal treatment? I’d say so.

Have you ever felt like part of a car care service community? No? Neither have I. Car care to me has always been an annoying necessity of life. Royal Car Care held an adult Easter Egg Hunt. They gave away prizes for services to winners. They’ve formed a Car Care Club. Benefits include oil changes, tire rotations, free windshield wipers, a free tow and significant discounts on half a dozen car services. If members only take advantage of the 4 oil changes, they get their money’s worth for the membership fee. Who else in this industry does this? No place I’ve ever found.  Royal Car Care is probably ten to fifteen minutes further from my home than where I take my car for service now. Where do you suppose I’ll be taking it the next time I need service?

So many small firms rush to cut marketing and advertising budgets when the economy starts dragging, assuming no one is spending money anyway.  Stopping marketing efforts is never a good strategy. How much did those magnetic signs cost? Probably under $50.00 for two of them, assuming they had one on the driver side door too. What kinds of low cost brand marketing strategies can you use to attract customers? How can you tweak your web site to clearly show your brand and what you do to make your customers and clients’ lives easier?

If you’re looking for inexpensive marketing and advertising strategies, this could be the answer. How many hours a day, or days a week, are you, or an employee, on the road, driving past hundreds or thousands of potential customers? How many hours does your car sit in parking lots while you attend meetings, a concert or a basketball game, or just do routine shopping? Could a similar sign for your firm garner as much attention as this one did from me? Keep your message simple enough to grab someone’s attention – enough attention to make them call or want to look you up on the Internet. Maybe a magnetic sign isn’t for you, but think about other low cost ways small business marketing strategies for your own small business.  Let the world know you are out there. Make an impression. Get their attention.

Please share low-cost small business marketing strategies you’ve used successfully for your brand in the ‘Comments’ box below.