Little or no marketing budget?
For small businesses with little or no marketing budget you need to think creatively and start thinking bigger! There are opportunities out there to get marketing that you would normally only be able to dream about.
One such method is ‘piggy backing’.
This is a situation where your company benefits another company or organisation while at the same time marketing your own product or service.
In order to be in a position to piggy back:
- there must be no element of competition
- you need to be going after the same target audience
- you must be able to provide some benefit to the other company or organisation
Example of piggy backing a local event.
I was the manager of a sports medicine clinic whose target audience were sports people and exercisers. In our city there was an annual half marathon and 10K organised by the City Council with over 11000 runners, most of whom were from the local area.
I approached the event organiser to suggest we could work collaboratively to both our benefits. The event needed credibility and sports medicine support and we needed free marketing.
We provided:
- In the run up to the event – advice and treatment on improving your running, staying injury free and treating running associated injuries.
- At the event – our team of physiotherapist, masseurs etc provided free treatment before and after the race.
We received:
- Coverage on the local television and radio channels
- Regular features in the local newspaper
- Free advertising in the event publications and runners pack
- Free advertising at the event
Although there were some costs to us in terms of paying for staff time, these were minimal in comparison to the amount of increased business and publicity we received in return.
Piggy backing can occur at physical locations and local events but it can work brilliantly on the internet too.