The Secrets to Bootstrap Marketing – Part 1

So you’ve opened your doors and you are up and running…now the fun really starts in terms of marketing.

Now you’ve got to tell the world you are here but …the budget is limited. Don’t get disheartened, this is where you can let your creative side really run riot…get ready to have some fun!

There’s a number of ways you can get your message across, and in this mini series of articles I’ll share a few ideas I’ve either used or come across over the years. Starting with the “non-entity sponsorship deal”!

This one’s a great one, but it does require a little bit of creativity on your part…

Here’s the situation:

You’re already doing a bit of marketing, perhaps running a weekly ad in a local paper, or you’ve even got around to putting a bit of marketing blurb on the end of your email signature…whatever it is, if you’ve got a bit of marketing space, here’s an amusing approach that will cost you nothing and will make you stand out above your competition.

Sponsor that “something” that actually is a non-entity and is not “owned” by anyone but is relevant to your industry.

So for us at Homefinder its:

Homefinder UK – national
UK sponsors of stress free moving.

For a firm who sells flowers it could be:

Johnson’s Florist – National sponsors of floral scents.

For a firm who does house cleaning it could be:

Edwards Cleaners – National sponsors of Spick and Span/ clean floors/ dust free homes…

For a firm who makes and sells air conditioning units it could be:

Jim’s Air Conditioning Units, proudly sponsoring fresh, crisp air

That sort of thing…I’m sure you get the idea. Make sure of course that it’s something no one else can lay claim to or make you pay for the association to, and then claim it as your own.

Sponsorship deals work…Companies will pay big bucks to be associated with something that enhances their image – so give it a positive spin, like our stress free moving angle and then start to work it to your advantage – become known as being linked with that idea, really start to work it in all your advertising and promotional literature.

All the while remembering that whilst some companies are paying millions of pounds to be the official sponsor of this or that – your sponsorship came with an added bonus – it was free!

ebagseller

I totally love this article. I think you could write some other things to make your blog more complete

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ed hardy

I just posted this on digg.com as a comment but I thought it would fit.

Your blog might suck if you are your blog’s most frequent visitor.

Suzane

ya its really a great and beneficial idea through this once not only can get sucess bt also can promote his product very easily.......

Freya Bletsoe

Hi there M!

I've been and had a quick peek at tyour site and it looks good! I especially like the line you have in your "about us" section that says:

"Sellers and buyers of reliable brands in the four corners of the earth are as near as your five fingers."

Very good! All the best with the company. Let us know how you get on. When is the offical launch date and what have you got planned for the launch? Anything special?
Kindest
Freya

M. Nafees

Thank you for sharing your helful and benificial ideas, we are a private limited company and about to luanch our online store.

Hi Danielle, cheers for the comments...in case you wanted to have a look at what I'm on about with our ad, if you follow this link, you'll see the ad we are running this month (Sept) in a regional glossy mag. We've got the right hand side page for this, and the "Stress Free" sponsorship is right there at the bottom. :-)
http://www.homefinderuk.com/presscoverage.php?arti...

Hi Mark, Good advice - keeping it tight is very good advice when using paid for sponsorship as a form of advertising...also if you do any form of sponsorship - we've found that you need to squeeze it for every penny worth that you can get...ask for extras - if you sponsor a local rugby team, ask for tickets to games, meals in hospitality boxes, perimeter boards, ask to be allowed to send a specific email to their season ticket holders on a regual basis (even if they send it for you) ask to be able to hand out flyers at the math, get their logo and get permission to use it on your headed paper, Ask for one or two of the players to attend your external events...then and only then when you get all these extras is you sponsorship deal going to start to look anything like good value for advertising spend! ;-)

Mark True

Great advice. While we often recommend our clients narrow their focus of audience and products and markets, the same is true for sponsorships. Don't try to be all things to all people, throwing your money out to anyone who comes to the door. Find one amazing opportunity - such as a non-profit organization - that perfectly aligns with your brand and your market, and go for it. It's better to be important in one arena than to be just another sponsor in a number of arenas.

-Mark