This is a greater time than ever to start an online business. Even in a “down” economy, people still need information. And this is the one business that you need very little upfront cash to get going. In fact, there are virtually endless amounts of ways to create streams of income online - especially if you spend your marketing dollars wisely.
Are you thinking about creating an online business? Or do you have an existing business that you need to market but for less money? Well I have some suggestions on how to recession proof your marketing in any economy.
1. Write Articles
The #1 marketing tactic that costs you nothing and provides the best results when you know how you do it correctly is article marketing. It does not have to take you a zillion hours to do it and it is the absolutely a time-tested, proven method that works. Ask any online millionaire! I recommend starting with one article every two weeks.
2. Get Blogging
Search engines like Google love blog articles! Why? Well they attract more natural and organic traffic to your site then any other content method. I suggest building a Wordpress blog because of the easy-to-use interface and large community of Wordpress bloggers.
3. Begin Building Relationships
Building relationships and therefore trust with potential customers, clients, or joint venture partners is paramount to your online success. I usually like to achieve this by going to some of my favorite internet marketing or entrepreneurial seminars. But I pay thousands of dollars for those! Not a real cost effective method for relationship building. That’s why it’s good to use social marketing as a low cost relationship building tool. Try some of my favorites: Twitter & Facebook. You can also go “old-school” and still reach out to people through email. It works!
4. Quit Buying Information You Don’t Need
While I highly recommend to all of my clients that they invest in continual education, I also readily admit that it should only be information that you can afford at the time. I have invested thousands in information products, coaching programs, etc. but I also have done it during times when I could afford to do so. When I couldn’t - I didn’t. The same goes for your marketing. There are dozens of strategies you could try implementing, but many cost money (such as pay per click ads). Start with with the simplest strategies first that cost little to no money. My first recommendation is article marketing of course:-)
5. Abandon Pricey Marketing Tactics
Chances are that you are spreading your marketing dollars around on coaching programs, membership sites or pay per click ads - but have you analyzed them lately. It’s more important than ever to let go of any strategies that are not working for you, or ones that are just stretching your budget too tightly. It’s really not necessary to invest in these sort of high strategies when there are so many zero cost solutions that have been proven over the years to work effectively.
