Marketing is the lifeblood for growth for many small businesses. Yet, many owners throw everything at the wall - flyers, social media, commercials - often overspending by a significant margin without the commensurate return on marketing.

The key is finding the right channels that can deliver consistent and positive return on investment (eg. the amount you amount you generate for every dollar of marketing you spend).

But what about advertising your business for free? Getting additional customers without any incremental cost will actually make your overall business more cost effective as your blended marketing cost comes down. And lowering the overall cost of your marketing will allow you to do even more.

Here are some ways to market your business without breaking the bank:

1. Publicity

This is often associated with expensive PR campaigns to generate attention. But did you know you can actually generate free publicity with the right media outlets?

Publications such as The Straits Times are constantly sourcing relevant topics and content for their readers. The best way to get some initial exposure is to follow the writers that cover your industry and to reach out to them when you have something interesting to share.

Try sponsoring a content for your existing customers enticing them to fill out a customer survey, one that you think will provide insightful feedback. You can share the results with your favorite media outlets. Publications love these kind of surveys and will help you share it with their readers in a meaningful way.

2. Community service

People love businesses that are active participants in the community and have a genuine interest in making a positive impact on those around them. Word of mouth comes naturally to organisations that are actively involved.

Why not get involved today with something you are personally passionate about? There’s a wide range of volunteering opportunities available in Singapore. Consider a team event with your staff to do some volunteering together. This is a great opportunity for them to get together and share a common mission in helping the community.

Depending on your budget, you can also consider donating a portion of your sales to a charitable organisation.

3. Guest speaking

This is one of the most underlooked opportunities to advertise your business. Events organisers are constantly on the lookout for interesting people from diverse backgrounds to feature as their guest speaker.

Look for events that have attendees from your target audience. Participating regularly will allow you to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and provide additional social validation of your business. In fact, what often happens is once you become a guest speaker, you often get more invitations from other event organisers as they know you are willing to participate.

You are now ready to start looking for opportunities to generate free exposure for your business. As a small business owner, you carry the vision of your brand with you. Stay passionate and make sure you go the extra mile when engaging with those who want to learn more about your brand at these venues. You never know, they may become your best advocates tomorrow.

Small business owners are known to be scrappy and have the tenacity to weather any kind of storms. While some failures are fairly minor and can be quickly course corrected, making a huge making a huge financial mistake can create an unexpected drag to cash flow, hurting your ability to pay off vendors on time or even make payroll. In some cases, even the most promising business can be brought down with accumulated debt making it even harder to around things around.

Here are 5 major financial pitfalls to avoid when running your small business:

1. Combining your personal and business expenses

Failing to separate your personal expenditures from your business expenditures creates significant complications not convenience. Accounting and tax reporting also becomes more complicated down the road.

This would also mean that you do not have a limited liability entity to protect your personal assets from business creditors.

It is highly recommended that you open a separate business bank account to managing your small business finances. Consider a reputable professional organisation such as Corporate Services to assist you with your company incorporation in Singapore.

2. Not planning for future tax liability

All companies in Singapore are liable to pay corporate tax under the Corporate Tax Act.

Also, if your small business generates over S$1 million in turnover, you will need to be GST-registered as well. Be sure to check the IRAS website for the latest business tax information.

3. Incurring credit card expenses

This is particularly dangerous if you plan to incur credit card expenses without clear visibility on future revenue, exposing you to huge credit card bills. The convenience of credit cards make them all the more tempting to use but the financial damage from compounding expenses and interest charges is significant.

Consider using a debit card if you need a card payment option as this allows you to avoid leveraging your financial position unnecessarily.

4. Not having a clear budget

Doing the heavy lifting on building up some form of financial forecast for your own business is prudent. When times are tough, a detailed budget gives you visibility to where you can trim costs. You will become more financially disciplined and accountable to your shareholders (even if it’s just yourself).

As a bonus, keeping your financial plan up to date will also give you flexibility to raise capital as this is a key deliverable and requirement to any successful capital raise.

5. Not funding your business properly

Some entrepreneurs are die-hard bootstrappers (self-funding your business without external capital). This is prudent in some cases but also a drag in situations where the business needs larger amounts of capital to take advantage of the right opportunities.

In some instances, going into debt is a prudent way to accelerate growth, especially if the funds are poured into positive return opportunities. Raising debt also gives you ample cash to navigate downturns as opposed having too low of a cash balance which may affect proper business decision making.

With these financial insights on money mistakes, you will be more equipped to navigate around avoidable financial mistakes that others have made.

It’s no secret that using technology effectively can significantly benefit your small business by a wide margin. Yet, in a recent survey run by Deloitte, 40% believe that digital tools are not relevant for their business.

Do you know the level of digital engagement of your business?

Source: Deloitte Access Economics (2017)

If you are “Basic” or “Intermediate”, it’s time to put some serious thought into technology investments for your small business. On average, digitally advanced small businesses earns twice as much revenue per employee and experience revenue growth that is four times higher.

Here are some ways to use technology for your business in 2019.

Improve your team management

Use a tool such as Monday.com to simplify the way you work with your team. The tool lets you manage workload, track projects, and communicate with people more efficiently, unblocking back-and-forth processes.

For a free alternative, you can get Process Street, which is available absolutely free for a limited time only (compliments of AppSumo).

Fix your inbox

If you have more than zero emails in your inbox, you are not practicing proper email management (that’s right anything more than zero). Inbox Zero is an email management technique that allows you to declutter and keep you organised so you avoid wasting time unnecessarily (think of the number of times you keep opening the same read email). Consider using the Gmail app on your phone. They have a nifty feature that allows you to “swipe” your emails to quickly archive them. You can also set certain emails to automatically come back at the appropriate time (eg. to follow up with someone).

Manage your finances on the cloud

If you’re still juggling manual journal entries or financial spreadsheets, you are dealing with unnecessary complexity. Xero is a cloud based accounting service that provides full suite accounting. As a small business owner, you can get started with their entry plan, which is the Xero Early Plan, which comes with invoices and quotes, monthly bills, and bank reconciliations. Larger small businesses can consider the Xero Growing Plan.

Slacking off

Use Slack to avoid slacking off. By far, one of the most important tools for any small business, Slack allows you to collaborate faster and more seamlessly within your team and with external vendors. Their numerous integrations allow you to pull in any other services you use (eg. Dropbox, Xero, etc.) seamlessly.

It’s time to start embracing technology and becoming a digitally-savvy business owner. Consider the above areas as a launching pad to improve your overall productivity and gain back control of your time.

How well do you really know your customer? Although you face them everyday, sometimes you just don’t know what they want. Fear not, you’re not alone as even the customers themselves sometimes do not know what they want. As Henry Ford once said, 'If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, “A faster horse!”'

Experience first and foremost

Customers are demanding and expect a delightful experience irregardless of the end product. Whether you are selling a luxury good or bargain product, having a good experience is crucial for customers. In some cases, it is the key brand differentiator among similar product offerings. Align your staff around a winning culture of “Experience first”. Afterall, creating goodwill does not cost money.

Stop listening to your customers

You need to know your customers better than they know themselves. Regular feedback, customer surveys, are all important parts of the discovery work on getting a pulse of your business. However, it’s crucial to take a step back as well and avoid over-analysing every single customer feedback as it can lead to “analysis paralysis”. Keep in mind that feedback comes from your existing customers, so innovation comes from opening your horizon to a broader addressable base of users.

Hi [name]

Imagine if you can tailor your offering to each individual based on their tastes and preferences. This is the holy grail that marketers often dream about. As a small business owner, you will not have the resources to run machine learning AI algorithm to match user preferences. But you can start somewhere with the basic touchpoints. Go through the customer journey and look for opportunities to add an element of personalisation. This can be as simple as using their first name instead of a generic salutation. Also, when responding to customers, using your name (eg. John from ABC Company) is better than a generic person such as “Customer support rep”. Simple things can go a long way. Try reaching out to a customer with a personal note on their birthday. Think about the last time (if ever) you received an email like that from a company. Show that you genuinely care.

With these pointers, you are ready to set out to innovate and build a car instead of a “faster horse” and give customers something they really want.

Are you struggling to keep track of all the recommendations for different services and resources for your small business? Fret not, there’s now a curated list of must-use of over 100 resources to power your business.

The guide covers resources for:

• Creating and managing your own website (no coding required)
• Time tracking and invoicing (great for freelancers)
• Tools for project management and to be better organised
• Tools for collaboration and communication
• Social media tools
• Digital asset libraries (recommended stock libraries for photos and videos)
• Freelance job boards (not all are applicable for Singapore. You may also want to check out Freeboh for a local option)
• Books to add to your reading list
• Freelance and lifestyle blogs to follow
• Online education resources to expand your skill set

Check out these highly recommended suggestions for your small business today. Be sure to bookmark this down so you have a handy reference guide at your disposal.