clever ways to market your firmThere are many aspects of businesses today that 40, even 20, years ago would’ve been very alien. For example, most firms today realise that employee productivity is often a result of a good work/life balance as opposed to a simple carrot and stick mentality, and do their utmost to facilitate this. One other area which has seen a big change in working practice is marketing. Today, even the smallest firms are likely to have somebody in charge of marketing for the company, if not a full-time dedicated professional.

For these small firms however, it can be difficult to use marketing to get through the current economic quagmire like larger companies are doing, as they are already invested up to the hilt in their advertising and marketing budgets respectively.

Be Inventive

The following are some inventive and more importantly cheap ways to advertise your firm.

1. There are plenty of places to advertise that won’t cost you a single penny, and if carried out properly are just as effective. Banners or signage on the side of buildings you own or operate from are a good idea for certain firms that might not necessarily do this normally. Contact details and branding should appear on these, and help build the company profile. Be careful with things like graphic design on the signage and also ‘upkeep’ as a damaged or weathered banner with poor design can give your firm a negative image.

2. One option which isn’t often considered in many industries is merchandise. Although the word itself conjures up pictures of action figures and bad baseball caps, more toned down items such as pens are almost de rigueur for firms like solicitors. The advantage of these products is that after being given out to customers and clients, they act as free advertising when in use, much like gift bags for retail products.

3. An obvious business essential for some, business cards, are rarely employed in other areas, which is missing out on a large amount of easy brand push. By encouraging employees to carry cards that contain their job title, the company name and logo and their own contact details, the firm will be remembered as well as providing a professional approach to garnering new sales and making contacts.

4. At times social networking might seem like the last thing your business needs more of, given its oft-reported effects on productivity, but by being active on sites like LinkedIn, the company can further increase its online presence whilst at the same time modernising its networking and sales tactics. Workers should ideally be given training in how to display themselves online when communicating on behalf of the company, and how to present their online profiles that re related to work professionally.