•You will hear five extracts about five low-cost ways to market their business.

M: Spearhead an event, party or conference for a cause you care about.  That puts you in the position of getting to know lots of people, and shows off your leadership skills.  I host an annual baseball game where I take hundreds of clients to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field Last year, I took 300 people and we raised $10,000 for a local children’s hospital. Few people turn down a game and it’ s a great networking opportunity for guests.  It lets me reconnect with  current  clients  and  impress  potential clients.
F: Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble bas its coffee bars. Furnishings giant Ikea offers child-care centers and cafeterias.  Why? So customers gravitate to the stores to enjoy an experience, to hang out for a while. Sunday morning at Barnes & Noble becomes a pleasant weekend routine, rather than a shopping errand. Steal this idea.  This tip isn’t limited to offline destinations,   either.   Using   pay-per-click advertising, you can cheaply drive traffic to a one-time news event or specialty offerings, points out Jay Lipe, a small-business marketing consultant based in Minneapolis. Lipe recently set up a Web site for Games by James (www. gamesbyjames, biz), a retailer of beard games, and   quickly   attracted   customers   via pay-per-click ads. The effect was overnight.
M: This is the "free sample" approach to bringing in business. Research active e-mail discussion lists and online bulletin beards that are relevant to your business and audience. Join several and start posting expert advice to solve problems or answer questions You may need to keep this up for a bit. But the rewards come back in paying clients and referrals.  E-mail discussion lists have been my single largest source of clients over the last eight years.
F: Editorial features convey more credibility with prospective clients than paid advertising does. To get coverage from the local media, whether from the town newspaper, from TV or radio stations, or from trade journals, you need a fresh, timely story. It’s usually worthwhile to hire an experienced publicist to position the stories, target appropriate media representative and write and send press releases. Usually, you can work on a short-term or contingency basis.
M: Make an effort to reel them hack in. It costs a lot less to retain a disgruntled or inactive customer than to acquire a new one. If you haven’t heard from a customer in a while, send a personalized e-mail (you can automate this process), inquiring whether all is well. For a customer who suffered a bad experience, pick up    the    phone,    acknowledging    the unpleasantness and ask if there’s anything you can do. A discount can’t hurt either. Being kind to customers is  the smartest  low-cost marketing you can do.