What’s that? You don’t have any budget for marketing? You don’t even have the time to stop and THINK about it? OK, it’s not uncommon. But it doesn’t mean you get a pass on marketing efforts. You can’t just sit there waiting for referrals to materialize and prospects to discover you serendipitously. It. Ain’t. Happening.

It only means you have to figure it out for yourself. What are you currently doing to market your services? Which channels are you using? How do prospects find out about you?

I’m here to help. These are just 4 Do-It-Yourself Marketing Ideas that every printing company can implement. As an added bonus, they don’t have to cost you a penny.

1. Plump up your email’s digital signature. This goes for all employees, too. Digital signatures should include your LinkedIn profile address and Twitter handle, if appropriate. Adding your site’s URL is a no brainer, and I’d also suggest adding phone numbers and email addresses if you haven’t already. Now, there’s marketing value in every email you send.
2. Improve your LinkedIn Profile. When I want to check someone out for whatever business reason, I go to that person’s LinkedIn profile and then to the company’s web site. Pretend that every prospect of yours does the same. Now, work on your LI profile so it presents you as the smart, experienced expert you are. Make sure you have a photo there. Take the time to describe your role, your skill set, your experience, and do spell out your specialties. For a good post on this subject, read what HubSpot recommends.
3. Write down a list of the top 5 challenges or problems your customers deal with. You may need to consult with your sales and service teams. Now go somewhere quiet. Unplug. Take this list, and underneath each problem, while you imagine that a customer’s standing in front of you, write down how you’d fix it. Turn each of these 5 answers into a few solid paragraphs, making a compelling headline out of each problem topic. Voila! You now have 5 blogs and also 5 customer emails and also 5 topics for a direct mail campaign to showcase your smarts. Repeat every few months.
4. Ask every employee from the top of the management team to the newest hire just learning the trade to take a photo of the one thing about your company that makes them the proudest. It could be another person, a box of samples, a written letter of thanks from a customer, a piece of equipment or other technology, or some sign that you support your community, for example. Have them email you the photo, along with one sentence describing why it’s the one thing that makes them proud to work there. Then take these “Insider Applause” pictures and share them on any or all of the following channels: your site, your blog, your FB page, your Twitter account, whatever. It may be built-in bragging, but it’s the best kind: from the heart.

If you follow this advice and are diligent about using your best media channels, your company’s name and reputation will spread. Your communities will get to know folks who work for you and why they love the company. And prospects and customers will get deeper insights into how you can help them.

They’re all easy to do, and two of these ideas (#3 and #4) can be repeated a few times each year. You haven’t spent any money, yet in a pinch and with little effort, you’re marketing your company with original content.

Do it. Do it now. Do it yourself.

© 2015 Margie Dana. All rights reserved.