Cheap Marketing Ideas

Hollywood Model Could Create New Stars in R&D: Alice Schroeder

How much should it cost the U.S. Air Force to develop a reliable system to detect sniper fire in a fraction of a second and pinpoint the shooter’s location almost as fast? If you’re thinking millions of dollars, how does $50,000 sound? The Air Force is evaluating sniper-detection proposals, and that’s how much it will award a researcher who provides a solution and the proof that it works.

That surprisingly low number is possible because of open source innovation. It’s the hot trend in R&D, built on the success of the open source software movement, itself built on the principle that crowds can solve problems faster than any individual, or any single corporate lab, ever will.

The open source innovation movement caught fire in the past few years and is best known for the great leaps it enabled in mapping the human genome. For corporate executives, open source innovation holds out the promise of maintaining a technological edge while lowering R&D costs. Open sourcing may also be the best hope for the U.S. to regain its toehold as the world’s R&D capital. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranks the U.S. a lowly eighth in the world for innovation based on research spending, patents and startup funding.

But open source innovation could also be a threat. If companies, government labs and other organizations can obtain scientific and engineering breakthroughs on the cheap, that could devalue the work of scientists and engineers, which already are in short supply. Will cost pressures put a ceiling on researchers’ pay or lead to outsourced Ph.D.s paid by the piece, instead of with full-time jobs and benefits? If so, will the best and brightest of tomorrow’s students choose other careers?

Public and private R&D labs that keep bright minds employed, even if their innovations come only once a decade, are already headed in this direction, outsourcing some projects and collaborating with networks of strategic partners on others. In one sense, this is capitalism at its finest, finding the most efficient path to the best result.

Thomas Edison, founder of the world’s first industrial research lab, made this point clearly when he said, “I shall make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.” The scientific brain trust that runs the U.S.’s $400 billion-a- year government and industry R&D effort must stretch the return on investments past what a closed lab like Edison’s could do today.

Marketing Ideas for Cheap Business Promotion

Just because a marketing technique is cheap, it doesn’t mean that it is ineffective. In fact, some of the best and most result-oriented marketing techniques today are those that are inexpensive. What is simply important is you come up with a marketing campaign that will be appropriate to your business.

Keep in mind that every business needs some form of marketing. This can be a bit costly if you don’t know what type of marketing strategy to use. You can always make use of online or offline marketing. Whatever type of business you have, you need to come up with the best strategy. For most businesses, off line marketing is typically their marketing of choice. There’s nothing wrong with sticking with the traditional marketing tools as they still prove to be effective these days. There are basically plenty of choices when it comes to inexpensive marketing techniques. Here are some of them:

1/ Calendars. Believe it or not, custom calendars are effective marketing materials. They can be designed to represent your business and stay in front of your customers for the whole year. You have to simply ensure that you design a calendar that reflects the nature of your business. You can put pictures of the products you offer in your materials to give people a look at your offerings. Of course, you contact details have to be present so people can easily contact you.

2/ Business cards . There may be a lot of improvements in business cards these days, such as the digital business cards, the good old paper cards remain an indispensable part of business. When you attend business events, there would still be people who would ask for your cards. This makes it important to have your paper cards with you at all times. Keep a good supply in your pocket, wallet, bag, and even your card.

3/ Postcards. People still love receiving post cards these days. Create a well designed post card to make sure that it stands out in the mail box. You don’t have to create a long and wordy message in your cards. A short, clear, and to the point message is more ideal so people get to understand your message quickly and easily.

4/ Giveaway or freebies. People love getting free items. This might sound costly, but your giveaways need not be expensive. For instance, if you own a pet shop, you can give out flyers that contain tips on taking care of pets or you can repack the latest dog shampoo you offer and give them away as samples. This will surely encourage people to come to you store and get more of the item or product that you gave as sample.

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