Most small businesses get hung up on the cost factor of marketing. The first question they ask is, “How much does that cost?” That is the wrong question – the right question is “Will that target the right market?”
You should be focused on customer-directed rather than cost-directed marketing. Forget the idea that everyone is interested in your products and/or services – they’re not. Only the people who have a need for your products and/or services will be interested in them. This is your target market and who you should be concentrating your marketing efforts on. Determine who your ideal customer would be and research, research, research all you can about that specific type of person. Gear your marketing efforts around the information you’ve found. If you’re ideal customer is someone in their 20’s or 30’s you would most likely reach out to them through email or social media. If your ideal customer is of an older age direct mail marketing would be a medium to consider. You need to tailor your marketing efforts to the demographic that is most likely to need your product and/or service. Unless you’re selling pizza (who doesn’t like pizza?), mailing a postcard to everyone within a 5 mile radius of your location isn’t going to target you’re ideal customer. It’s marketing but it’s not effective marketing and why waste your hard-earned dollars on an effort that isn’t targeting your ideal customer.