One advantage of being a small business is that you have a very limited marketing budget. Yes, it is an advantage. You don’t have the ability to exploit traditional marketing avenues so you’re stuck with making the most out of any opportunity that presents itself.

Your Body is Your Tool

Just before we sent Nik and Koz off to the US to the RailsConf, we had PlanHQ t-shirts made. The fact Koz promptly lost his and forgot to wear it during his keynote aside, these guys were clearly representing us. But t-shirts are old news right? Not if you do them cleverly.

PlanHQ

PlanHQ is all about bringing your plans to life… So what better than personalised t-shirts that proclaim your one goal in life… ‘Sell my company to Google’, ‘Make developer’s lives better’, ‘Still dance when I’m 90′. Each t-shirt is slightly different and unique to the wearer, and because PanHQ is focused around setting goals and achieving them, what better way to introduce people to our business than getting them to think about theirs?

Xero

Xero sells accounting software, a traditionally dull industry, full of dull colours and ‘boring people’… But Xero don’t see themselves like that. Xero have recently come out with a range of T-shirts in blues and pinks that are so bright that when you wear one, it’s impossible not to be noticed. They have added to these t-shirts the somewhat cheeky line ‘Xero Style’. Through these t-shirts, Xero make a bold statement about their attitude towards accounting: It’s fun, it’s cool and it’s the cutting edge of fashion. Who would have thought?

FexEx

A little more famous example is the FedEx t-shirts that personify what Fed-Ex is all about - delivering parcels. It’s unique, it’s quirky and more importantly, it stands out in a crowd and it makes people giggle. This is another business that COULD have sat down and figured that they provide a dull but necessary service and rely solely on the fact that consumers will use their service out of necessity. Instead they put in a little bit of clever thinking and made something that PEOPLE LIKE TO WEAR. And when people like to wear something that markets your company, they become your walking billboard.
T-shirts aren’t expensive. T-shirts are hot right now. Exploit the opportunity.

The town is your Canvas

Smaller businesses may get a lot of benefit from exploiting walls, lampposts and footpaths around town. Once again… an old marketing idea with a new slant.
Instead of adapting to your surroundings, adapt your surroundings to you, look out for how you can turn an existing object into something that personifies what your company is about. Anyone can paste a notice to lamppost, how many people however, have turned a lamppost into a ballerina? Posting a few of these up around the local schools (think school crossing poles and the routes home) is bound to get the attention of the target market without you parting with anything more than the cost of a few photocopies.

If your business has a physical premises that you can alter the outside of (even temporarily), you can use it to convey what you do. Everyone can have a sign outside their office, but no matter how slick and professional it is, it will never have the impact that this dude has as he punches a crack in the pavement with his bare fist. You don’t even have to see the words ‘Karate school’ to know what you will get inside this building.

Creativity is King

These days, you shouldn’t have to spend a lot of money marketing your business. The world truly is your oyster and all you have to do is find the opportunities to make an impact. We’ve got a few more ideas up our sleeves which may come out at some point soon, and would love to see and hear about more success stories from tight marketing budgets :)

UPDATE: Changed atrocious spelling of ‘guerrilla’ because Nik got worked up about it ;)