20 ways to market your products/services with a slim budget

Product and service marketing does not come cheap. Sometimes you have to go the extra length to get your message to the audience. The main challenge is that there are so many messages out there that if you are not tactical enough yours could get drown in the multitude and might not necessarily get to the people who you target, that is your customers! What you have to do when you are choosing a marketing option is to know first of all where your audience is: Locating the buyer is a challenging proposition today, even with the various options of television, radio, bill boards, the internet, newspapers and magazines. The options may seem to be numerous, but with limited budgets we need to be strategic and make every thing we spend count! The dictum cutting your coat according to your cloth(not your size) comes into play here. Here are over a hundred ways in which you can promote your product or service without necessarily breaking the bank!
1. CD Rom Catalogues with moving pictures
2. Online catalogues(applications specially formatted to work on computers of all kinds and smart phones)
3. Placement at restaurants and cafes. People who go out to eat or drink will  definitely see them and it will stick!
4. Personal letters: Hand addressed but typed. They are also known as direct mail and they can attract immediate responses.
5. In bound telemarketing: Making direct calls or sending text messages to prospects to fix appointments are to get email addresses. It is a bit challenging to totally sell the product or service by phone and is not advisable.
6. Matchbox/book advertising: Match companies would be agreeable to sell small spaces for a token, book publishers could arrange for a page or two to product further services or products
7. Breakfast Seminars: Fix a seminar for early morning at a location of your choice you find that venue owners could come down on the prices if the hours are short and the time is right .
8. Private unveilings of products and services: Unveil a new product before a select audience of influential people who will be able to spread the word to a larger audience. Influencers are can have a spill over effect!
9. Previews: Products are tested or tasted(depending on what kind of product they are in a secluded location)
10 Personalized letters: Like direct mail but specially crafted for select individuals with back up manuals, photographs etc
11.Supermarket boards: Large supermarkets that are frequented by middle class families can be a veritable source of promotions: leaflets, brochures and posters can be displayed in conspicuous places.
12. House to house: Knocking on doors or doing the good old house to house sometimes yields results provided you select the right neighborhood.
13 Point of sale promotions. You could look for a place where a sale is going on and ask for permission to put up your posters or banners or use one sale to promote the other one that is on its way!
14. Cross Promotions Sales: Look for a store or product seller that is totally different from what you are marketing and see how you can fit your product or service promotions in there simultaneously!
15 Workshops that focus on skill acquisition as well as promoting the product or service you have in mind.
16. Bag shifters Place leaflets in bags at the bagging point in supermarkets
17 Employ a group of direct sales people on commission basis. They are used in West Africa to sell Nescafe, Fan Milk and Plastic bottled Soft drinks
18 Signs that announce something free: Announce free coffee with every breakfast meal bought
19. Specialized Banners put up at strategic places could haul in customers in a place where foot traffic is a numerous: Markets, Shopping Malls etc.
20 On Vehicle Advertising: Paste a banner or poser on a vehicle

These are the top 20 there are over 80 others which will follow soon!