10 Marketing Tactics Under $10

No marketing budget? No problem, with these 10 creative techniques for bringing in business.



Sometimes it only takes a few dollars to make a marketing idea go a long way. If you’re looking for some new ideas, here are a few to consider. If one of these works, do it again. If it works a little, fix it or adjust it, and then do it again. If it doesn’t work, just try another one of these low-cost ideas. What do you have to lose when your tactic costs just $10?

• Instead of putting a 39-cent stamp on an envelope, put 39 1-cent stamps on the front of an envelope. One of the principles of direct mail is to stand out to get the attention of the receiver so your mail isn’t thrown away or ignored. Attention, interest, desire and action lead to a successful direct-mail program. And anything you can do to get attention increases the probability of action being taken. Best of all, in this case, you won’t even rack up any additional costs.
• Every month, give customers a chance to win a free lunch, compliments of your business. Everyone likes a chance to win things. An incentive like a $10 gift card for lunch at a local restaurant might be enough to influence a customer to order from you now, rather than later, or choose your business instead of your competition.You could also consider other offers, like a Starbucks or gas card. You’ll probably want to offer a full tank of gas, though, which would mean upping your price a little—a few gallons doesn’t sound all that appealing.
• Make a donation to charity for every purchase made during a particular month. If your orders average more than $100 each, donate $10 per order. If that doesn’t make sense for your prices, find another dollar amount that’s a good fit. Your donations will be well worth it if they accelerate orders or increase volume.
• Use lottery tickets as incentives for referrals. You could market your giveaway as a chance to win a million dollars (or whatever the grand prize is for the lottery in your area) for all referrals received during a particular period of time.
• Hold a contest for prospects and customers. How about “Guess the serial number on a $10 bill and it’s yours”? It’s not a lot of money, but people who stop by your place of business will have fun and will remember the contest. And if they win, they’ll tell people about it--even for just $10.
• If there’s still penny candy available, $10 will buy 1,000 pieces. If not, you can still get quite a bit for a small investment. Including candy in your invoices makes companies remember you. Typically, the people who handle accounts payable don’t get the attention buyers get, so even the least little bit of attention could go a long way in a company. Include two pieces--one for the receiver and one for the receiver to give away. This isn’t huge materially, but it’s the thought that counts.
• For $10, you can hire a student, a niece or nephew, or a friend’s teen to picket your business with a sign protesting something positive. It may sound silly, but having a picketer outside your place of business with a sign that reads something like, “We’re protesting good customer service at this location!” or “This place is full of nice people,” will get you noticed. You may even get coverage from the local media.
• On a toll road, pay the toll for the car behind you, and ask the toll collector to give your business card to the car’s driver and tell him or her you paid the toll. Sure, it’s a crapshoot, but you never know who might be on the road. And it’s a low-cost tactic that has imagination written all over it. If the toll is $0.50, you can do this 20 times for your $10 marketing budget. Chances are good that at least one or two of those 20 people will contact you.
• Show up in person with a cookie for the receptionist at a client or prospect’s office. The thing is, customers and prospects love attention. Drop in and visit a few of your customers and just say you’re stopping by to brighten their day. You can’t do this with 1,000 customers, but you can do it with 10 or 20. And sometimes those 10 or 20 can be enough to supply you with just the right orders to meet your monthly goal.
• Advertise using fliers. At an average cost of 2 cents each, $10 will buy 500 printed fliers. You can use them to canvass a targeted area, include them in packaging and delivered orders, hand them to walk-in customers or mail them to a targeted list. Better yet, get your fliers to 100 people, five times each, and the power of frequency will increase the probability of a response. But make sure you have the right message, the right offer and the right target. Also keep in mind that many printing or office-supply companies often offer specials on copy pricing. If you can’t find any specials, offer a fusion marketing arrangement to do a joint promotion with a printing supplier.

There you go--10 true guerrilla marketing examples that use time, energy and imagination instead of a lot of money. They work. And they can be used to build revenue to the point where your marketing efforts can be expanded in scale and scope to really ramp up your business.

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Al Lautenslager is the "Guerrilla Marketing" coach at Entrepreneur.com and is an award-winning marketing and PR consultant and direct-mail promotion specialist. He's also the principle of Market For Profits, a Chicago-based marketing consulting firm. His two latest books, Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days and The Ultimate Guide to Direct