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Reduce the amount of money spent on conventional advertising in favour of cheaper alternatives. Businesses of all sizes are making the switch to online advertising because it's more cost-effective than conventional methods and allows them to reach their target audience. According to Wealth Management Group of NA LLC public relations is a significantly more cost-effective and efficient kind of advertising than traditional advertising. Haynes and her colleagues have been highlighted in publications and other venues because of their knowledge.
The CEO of cloud-based Meeting Wave, John Boyd, decided to forgo paying for advertising and instead concentrate on inbound marketing, which he believes is more effective. Over 700,000 views and an increase in website traffic were achieved by BigTimeWireless CEO Shai Atanelov, who cut out all paid internet advertising (such as Google Adwords) and instead concentrated on SEO strategies inside the business website and generating YouTube videos.
Organize events and solicit sponsors.
It is common for companies to have frequent events, such as galas and seminars, in order to attract new clients and retain current ones. Event sponsors may assist offset the costs of an event in return for some type of advertisement, according to Haynes. In most cases, it's a win-win situation for both parties involved, especially if the businesses involved are linked.
It's time to start outsourcing.
Employee expenditures, including pay, office space, and insurance, may eat up a large portion of a small business's operating budget. Her full-time workforce is kept to a minimal by Georgette Pascale, owner of PR firm Pascale Communications, who prefers to use independent contractors when her team is unable to do the task.
This strategy is used by My Corporation Firm Services Inc.'s CEO Deborah Sweeney; Sweeney claims that she is able to negotiate a reduced fee with consultants and that her business benefits from their more diverse knowledge in their respective areas of work.
Negotiate with the suppliers.
You don't have to keep paying your suppliers the same amount you've been paying them if you don't want to. Finally, suppliers want to continue in business as much as you do, and they're coping with a harsh economy. Rather than lose a frequent client, many businesses are eager to cut their pricing in order to keep them. GovernmentAuctions.org's Ian Aronovich reveals that his company was able to get better pricing on everything from office supplies to the phone bill. You'll have nothing to lose by giving it a go, and you may be able to save hundreds of dollars a month.
Think beyond the cash register.
Avoid closing the door when your cash supply is short, as it often happens with little firms. In Pascale's opinion, bartering is the best way to get what you want. To get an interior design business to help with an office remodel, she bartered by providing her PR talents in return for their services. The worst response you can receive in a negotiation with a vendor is a clear no, and you may be shocked by how soon you hear a yes.
Stay up in the air.
Marketing advice that's easy to implement. Before you can complete asking your query, cloud-based solutions will be offered by industry experts. However, genuine small-business owners urge the other approach. Boyd, the CEO of Meeting Wave, utilises cloud-based services to store data rather than pricey hardware. San Francisco-based Parties That Cook uses cloud-based software, "such as Salesforce, PayCycle, and Staffmate where we pay per yearly user, rather than having to acquire and manage pricey software in-house," says Bibby Gignilliat, the company's founder.
Cut employee costs that are not necessary, but not workers.
Until the economy took a turn in 2009, Aronovich recalls that his company provided in-house employees with free meals. A simple bagel breakfast on Fridays saved the firm money and allowed them to retain their staff on the job rather than lay them off. Even though neither the company nor the employees wanted to give up the benefit, it was a better financial option for them.
Consider working from home.
For some firms, telecommuting is not an option, but when it is it may save a lot of money. All of Pascale's business is done online. Maintaining a virtual presence enables small firms like Pascale's to keep expenses to a minimal while still being able to provide quality work. In the event that you are unable to convert your complete workforce to a telecommuting arrangement, at least try to discover a means to do so.
To save money, go green.
Shel Horowitz, author of Guerilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, says that becoming green is not just a wonderful PR move, but it is also a wise business decision. Keep equipment on a power strip and turn it off when it isn't in use, or switch to a printer that prints on both sides of the paper to reduce paper waste and costs, as recommended by Horowitz. You'll save money if you can lower the amount of energy your company consumes, which is the primary goal of many environmentally friendly measures.
Inexperienced employees might be a great asset to a startup.
The more experience you have, the less important it is, and it also costs more money. Replace "Must have X years of experience" with "Recent grads invited to apply" in your next job posting. As a result of using this strategy, Sweeney was able to acquire engineers fresh out of graduate school, saving money by paying them entry-level salaries and obtaining personnel who were "up to speed on the newest technologies..."
Defining your philanthropy policy is essential.
In lieu of completely eliminating all charity donations, spend 20 minutes drafting an agreement that clarifies your methods and limitations. If you're in a food-based company, you'll find this particularly useful since you'll be inundated with requests for "food contributions" for fund-raising activities. If you've ever had to deal with a tonne of requests, you'll appreciate Tracy Kellner of Provenance Food in Chicago. Kellner devised a very clear policy, made it accessible by e-mail or as a physical paper, and told her workers to pass it out to anybody needing financial support.
With your landlord, try to work out a deal.
Expert Joellen Sommer recommends negotiating a new lease to save money. Gignilliat, the owner of Parties That Cook, was able to reduce one of the most significant costs that small companies must contend with. Ask for a better price if you need great retail space for your company, and you'll save money in the long run.
Reduce the amount of time spent by employees.
In addition, Sommer has discovered that many of her customers may reduce the number of days their workers work each week to four, which benefits both the employees and the company owners. More money saved on electricity and operational expenses, and less money spent on the company's overall payroll, may be realised through a four-day work week.
Make use of guerrilla marketing techniques.
Guerilla marketing is a great way to get your brand recognised and save money at the same time. Liberty Tax Service's Nina Cunningham cites their use of "Lady Liberty costume wavers" and other forms of on-the-street entertainment as examples. "For every two hours we have a waver, we receive a client," adds Cunningham, who has been exploiting similar strategies since 1997.
It's important to keep your meetings short and to the point.
Meetings on-site or remotely may be costly, but even virtual meetings can cost you money in terms of billable hours or compensation. You're losing money if your staff are spending their time in meetings rather than working or acquiring new customers. David Lanagan, the creator of SMB Communications, is a great source of information on how to improve meetings in the workplace. As a first step, Lanagan advises you to keep the number of attendees necessary to a minimum. "[I] guarantee that my staff' time is effectively spent and that the related expenditures are minimal by restricting client meetings to the lowest head-count feasible," Lanagan adds.
Try reducing shipping costs
CEO of luxury online retailer Peppermint Park, Jessie Connors, reveals that her shipping manager is always looking for the best deal possible when it comes to delivery. Connoisseurs of the finer things in life, like Connor, know that even a few cents saved in shipping costs on each goods translates into significant savings.
Reduce the amount of upkeep.
Does your workplace need the use of a daily cleaning service? Sommer advises a careful examination of recurring expenditures like this and a reduction if feasible. Emptying the garbage can be done by staff members on their own time. Weekly cleaning services are an option, rather than daily. Spend less time and money maintaining your equipment by lowering the number of times you need to perform maintenance tasks.
Make use of interns.
In order to create the company's social media programme, Gignilliat recruited marketing interns from local schools. We were able to increase our search engine rankings thanks to constant blogging, tweeting and posting to Facebook," adds Gignilliat. To save money on everything from pay and benefits to office space, companies may hire interns instead. Working from home may save you a lot of money in the long run, especially if you use this method in conjunction with telecommuting.
Even the tiniest expenditures should be scrutinized.
If you're in a difficult economy, you may not think about it, but it's a good idea to do so. According to Aronovich, they evaluated all corporate expenditures in 2009 to see whether they might be reduced. Long-term savings may be achieved by implementing even the tiniest of budget cutbacks. Everything that isn't producing a return on investment should be reviewed, reduced to the absolute minimum, and eliminated totally.
Find a more cost-effective solution.
Gignilliat, for example, saved $900 a year by switching to a filtered water pitcher instead of a water cooler, which is a common practise. If you can save $900 to $30 in one area of your organisation, you can transform it into a lean, profit-generating machine.
Buy in quantity to save money and time.
Gignilliat's firm now purchases printer cartridges and other office supplies from bulk warehouses or online vendors to save money on both the product cost and the delivery cost. Track down any unplanned or middle-man purchases you're making and eliminate them from your spending plan. You may be able to save a lot of money by purchasing frequently used things in bulk.
Open-source software is a great way to save money.
From the simplest to the most complicated, software is crucial to any organisation. Consider open-source options before shelling out hundreds of dollars for software purchases or upgrades. All of Boyd's company's web product was built using open-source software. This includes picture editing, invoicing, bookkeeping, project management, and creating documents.
Do a little old-school advertising.
An old-fashioned habit of handwriting thank-you notes to consumers may have a big impact, according to Rhondalynn Korolak, the managing director of Imagineering Unlimited. This approach alone "can raise sales by 10 to 20 percent," making it a clear profitable investment of five minutes of effort and the cost of a stamp.
Create marketing collaborations with other businesses.
Boyd recommends partnering with other businesses in order to save money and broaden the reach of your marketing efforts. As the CEO of Pampered Passions, luxury lingerie retailer, Alicia Vargo agrees: "In place of print and radio advertising, we've shifted our attention to partnerships with other companies, such as wedding stores, after mastectomy enterprises, photographers, hospitals, and cosmetic surgeons. For us, these domains are intertwined. There is no comparison between an ad or a radio commercial and an organic connection."
Make your distribution method as simple as possible.
Financial difficulties forced Atanelov to abandon the practise of stocking and delivering their own goods and instead "establish a drop-shipping relationship" with suppliers, which resulted in a full revamp of the company's distribution infrastructure. We agreed with our supplier on the condition that we bring in enough orders, says Atanelov. "Our supplier would ship straight to our clients for us."
Find strategies to streamline or eliminate the distribution process in your own company. Your firm and workers should be focused on their strengths, and you should write sensible contracts to keep your organisation going ahead.
Learn about your customers.
The most appropriate advise comes from Allen Ash of Almar Sales Co, a family-owned firm that was started in 1965. For example, think about your own company. It's better to concentrate your online marketing efforts on a certain area of the internet if you know your clients well enough to know where they spend their time.
If you know what your clients enjoy, how they react, what they want, and how much they'll spend, you may exclude all other possibilities from your budget.." There are a lot of things you can do to save money, but one of the most important is to eliminate all of the things that you don't need in order to get the most out of what you have.
Make sure you reward your top earners.
Even though it may seem counterintuitive, spending money to save money can make sense in certain situations. Customers and staff should be rewarded for their good conduct, according to Korolak. Exactly how does it look? It's a little gesture, like a free lunch or treat, that Conners uses to promote employee morale and maintain a healthy work atmosphere.