3 Currencies of Marketing

"Slash your marketing budget" is one of my favorite recommendations to small business owners.

There are many ways to market your business that don't require significant financial resources. Here are four no cost marketing initiatives.

The key to these initiatives is the understanding that successful marketing is funded by three separate currencies: money, time and energy.

Money is obvious. It takes money to make money. It takes money to hire a marketing consultant, advertise and otherwise get your name out there.

But money alone does not make marketing successful. In fact, some of the most powerful messaging can be created without spending a lot of money.

For this reason, I recommend small business owners consider investing time and energy into their marketing. Allocating time and energy to a marketing challenge often times results in greater return on investment than money.

Take time, for example. I generally recommend that businesses dedicate at least 10% of all revenue to marketing initiatives. What if business owners spent 10% of their time on marketing? That's really only one hour a day for most.

A lot can be accomplished in one hour: post a blog, give a presentation, cold call, network, optimize other marketing communication or strategically plan your Marketing DNA.

But don't look at time as simply punching the marketing clock. Energy is as valuable as time when it comes to marketing investments. So dedicate energy as well as time.

Investing your energy will allow you to think through your marketing challenges and it will ensure that the time you allocate is well spent.

One great way to invest energy is to generate referrals for other businesses. The Golden Chain of Referrals should start with you, and this strategy generally requires much energy to know the businesses and know to whom to refer their services.

In all, marketing doesn't need to cost money. Time and energy are equally valuable currencies to move your business to the next level.