Savings Plan

1. Piggyback your advertising. Including advertising material in other mailings, such as in invoices, saves postage and other costs, says J. Donald Weinrauch, co-author of The Frugal Marketer (Amacom). Likewise, make the most of your point-of-purchase opportunities by tucking coupons, newsletters or other promotional fliers in the bag with customers' purchases.

2. Wait till the last minute. To keep print advertising costs down, consider "remnant" advertising. Many magazine publishers offer last-minute, unsold, discounted ad space.

3.Be a good neighbor. Split advertising and promotion costs with neighboring businesses. Jointly promote a sidewalk sale, or take your marketing alliance further by sharing mailing lists, distribution channels and suppliers with businesses that sell complementary goods or services.

4. Make a special TV appearance. Local cable TV stations often have very reasonable advertising rates at time slots throughout the day and night. Though you won't necessarily reach prime-time viewers, you will make an impression where it counts-in the comfort of potential customers' homes.

5. Go back to school . . . and introduce yourself to the head of your local college business program. Many of these programs build community work into their curriculum and can provide valuable assistance in writing or revising your business plan-or doing market research-for free. For more information about such programs, contact the Small Business Advancement National Center at (501) 450-5300 or at (http://www. sbanet.uca.edu/).

6. Be open to suggestions. For free market research, just ask your customers. Set up a suggestion box at your place of business (or online), suggests Weinrauch. Ask customers to fill out their names and addresses along with their suggestions, and you've got the makings of a mailing list, too. While you're at it, ask your employees for cost-saving suggestions.

7. Follow the gurus. Jay Conrad Levinson is one of many marketing gurus to offer free marketing advice on the Web. Check out his free weekly Web magazine, Guerrilla Marketing Online, at (http://www.gmarketing.com).

8. Offer expert advice. Teaching a class, speaking at a community meeting, or writing an article for a local paper not only makes you look like an expert but garners low-cost attention for your business.

This article was originally published in the February 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Savings Plan.