To start this off, we will share a great one for service companies;

Stickers on Equipment.

Plumbers; Hot water tanks, boilers, furnaces, water meter, pumps. Everytime a person has a problem they have to only look at your sticker.

Telephone / IT equipment; Bottom or back of the equipment. The person you sold the items to, may not still remember or be there when it breaks.

Window / Alarm companies; Front door, and were the equipment is.

also Magnets do the trick for residential and even some services businesses.
edit

You can take cheap marketing tactics one step further. Email campaigns letting your customers know of your company's progress or even promotions is an inexpensive way for small businesses to market themselves.

Also, focusing on retaining the customers you already have might prove helpful. When businesses focus on the clients they have, they turn them into loyal customers. These loyal customers often refer their friends and family members to your service or product. By tracking your clients' information you can concentrate on fulfilling their needs and building a strong relationship with them.

This company may be able to help. Check it out at www.chilisales.com. It's worked for me. I really do swear by it. edit

My company is mostly referral-based, because I just don't have the budget for a large scale marketing campaign. Therefore I know how important it is to make each one of my hundreds of clients feel like a valued part of my business. I also use Chili Sales, and I feel they're the most in-tune with the idea of knowing your customers' wants and needs, and meeting their expectations. Then I can find who my most satisfied customers are and leverage that relationship to bring in new clients. I highly suggest that any struggling business rethink their business and adopt this kind of strategy. Make your customers feel valued and satisfied, and they'll be your best salespeople. Isn't that the point of Customer Relationship Management? edit

Get referals from old customers by calling them and solidifying the relationship you have with them. edit

Lisa what do you do for them to make them feel this way, please give more detailed information how you might do these things. edit

Spotting the right alliance partner that will help you fill your pipeline with qualified prospects is a fast track approach. Ask yourself who your potential customers already do business with and make that acquaintance. edit

Adding to what ChaosToGoosebumps said for service people...when I installed phone jacks, my biz card was Solar Yellow. That was so they could find it in the junk drawer. I got SO MANY repeat coutomers who said they searched & found my card because they knew it was yellow.

Here's a free resource for finding networking events
http://NetworkingEventFinders.com edit

Since it hasn't been said, I will chime in. Use Smart Networking Applications: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Linkedin, Business forums, MeetUp, etc.

There's so much out there and the point is not so much which is cheap or cost effective in so much as what reaches your buying audience the best.

I'm generating a listing of marketing ideas here:
http://www.bizintros.com/forum/posts/id10/pagelast/#r17

I hope that helps.


edit

@BusDeveloppro:

There's a wide range of things that can be done to show you value your current customers. One of the simplest things that actually gets a ton of positive feedback is to send birthday cards current and previous customers. The little personal touch really does go a long way.

But it really comes down to how you treat the customer at every touchpoint. I like to think of customer service as a continuous conversation. Keeping track of interaction history is a MUST! (this is where Chili Sales comes in) When a customer is engaged by your or anyone else in your company, you should know about their company, their goals, and how you are going to help them reach their goals. Treat them well and they will spread the word about the exceptionally positive experience they had with your company. That is the best form of marketing! edit

Living on referals is nota great long term strategy. it is a component of a strategy. Make the most of what you though. Do you have a plan around how you (or your emplyees) present yourself to the customer? Is it consistent from contact to contact? It should be. The more that you create and control the experienc the more you set yourself apart from your competitors. Pay attention to appearance. If you don't have a dress code get one - if you show up a mess you trade away customer confidence which in turn equates to giving away money. Develop a process for customer encounters so that each experience is consistent. Always follow-up with customers within 24 hours of their call - even if it just to acknowledge the call. All of this interaction is part of creating the brand experience. If you take the time to plan it our you will be head and shoulders above the competition who haven't even thought it. The person receiving this kind of treatment - they are the ones who are going to give you the kind of referal that you need. And you haven't spent anything but your own brain power! edit

Online Free Tactics
Take advantage of social media sites such as Titter, Facebook, Yelp plus many others.
Use YouTube to promote your business, this sorta falls under social media but I wanted to call it out separate.
Another separate call out is to use Flickr and Photobucket to upload your images to and tag them well.
Create and maintain a blog.
Participate and post to relevant blogs and forums.
Implement a newsletter sign-up, chat program and your phone number on your site.
Keep track of those contacts in some way even if just by keeping an excel spreadsheet.
Implement and use an analytics program Google Analytics is Free.
Learn & use basic SEO skills, and if you only do business in a local area ensure to include your local city, metro info within your sites content and meta tags.
Include a good call to action on your website such as Call Now for a Free your offer here
Be sure your promoting your website, webpage, web address in all your offline marketing material as well as your business cards.
Sign up for a free banner exchange program. I will create a FREE custom banner ad for you if you sign up with our Free partner network, contact me for more info.
Implement an affiliate program.
These are just a few free ways to promote your business online there are more as well as in-depth ways to help you rank better within the search results.
edit

Thanks for the lead to chili sales, we have started using it for ALL of our contacts.

(and this is not a sales promotion, we only use the Free Version)

edit

Recently, during mohter's day, a retail women's boutique that was sponsoring a charitable event for a local hospital near Doylestown, PA. The gave every woman a flower with a little card attached with a saying about 'moms'.

As the woman walked around the event, outside of the boutique, other people came up to them and asked where they got such a pretty flower.

They made an event within an event! edit

Do a direct mail piece to the zipcodes and households you want to target. In this
economy give them and incentive to call you - make your call to action clear and
remember to track the results. You wont know if it works it you dont track,
track, track.. edit

Send all your current customers a personal thank you note thanking them for their business and telling them that you look forward to working with them again. It will help keep you top of mind, and may spur referrals. edit

Looking for Help with marketing check out www.only1chance.com I have used their services in the past. edit

There are two things that have made all the difference either when I was marketing my company or someone was marketing to me.

1. Follow-Up
2. Follow-Through

If you send out marketing materials, follow-up to see if they were received by the correct person. This also gives the opportunity for a short discussion as to what their needs are and how you can fulfill their needs.

Make promises and most importantly KEEP YOUR PROMISES. Promise to call on Friday morning. Do it. Leave a message if the person is not available. Make sure you keep your promises.

Every week I receive calls from people wishing to do business with me. I ask them to call me back on Friday. All promise they will, however less than 25% do. If they will not keep even that simple promise, is there any reason I would want to use them as a vendor? edit

We offer several different methods of marketing to get you the results you need. www.apogeeappointmentsetting.com edit

Have you took a look at localbenefits.com ? edit

All of these are great suggestions, but one thing to keep in mind with any marketing effort is to know who your target clients/customers are or will be. Random marketing efforts seldom reach their intended audience. Research is key to understanding who wants your product or service, and who will Buy your product and service.

Exposure is great, and very important. Just make sure the right people are seeing your message. edit

Low cost marketing ideas that actually work are few and far between - a few that I have used include SEO (although this takes time), free online classified ads (craigslist), and email...

Here's a great guide I came across on SEO targetted at small businesses and low cost SEO techniques :

http://sbimonline.com/content/quick-start-guide-seo-search-engine-optimization-basics-small-business edit

With today's economy low cost marketing is a great way to stay in the game, but to cut back on costs. Right now, the biggest mistake that businesses can make is to not market at all. With so many companies making this mistake, there are many opportunities to get your business noticed.

There are many great outlets for low-cost marketing. Online marketing is cost effective, yet time consuming. Find online sites where your target audience is and join them, post blogs, etc. to get make your company visible to potential clients.

Other cost-effective outlets are local ads, trading services (such as giving someone a service for some ad space, etc., if possible), cold calling, and directories. Knowing who you want to market to is the biggest issue with any marketing. You need to know who you want to see your company so that you can use the correct marketing outlets.

Anne Grinney-Colomban, Partner
Green Jeans Creative
http://www.greenjeanscreative.com edit