Market your business without breaking the bank March 13, 2009
How to market for less - email
There are a number of ways to market your business. Many do not involve a marketing firm or lots of money. From emailing to printing postcards from a discount online printing service, a little money can go a long way.
First, do you know people? Everyone knows people and that is where you start. 
If you do not already have a database, contact management software or even a spreadsheet, make one. Take all of those business cards you gathered at every networking event you ever attended and enter the information into the database or spreadsheet. Make sure to note where you met them and any other information that might give you a clue as to what your business or services have to do with theirs. Make sure you also include their email address and the URL of their website. If you do not have their email address, get it. It will become an important part of your marketing plan. You may want to group the list into clients you are working on, current clients or even by the service or product you wish to provide them. Try different ideas to figure out what works best for you.
Now that you have your prospects’ information all in one place, start developing your email. Email is one of the most effective ways to reach potential, or current, clients. By using email, you can quickly send your message to a large number of people in a short amount of time. Just write your sales letter in the form of an email and send it to you your list or choose only one group such as those clients you are still in the process of vetting. You should always have a way to unsubscribe in all of your marketing emails that you broadcast to a large group. Do not list everyone’s email address in the message, but create a group for the list. This way it is more private, something that will keep many of your clients from unsubscribing. Make sure to mention some sort of code for tracking purposes. If you track your sales, you will know which of your marketing efforts work and which do not.
Make sure you follow up or your efforts will be wasted. You can send a follow-up email after a week or two asking if they received the first email, and then gently remind them of your offer without re-stating the entire sales letter. It is a matter of re-wording the original.
