Nowadays, because of the global recession, people opt to cut costs on their marketing expenses. We all know the traditional marketing - television commercials, radio broadcasts, and classified ads in broadsheets. But these traditional forms of marketing are too expensive costing hundreds and millions of pesos.

If you are a start up company, then definitely you wouldn’t have the marketing budget to splurge in promoting your products and services. I compiled a list of unique marketing ideas that are less costly that would definitely suit your marketing budget.

Use direct micro marketing - You definitely see a lot of people from high traffic places such as Ayala and others. You see these people giving out flyers, pamphlets, and other marketing paraphernalia in the hope to arrive for sales of their products and services. This is old style. Yes, they could get the flyers or brochures from you, take a look on what’s in it and if not interested, they would just crumple it and throw it as a trash! So what happened to your marketing expenses for the flyers? - trash.

I met an entrepreneur who does direct micro marketing. He has a business of collecting and compiling all marketing paraphernalias. He seal it in an envelope and mail it directly to the residence of Class A and Class B villages within the Metro. Why Class A and B? Because these people are the ones who have the money to buy your products and services. The cost? It’s only a thousand pesos. The requirement? You just need to prepare at least 800 copies of your flyers or brochures! This guy was already featured in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Benefit from social networks site - As you all know, people nowadays are using social networking sites such as multiply to promote their products and services. What’s good with this marketing idea is that you don’t have to spend a single centavo for marketing since you can just create a multiply account for free.

Alternatively, you can also set up a website or a blog site with a domain that’s easy to remember. Arm this website with a calling card so that if you are on meetings and business encounters, you can just promote it by giving your calling card.

Furthermore, if you have a twitter account, then use it to tweet your products and services. Twitter nowadays are becoming a way for companies to market their products and services. You would be surprised that even the huge multinational companies such as Microsoft, Dell, and HP are tweeting to promote their products and services. The twitter accounts of these companies are being handled by their corporate communications and marketing group.

Expose that tarpaulins - Tarpaulins are another way to market when you have a tight budget. You can display it on high traffic areas. I see some of these tarpaulins on the exit of our subdivision. There is only one main entrance and exit in our subdivision and so all the visitors and villagers are potential customers.

Take advantage of corner house and lot - Do you own a house located on a corner lot that has high traffic? Then use it to your advantage! I saw one corner lot in our subdivision. The location was good as it is along a main street where people pass by. In fact, the owner even had an ad space that’s available for rent. This is a good source of passive income!

Employ the help of your car. Do you have a car? Then you can employ the help of your car in marketing your products and services. Display a good marketing paraphernalia at the back of your car. If you are not bothered, you can even paint your car with your products and services. This can definitely be done if you have a company car or a service vehicle.

Alternatively, I’ve seen taxis and jeeps are becoming venues for marketing too.

Use the power of place mats. I’ve seen this in some restaurants already. They have placemats that have advertisements on it. While waiting for their food, restaurant customers can view the ads on the placemat. Interestingly, the director of one of the pioneers of this marketing idea is a batchmate of mine in Ateneo.

Make use of free marketing. There are always auction sites out there that allows you to post free advertisements in marketing your products and services. I’ve listed some of these free marketing sites.

Alternatively, there are also free ads paper out there. The most famous of this is Buy and Sell free ads paper. You just have to call them with your advertisement. They print 2 issues weekly. One on Tuesday and another one on Friday. And they deliver results since they have established a wide base of readers.

So for now, here are some of the low capital marketing ideas that I have in mind. Do you have anything to add?

Just remember that you don’t need to have a lot of capital in order for you to become successful in your business ventures. Just think of creative ways on how to cut costs and effectively market your products and services.

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