From zero to hero with zero

So you don’t have a marketing budget; what do you do? You think like a ninja and strike with low-cost marketing moves to slay lack of sales, say Colin Bell and Jaclyn McPhadden, co-owners of RecycleSmart.

Founded in 2012, they have a team of zero waste experts that can help companies decrease waste and recycling expenses while increasing the amount they reuse and recycle. RecycleSmart uses advanced monitoring technology to maximize efficiency, real time data reporting to guide decision making and industry experts to develop and implement creative solutions that fit any business. Colin and Jaclyn had the following advice for their fellow entrepreneurs:

Personalizing old school mail. When it comes to B2B sales, send small, hand-addressed envelopes with your elevator pitch printed on a card inside. Get the cards professionally printed and sign your name on each card with a short personal greeting. When was the last time you got a hand-addressed letter from a business? Probably never, and if you did, you would remember the name of that company when they called you a few days later to set up a sales appointment. Same approach works great for sending thank you cards after sales appointments.

If they won’t come to you, go to them. Go directly to where your product/service is needed. Put your promotional material directly at the source of your target market. Are you a painting company? Drive around and stick your brochures directly on buildings that are in need of a paint job. Trying to get more business for your home interior design business? How about tucking some flyers on some vehicle windshields at a local Home Depot on a busy Saturday? Doesn’t work for all businesses, but I bet if you think about your sales challenge, there is a way to work this tactic into your plan.

Tell someone who can tell someone, who can tell someone. Harness the power of the bloggers. Lots of popular blog sites will review your service in exchange for a free sample or service. Not only do you get the promotional value you also get a third party review/testimonial. The other bonus is the ongoing SEO value of having that blog post create another page hit on search engines for your product/service.

Remember to respect local bylaws and use common sense when doing Guerilla Marketing. The idea is to get the attention of your target market, not the local bylaw officer; unless your target market is local bylaw officers…