With all the fuss about online marketing and social media marketing, we don’t want our clients to forget old school, “off-line” marketing because it can still be very effective. Here at Findability Group Denver, we work with businesses of all sizes, from international corporations with entire marketing departments to small businesses and even solo-preneurs. If you have a limited (or nonexistent) marketing budget, then along with taking advantage of free social media sites, you need to think outside the box.
Or perhaps inside the box – the box of chalk!
I was out for a walk the other day when I noticed this hand drawn chalk “advertisement” for Nella’s Frozen Yogurt. And although I didn’t have any froyo in mind as I walked, as soon as I saw their chalk sign, I knew I had to have some. My two kids and I headed straight for Nella’s fabulous emporium of frozen deliciousness, and I doubt we were the only ones. They had cleverly placed their ad on a highly traveled walking path near their shop, on Memorial Day Weekend.
Score for Nella’s! They used the most old school marketing technique around – a simple sign placed where potential customers would not miss it. And so effective that even as I’m writing this, I’m seriously considering going back for more.
Sometimes the most effective ideas are not the most high tech, and fortunately they don’t always have to cost the most money.
But what to do if you cannot think of any way to market your business with chalk? Here are some books that offer fabulous “guerilla marketing” and “marketing on a shoestring” ideas, to spark your creativity.
- The Best of Guerrilla Marketing–Guerrilla Marketing Remix by Jay Conrad Levinson and Jeannie Levinson. Jay is the guerilla marketing guru, and I’d be surprised if you’ve never heard of him. While you are online, check out Jay Levinson’s many other titles on this same subject, and you’ll have so many ideas you might not be able to sleep nights.
- Powerful Marketing On A Shoestring Budget: For Small Businesses by Dee Blick
- The Nonprofit Marketing Guide: High-Impact, Low-Cost Ways to Build Support for Your Good Cause by Kivi Leroux Miller and Katya Andresen
- Free Marketing: 101 Low and No-Cost Ways to Grow Your Business, Online and Off by Jim Cockrum
Of course, we are an online marketing firm, specializing in pay-per-click campaigns and social media marketing, but we like to give credit where credit is due. There is still a place for offline, old school marketing as well. However, if you need any help with an internet marketing campaign, please give us a call or shoot us an email. Just don’t leave a chalk message on the sidewalk for us, because it’s been raining in Denver quite a bit lately and we’d hate to miss the opportunity to work with you!