Does Your Marketing Need a Face Lift?

Marketing is a source of frustration for many small business owners. And when you're on a tight budget, it can be tempting to let your marketing slide.

If your marketing efforts aren't bringing you the results you want, there are a few things you can try, without breaking the bank.

Set Aside a Monthly Marketing Budget

Some business owners risk their entire marketing budget on a single-shot, expensive gamble. If that gamble pays off, great -- but often, it doesn't, and the marketing budget's blown for months.

A better strategy is to decide on a minimum amount you can spend on marketing every month. This will force you to choose smaller, more well thought-out marketing choices. If one of these smaller methods fails, you can go a different direction the next month, with less money lost.

Use Your Networks

Your social media profiles are free -- but are you using them effectively? By building a following on social networking and professional sites, you're getting your name out there without spending any money.

You can also use your personal network, including your existing customers. Encourage word of mouth advertising and referrals, and make it easy for customers to spread the word. You can do this through share buttons on your website, and creating an interesting blog and other content that people will want to share.

Another great way to encourage referrals, testimonials, and product reviews is to conduct a small giveaway or contest. You can do a random draw for everyone that writes a product review, or run a promotion for testimonials on social media or other outlets.

Look for Discounts

Some marketing programs offer free trials, which can let you try them out before deciding whether or not to buy. You may also be able to find a discount for some services such as Google Adwords or other search engine promotions.

You can also try advertising on specific sites where you know your customers hang out. Facebook offers ad space, and may be a much cheaper, more targeted choice for you than marketing offered by search engines.

Create an Affiliate Network

If your business is one that will work with affiliate sales, you may be able to recruit people to do your sales for you. In return, you'll pay them a commission for each one. This can be a very inexpensive method of selling for you. Try to find a professional affiliate network, which will likely have its own marketing budget and a generous audience to market to.

Analyze Your Results

Come up with a way to assess your marketing results. This can be as simple as asking new customers where they heard of you, and monitoring your website traffic for spikes after you introduce new content. By keeping track of these things, you'll be able to tell where your new business is coming from. This, in turn, tells you which marketing methods are working -- and which aren't.

It can be tempting to cut expenses such as advertising when times get tough. But if you can keep marketing through the tough periods, you stand a better chance of weathering the storm and seeing business improve.