Marketing isn’t always low-cost or effective… but these ideas are.

The three cheap digital marketing ideas (that happen to be perfect for the alcohol industry) are:
1. Free Drinks = Free Social Buzz
2. On the Pulse: Google Alerts
3. Crowdsourcing

So go ahead – skim, print, share, tweet, smoke signal, and save this for later reference.

1. Free Drinks = Free Social Buzz

Goal: Get your customers talking about you on social media
Cost: One drink per person (<$10 of revenue each)
Target: 20- and 30-somethings

A recommendation from our friends and family can often sway us one way or another when selecting a product or service. They can also be a great source of new places to try.

Step 1: Select a day and time to run the promotion, as well as a short but positive hashtag, like #WineSocial, #BeerMe, #RumRun, etc.

Step 2: Use employees (and even associated businesses) to make their networks aware of the promotion. Also, you can personally spread the word to anyone at your location during the appointed time. The key is not to post it all over your own social media in order to get the word out; you want the buzz to appear natural.

Step 3: During the event, anyone who posts using the hashtag while at your location receives a free drink.

Step 4: After the event, select a few posts to share on your own social media.

Ultimately it is a win-win – your customers get free, tasty booze, and YOU get some online warm-fuzzies that can become profitable for business.

2. On the Pulse: Google Alerts

Goal: Stay abreast of news stories and other media that are of interest to your customers to position yourself as a great source of information, humor, or industry news
Cost: Nothing, nada, zip!
Target: Any

We love reading online.  Be the company that provides the most up-to-date info to your audience.

Step 1: Go to Google Alerts.

Step 2: Type in keywords you want to show up in your search. This may be a trial and error exercise at first, but it shows alert previews like news and other media below your keyword box so you can fine-tune what you want.

Step 3: Click the “Show options” button and specify your preferences (how often, sources, language, region, and how many).

Step 4: Enter an email address where you would like to receive the alerts.
OR
Sign-in with your Google account, and you can set up an RSS feed. You can even use social media management tools like Hootsuite to take RSS feeds and automatically post them to your pages. Set it, and forget it!

Pretty cool, right?! Not to mention easy. This can be a great source for social media posts, company blogs, e-newsletters for customers, or just good old fashioned conversation starters.

3. Crowdsourcing

Goal: Elevate the emotional connection between your brand and your customers, by polling them for their opinions and ideas
Cost: Varies depending on the tools used, but generally low
Target: Current customers

Everyone has opinions, and some love to share them with anyone that will listen. Why not put this information to good use?

Step 1: Determine what you want to know – it could be marketing-related, like a deciding on a new logo, t-shirt design, or a name for your latest product. Or it could be current events related, such as “Have you tried a wine from China yet?” or “Is craft beer the new hero of the brewing industry?”

Step 2: Set up the poll – keep it short, like 1-5 questions. You can use Facebook’s polling features (only 1 question), SurveyMonkey.com (lots of options), or the crowdsourcing graphic design sites like 99designs.com (lets you poll others before deciding on a winning design).

Step 3: Collect the results.

Step 4: Share the winner, or special highlights from the responses.

Boom… just like that.

Speaking of collecting input from beloved customers… post in the comments below, and tell us what topics you want to hear about in the future on The Marketing Lush.

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Author
Megan Vogel is a bubbly marketing professional, living in Atlanta, GA. Wine, marketing, and humor are some of her favorite enthusiasms… along with Ikea, and pizza from her hometown of St. Louis, MO. To learn more, visit www.meganvogel.com.