The Frugal Marketer is brought to you by WellthyLifeStyle.com. That’s my company. it’s a business designed to drive business to other businesses, plain and simple. If you want to know the 32 benefits of being a member, just visit http://www.wellthylifestylenc.com. This company is my baby, and a continuation of work I did in my previous home state of Texas for several years.
With over 10 years in marketing, I found that whatever business ideas I had ended up relating to the promotion of other businesses. To that end, I’ve always had a soft spot for the SBO (small business owner), and I’ve spent the last decade working right-hand to many SBOs to take their companies to levels they had previously only imagined.
I was never one to just toss dollars around, however. Working with SBOs meant limited budgets. So, I had to make a choice: stifle the creativity in order to save money, or use the creativity to find ways to stretch the money. (I chose the latter.)
And so I put my nose to the grindstone. If the business owner couldn’t afford a PR firm, well, I’d learn PR. If they couldn’t afford a graphic designer, then I’d learn graphic design. If they couldn’t afford a web master, I’d learn HTML. Heck, taking classes and teaching myself was always cheaper than hiring the professionals, and I’m grateful that their limited budgets allowed me to grow.
The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. Marketing absolutely fascinates me. Finding new, frugal, creative ways to brand a business, stand out from “the competition”, lob a toss–and watch it land with great results–that stuff made my day. It’s often been said that my idea of a perfect date is a chocolate martini and a book on business or marketing. That’s not entirely true, however. I like key lime martinis, too.
I struggled for a long time about what kind of blog to create. There are already great marketing blogs out there; check my blogroll. I’m not here to reinvent the wheel.
It was actually pointed out to me recently that I’m the one to go to when you need to know how to save money on printing costs, how to choose paper to cut down mailing costs, how to determine if THE trade show to be at is really worthwhile for you. How to calculate ROI in a very easy manner. How to figure out the price per lead from a magazine ad. How to make a big splash in a small pool–even with the big guys.
I’m not flawless by any means, and I’m always studying, learning something new. Marketing is always changing, growing, evolving. And to be successful in business, I think, you must keep up with the times. I just happen to think you can do that without choking your bank account, so it’s my mission here to share what I know about cutting costs, NOT corners, and continuing to find resources to share to help you double the marketing for half the cost.
Enjoy!
Michelle Courtney
WellthyLifeStyle.com
