Start-Up Marketing Hacks

You know the expression, "You can't have your cake and eat it too?" It is absolutely terrible. Do you want to know why? Because it is an excuse that subtly lets you off the hook. It lets you stop thinking and problem solving. Whether you choose to believe it or not, you actually can quite often find a win-win and have your cake and eat it - all it takes is the right attitude and determination. Take a look at this:
The cake - Looking like a bigger, well-established, very capable, and highly-professional company.
Eating it too - Not needing to spend a bunch of money or hire unnecessary employees while maintaining the above perception.
In marketing perception is everything. Companies will spend big dollars on their image. So how do you do it with less? Here are a few methods that are so simple they may shock you.
1. Looking big and reputable - In regards to web presence this one is simple. On you internet storefront, in the contact area, offer several email addresses such as sales, marketing, or accounting at your-url.com and have them all filter to your primary email account (joe@joescompany.com). You can setup all of these features easily through your web hosting service.
Why is this a great idea? It gives the perception of a small business having departments and employees without the high costs of having them
Next question - is it unethical? Let me ask you another question. Is advertising a 3% discount on cash sales unethical? Think about it. It isn't really a discount, but rather a backwards way of accounting for the processing costs of credit cards which is generally between 2-3%. It's a matter of perception, and retailers do this to you every day. They will first raise their prices and then issue a sale bringing the product back to nearly the same price. Perception is ridiculously important in marketing.
Bonus: Another way to look bigger? Get several authors for your content. The bigger the names you can get, the better.
2. Fax number - While I would argue that faxes are becoming outdated and inefficient, having a fax number still gives off an air of professionalism. The solution to having a physical machine and fax line? An absolutely free fax number that requires only your email address. The online service, eFax, offers such a great service with a couple small stipulations; you can only receive faxes, and you cannot choose the number, which is all you really need to satisfy your perception needs.
How does it work? When a company sends a fax to your "number" it is immediately forwarded to your email account where you can open it with the free software given to you.
Now you are probably wondering what exactly do you do if the company needs documents from you. Simple - you tell them that email is the easiest, most confidential and secure way to go about it, or suggest one of the many other online methods of collaboration and voila! You have a professional appearance and a more efficient paperless system for your business. Or if you are hard-up for sending a fax, there are many free, granted highly limited, fax services easily found through Google or Yahoo!
3. One number to rule them all - Google Voice (GV) has recently released yet another fantastic feature for its users. By obtaining a completely free GV phone number (which can be a number from anywhere in the U.S.) a user has access to a ton of helpful features that can easily add to your professional repertoire. Some of these features are as follows
One number - probably the best feature, GV gives you a separate number, which for our purposes can be your business number, and lets you forward your calls to as many of your phones as you want. Or if you want to be more technological you can even customize where it rings and doesn't ring depending on who is calling. Conference calls - Want to do a five-way conference call on Monday? You can do it easily with Google voice. Pair it with a Skype number for even easier access. Just give your callers your number and a time and you are good to go. Personalized greetings - GV allows you to organize your contacts into groups, and you can give each group (or individual) a personalized meeting. Want to make that big client of yours feel special? Customize their voicemail. Contact management - get rid of your Rolodex. Enter it into Google and access it from anywhere in the world. You can even do searches on your contacts (or the notes you have for them - helpful for salespeople) to save large amounts of time. Voicemail transcription - Along with being able to customize your greetings, google will also do a great job of transcribing your voicemails and forwarding them on to your email or cell phone for quick, easy access. Call recording - Need to record that meeting regarding the year's new sales contract? No problem. Just be sure to adhere to Google's rules and restrictions for legality sake. International calling - Google offers very competitive rates in the 10¢/minute and under range. SMS - Google does texting! No support for media texts as of yet. Screen or block callers - want to focus your time? Screen your calls, or better yet just block those numbers that you know won't benefit you. Mobile App - Take GV with you anywhere. It fits your hectic lifestyle. Use it in conjunction with an 800 number - and save your clients some money.
Google voice is so versatile it can make any small business person seem more professional. Sometimes it is just hard to believe what Google offers us for free.
4. Professional Looking Photos - There are two great resources for this one. One is free and the other affordable. Both are royalty-free. Pick your poison. First up is Stock.XCHNG. Stock.XCHNG is a free stock photography site offering thousands upon thousands of high quality work. iStockphoto is its big brother and will deliver even better photography for reasonable prices. Forget hiring professional photographers. They are right at your fingertips!
Man, having your cake AND eating? Feels pretty good if you ask me. If you want to look like you are beyond just being one of the million start-ups out there today as you strive for success, use these three tools to change the look and feel of your business and meet your bootstrapping goals.
Shawn is an internet marketing and personal finance specialist, and co-founder of BeUnemployable.com, a site designed to challenge people to think less like "employees" and more like those who can change the world around them for the better. Along with his business partner, Ben, the Unemployable Brothers seek to educate others in entrepreneurship, personal finance, travel and lifestyle design. Redefine Normal - Be Unemployable.