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What would you do with a $350 budget?

by qu4rk
15 replies
I am looking to run a $350 test campaign for my business. I usually don't directly spend money for things like paid media, or PPC. However, I'm looking to invest $350 to test a campaign of something & I'm looking for ideas. It can be anything: $350 worth of stamps, envelopes, etc., $350 worth gas, $350 worth of donuts to local businesses, or PPC.

I want to track & measure the success of the campaign & see if there is at minimum a breakeven on the hard costs. Then, I will look to replicate the test.

I know $350 is a small budget to test with, but I'm looking to get creative & hopefully do something fun instead of the usual.

What am I selling? Web Design & SEO.
To Who? Local off-line businesses

Any suggestions are appreciated.
#$350 #budget
  • Profile picture of the author MichaelWinicki
    1. Make a list of local businesses.

    2. Spend time researching their websites.

    3. Come up with a recommendation on how to improve them.

    4. Call the prospect and arrange for a brief 5-minute meeting to review how to amp up their website.

    5. Rinse & repeat.

    Use the $350 for covering phone costs, gas, business cards and the other components of a shock & awe package.
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  • Profile picture of the author daniyal100
    Originally Posted by qu4rk View Post

    I am looking to run a $350 test campaign for my business. I usually don't directly spend money for things like paid media, or PPC. However, I'm looking to invest $350 to test a campaign of something & I'm looking for ideas. It can be anything: $350 worth of stamps, envelopes, etc., $350 worth gas, $350 worth of donuts to local businesses, or PPC.

    I want to track & measure the success of the campaign & see if there is at minimum a breakeven on the hard costs. Then, I will look to replicate the test.

    I know $350 is a small budget to test with, but I'm looking to get creative & hopefully do something fun instead of the usual.

    What am I selling? Web Design & SEO.
    To Who? Local off-line businesses

    Any suggestions are appreciated.


    There two types of people in this world.
    1 # selling web design and s.e.o
    2 # buying web design and s.e.o

    sadly the second type is no more then 1% of the first type. As less then 10% people actually owns businesses and out of it very very very few interested in having a website online.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by daniyal100 View Post

      There two types of people in this world.
      1 # selling web design and s.e.o
      2 # buying web design and s.e.o

      sadly the second type is no more then 1% of the first type. As less then 10% people actually owns businesses and out of it very very very few interested in having a website online.
      10% of 7 billion people on this earth... so there are 700 million business owners. Taking some KNOWN demographic data 40% ( + / - ) of those 700 Million would already have a website. So that narrows down the existing business owners to having 280 Million websites. Sure the number is skewed.. there are only roughly 140 Million active websites in the WORLD. ( again a KNOWN demographic fact )

      I think we could roughly say that 50% of the active sites in the world are "business sites" so 70 Million ( + / - ) Even if we were to break that number down to 10% own that many sites we are looking at 7 Million Business owners with a site or multiple sites. There simply ARE NOT 7 million active SEO / Web Design firms or freelancers around the world. let alone 7 million representing 1% so 700 million SEO / Web Design Firms or freelancers in the world.

      Aside from all of that... there is looking at the numbers an interesting gap between the "Haves and have nots" I recently had a local study done that calculated that only 20% of all business have a website ( and again that is local to me ) So that indicates that there is 80% of business' that do not.

      the question is do you go for the segment of the market that has bought once before, or do you find a way to break into the segment of the market that is larger by percentage. The way I look at this. You can quickly go online and get some demographic data of the area you live in. What is the local population, and what is the number of business licenses.

      Lets talk about the business license number first. That is the TOTAL number of business' within your community. Using the data I collected in my area I can then look and see that X ( number of licensed business' ) - 80% ( those that do not have a website ) = a pretty finite and definite number. That number would be your max cap ( locally ) that you could approach from the angle of they have bought before and they will buy again.

      Me.. I live in a regional area with a standing business population of 10,000. ( covers roughly 2500 square miles - 50 miles square ) and the 20% would mean that my potential customer base would be 2000 business'. How long would it take to cold call and make contact with that list?

      The FLIP side of this becomes the 8000 that do not have sites. Would obviously take you 4 times longer to cold call and make 100% contact.

      So the question needs to be asked "Why do they not have websites?" I did my research, I know a list of reasons why.. I suggest you call a random set of 100 and get the answer to that question.

      Now lets introduce the actual population of my particular area. 2500 square miles has roughly 100,000 people. Minimum total reach that you can offer to any business then becomes this number.

      Once you can start working around the Why nots... and provide the reasons why they should be reaching the 100,000.. that is when you start looking at ways to spend that $350.

      The best money I spent on seeking out local business? MY TIME... and depending on how far away from "Town" they were, a couple bucks at starbucks
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      Success is an ACT not an idea
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by daniyal100 View Post

      There two types of people in this world.
      1 # selling web design and s.e.o
      2 # buying web design and s.e.o

      sadly the second type is no more then 1% of the first type. As less then 10% people actually owns businesses and out of it very very very few interested in having a website online.

      So you believe there are 99 web designers out there selling services, for every one person who needs a website or SEO?

      On the contrary,

      I'm only one person, and I have made hundreds of sales myself , and overseen thousands of others. Given that; it would seem that there are thousands of people who would buy websites compared to the one me (salesman) ... at least that whats I have experienced, and have seen others experience. Sure it takes work to find the buyers.

      Note:

      I'm not selling websites anymore, nor am I even interested in doing it anymore..., but have a lot of experience, and will certainly be glad to share it with anyone who is seeking that information.

      I think its a greatly profitable business for anyone who wants to be in it, but yeah; "it takes some effort".

      Its a business that anyone can do... but, whether or not you "will" do it is the key. What idea does your "WILL" cooperate with? That's the only place where success is waiting for anyone.

      Offline is a great business and utterly doable.
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      • Profile picture of the author sandalwood
        To answer the question: I'd spend it at a happy hour until the money was gone. Not being facetious just stating the obvious. $350 on advertising is, let's just say, not enough.

        You can accomplish what you want to do with ingenuity. For example, before this thing called the Internet those of us who had to sell without all of its benefits devised ways to reach our audience. Wow! No Internet and we managed to make thousands of dollars. How the hell did that happen?

        Let me give you one way. Go to an organization that has hundreds even thousands of members, they exist in every town, and propose your WIIFM (what's in it for me) plan. I did that last night at a political meeting. No Internet. No google. No PPC. No adwords. No anything. Just a way for them to pocket 20 to 30K. I didn't even have 350 in my pocket when I talked to the guy who made the decision.

        BTW, all the posts before mine have been fantastic because the people posting have walked the walk. They don't just talk the talk. So, enjoy your happy hour and make some money with an open mind and a willingness to be free from all the BS the wanna be gurus toss out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
    Seriously ?

    I think you could use that money to up your image....new biz cards,other materials..

    spend some money to go to networking events, biz breakfasts, card exchanges....

    get names and numbers...don't try to sell or oversell on the spot..build relationships

    think of the happy clients you have and take them out for a coffee or a drink or pop by their biz with some goodies for the office - and see who they can "help out" by referring you to them

    much of local marketing boils down to relationships. $350 could buy goodwill and expand your network.
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  • Profile picture of the author The Pines
    Go for the easy sale - go for the low-hanging fruit, aka, your existing customer base.


    Invent a reason to contact them with a totally free, no strings attached gift. It could be a religious holiday, national day, local day, anything.


    Send them a voucher for pizza, coffee, donuts, steak. Or, even better, invite them to a local establishment for breakfast/lunch/dinner, and you pick up the tab. Your customers get to meet you, and other customers, chew the fat (especially if it's a cheeseburger) and just talk to other human beings. But don't pitch anything during the meeting.


    When your customer goes home who are they going to be talking about within their network for the next week? YOU!






    Originally Posted by qu4rk View Post

    I am looking to run a $350 test campaign for my business. I usually don't directly spend money for things like paid media, or PPC. However, I'm looking to invest $350 to test a campaign of something & I'm looking for ideas. It can be anything: $350 worth of stamps, envelopes, etc., $350 worth gas, $350 worth of donuts to local businesses, or PPC.

    I want to track & measure the success of the campaign & see if there is at minimum a breakeven on the hard costs. Then, I will look to replicate the test.

    I know $350 is a small budget to test with, but I'm looking to get creative & hopefully do something fun instead of the usual.

    What am I selling? Web Design & SEO.
    To Who? Local off-line businesses

    Any suggestions are appreciated.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10015312].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      I'll quote Claude here...

      "I was once talking to a mattress store owner, and he told me that he spent $5,000 a month in newspaper advertising. That's not even a lot for many small retail stores.

      I said something along the following lines;
      "If you are making money on the newspaper, I wouldn't change a thing..Are you generating a profit from the newspaper ads?" Him; "Yes"

      Me; "Do you think newspaper readership is increasing, or decreasing?" him, "Decreasing"

      "Are you getting less people going online, or more people going online to shop?" "More. Lots more".

      Me "You're spending $5,000 a month on Newspapers. You should keep that, until it no longer produces a profit. And for the same amount, one time, I will make sure you are the dominant local presence on Google. And it will last as long as you are in business, with just a minimal monthly fee for updates. In other words, for a one time fee of $5,000...you'll be the go to guy for mattresses online in your area. Is that what you want?'

      And he just said "Yes", and we were done.

      Now, if he would have said that he spent $500 a month on newspaper advertising (or any other one media), I would have broken my fee into monthly installments. But he was used to giving reps $5,000 a month.

      The questions I bolded, were very important. They set up the idea that he needed to change something, because the consumer was shopping in a different way, now. And I needed him to hear himself say that more people were going online"

      END///

      This is what I keep hammering,

      Ask yourself these 3 questions in this order...

      1 Who is your ideal client

      2 Where do I reach them

      3 What do I say to them

      See how easy Claude made that sale?

      He knew his ideal client is already paying sums of money
      for a form of advertising.

      Past behaviour predicts future behaviour.

      Now you can get a list of businesses that are spending $60,000
      a year on printing.

      That works out at $5,000 per month, as in Claude's case.

      Ask those the same line of questioning as Claude did.

      Invest your $350 in that list from Infousa.com

      Best,
      Doctor E. Vile
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      • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        This is what I keep hammering,

        Ask yourself these 3 questions in this order...

        1 Who is your ideal client

        2 Where do I reach them

        3 What do I say to them
        Thanks Even for reminding me of the real focus.

        Before spending the $350 I'd checkout this...

        Hubspot has a little tool that may help with building the buyer persona...

        Create a Buyer Persona, MakeMyPersona | Hubspot
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      • Profile picture of the author alrachid
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        I'll quote Claude here...

        "I was once talking to a mattress store owner, and he told me that he spent $5,000 a month in newspaper advertising. That's not even a lot for many small retail stores.

        I said something along the following lines;
        "If you are making money on the newspaper, I wouldn't change a thing..Are you generating a profit from the newspaper ads?" Him; "Yes"

        Me; "Do you think newspaper readership is increasing, or decreasing?" him, "Decreasing"

        "Are you getting less people going online, or more people going online to shop?" "More. Lots more".

        Me "You're spending $5,000 a month on Newspapers. You should keep that, until it no longer produces a profit. And for the same amount, one time, I will make sure you are the dominant local presence on Google. And it will last as long as you are in business, with just a minimal monthly fee for updates. In other words, for a one time fee of $5,000...you'll be the go to guy for mattresses online in your area. Is that what you want?'

        And he just said "Yes", and we were done.

        Now, if he would have said that he spent $500 a month on newspaper advertising (or any other one media), I would have broken my fee into monthly installments. But he was used to giving reps $5,000 a month.

        The questions I bolded, were very important. They set up the idea that he needed to change something, because the consumer was shopping in a different way, now. And I needed him to hear himself say that more people were going online"

        END///

        This is what I keep hammering,

        Ask yourself these 3 questions in this order...

        1 Who is your ideal client

        2 Where do I reach them

        3 What do I say to them

        See how easy Claude made that sale?

        He knew his ideal client is already paying sums of money
        for a form of advertising.

        Past behaviour predicts future behaviour.

        Now you can get a list of businesses that are spending $60,000
        a year on printing.

        That works out at $5,000 per month, as in Claude's case.

        Ask those the same line of questioning as Claude did.

        Invest your $350 in that list from Infousa.com

        Best,
        Doctor E. Vile
        I would have to agree with this and I think this is golden advice. I have went through sales training for a few large companies in America and the idea is always the same. The consumer has a problem, you present them a solution, and through questions you make them verbally tell you what they want/need and show them how you're going to be the one to solve the problem.

        WIIFM - What's in it for me? Think from the client's perspective and try to predict the answers they will give you, be ready to overcome objections by clearly showing what benefit the customer receives. Tie that benefit to whatever problem you know the client has and they already admitted you can do something for them!
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  • Profile picture of the author Hanehan17
    I would raise it
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    A well defined list of your target client.

    A dialer.

    A nice set of clothes.

    Some decent materials to take with you.

    A pre-appointment package to send before you go.

    You should be able to do these things for less than $500. Your return should be over $100k if you know how to really work.

    Only invest in campaigns once your hustle is tuned in and you are making good income. Otherwise - you will just flush the $350 down the toilet because you will not be able close on the people who respond.
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  • Profile picture of the author sweetcrabhoney18
    I got my car wrapped for that price. Maybe you could do that?

    The above advice is better however.
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    keep moving forward

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  • Profile picture of the author satyaprakash75per
    Organize an event, invite top people in your region and share ideas with them. At last, promote your service. Sometimes works.
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  • Profile picture of the author massiveray
    Soooo... I didn't read much of the thread above, they seemed a little too much and preachy for my liking.

    Anyways I sell the same stuff as you for the most part, and you currently have a massive opportunity while it's fresh.

    I'm generating SEO leads for £20(ish) using the new Facebook lead ads options. These are nice quality leads too, I'm selling £2000 p/m traffic generation services to them.

    You can only access them through the power editor so make sure you're using chrome but these things are incredible.

    Set up some typical targeting of business owners in your city and throw up some ads.

    It's a bit tricky to download the data at the moment as none of the major crm offer integrations for it yet (that I know of anyway).

    I'd get on it quickly as when these things tend to be proven the price per lead goes up pretty sharpish.

    If you can close 1 in 10 leads you're in profit.
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