The other day, I was headed to a speaking engagement on Geographical targeting using Google Adwords.  The gas guage in my car glared “E,” so I pulled into the nearest gas station.  I usually make these types of ‘waiting’ situations productive for myself, so I was talking on the phone and washing my windows at the same time.  A few seconds later, I noticed a gentleman come over to my pump and stare at it.  He certainly did not appear to be the gas station attendant.  As I mentioned I was speaking on the phone, so I did not have a chance to ask the man what he was doing.  I saw him fumbling around with something, but I didn’t get it too much thought.  After the gas had finished pumping, I meandered over to the pump and noticed what he had been doing.  He put 3 business cards in the slits of the gas pump contraption.  He was promoting his affordable health insurance plans.  

In digesting what all just happened, I was actually proud of the guy for thinking outside the box and finding a ‘free’ way to promote himself.  Now, I didn’t purchase anything from him, but those cards might just fall on the lap of a qualified prospect.

So, what are you doing these days to cut marketing expenses, but improve marketing techniques.  Just because you have to cut back on expenses in some instances, does not mean you should do less marketing.  It just means that you have to get smarter about how you market yourself.  Bang for the buck, internet marketing is undoubtedly the best out there.  If you specifically advertise on Google, you can write the worst ad in the world, and if no one clicks it, it’s free.  On the other hand, if you write a terrible yellow page ad, you pay for it and have to live with it for a long time.  

Where are your marketing dollars going?