Independent film, for generations, has been built at the crossroads of financial limitation and innovation. One could argue that somewhere in the interdependence of this relationship is found the mysterious alchemy that good art makes. This assumes that financial limitation creates innovation, in the way that erecting walls around a prison drives the creative thoughts of convicts. At the very least, financial limitation is one factor that can lead to innovation, and innovation can lead to great art. I have been party to their manifestation enough times to believe in these principles, but more importantly curious enough to ask the question, “Why do these principles exist, and how can we embrace them to independently create moving pictures that are truly moving?”

Of course, financial limitation can be measured in degrees, and I am engaging in this discussion on the basis that a $1M+ film has both enough resources to fund the practicalities of making a film in the current climate, and limited enough resources to inspire innovation, allow liquidity in the creative process, and aid in the formation of a tight family of filmmakers united by a singular vision.

It is easy to find examples in history where films with limited budgets far exceeded the reach and cultural impact expected, not to mention the financial returns, dollar for dollar, they represented. It is much harder, however, to wade through the considerable and tragic pile of independent films that did not ‘break into’ the zeitgeist, for they are lying half assembled in boxes, gathering dust in basements and – after having been through the trash compactors of funding bodies, financiers and distributors – have now become decaying, albeit passionately conceived, landfill.

SIDEBOX Easy Rider – Under $400,000 Vanishing Point – Just over $1M Two Lane Blacktop – $875,000  American Graffitti – $700,000 Mad Max – $400,000 Samson & Delilah – $1.5M Sex, Lies & Videotape – $1.2M, Swingers – $250,000

For this reason, we will look at examples from successful independent films that were made for less than $2M, to determine from a creative perspective the rule book, tool box and leadership strategy for creating an independent film in this budget range that has the best chance of connecting with it’s audience.

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.

“Which road do I take?” she asked.

His response was a question: “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” Alice answered.

“Then,” said the cat, “It doesn’t matter.”

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

As independent filmmakers, it is our responsibility to develop a clear idea of where we are going, and actively search for an innovative path to get there.

1. Embrace Chaos

From Swingers, to Blood Simple, to Pepi, there is a level of chaos that comes from working with smaller budgets. A level of energy. An organized chaos that becomes the template for the creation of the work. For instance, in Swingers, Doug Liman chose to shoot the bar scenes in an actual bar while it was open, because he didn’t have money to build or rent the venue. He pre-lit the seat where Heather Graham was going to sit, and then shot it from across the room… Many of the patrons of the bar didn’t even know a scene was being shot, and by embracing the chaos, Liman gained a sense of authenticity in the scenes. [1]

Even in larger budget films, such as Iñárritu’s Babel, or Coppolla’s Lost in Translation filmmakers reach for the authenticity of documentary style acquisition, opting to shoot the contextual underpinnings of their films in the actual environments, cinema verité.

Rather than trying to control everything, it is essential to allow a level of chaos to infuse the filmmaking process. Capture reality wherever possible.

“It was really Doug’s (Liman) idea to use this documentary cinema vérité approach. His whole approach was, “Don’t make Party Girl with half as much money, make Clerks with ten times as much money.” He was taking all these chances. Of course, to us at the time it looked like he was kind of flying by the seat of his pants, but ultimately the movie looked really good and we couldn’t have gotten that kind of energy or authenticity if we had done it any other way…”[2]

John Favreau re: Swingers

2. Form a Tight, Small Crew

There is not only a level of mobility and flexibility that comes with a smaller production team, but a level of intimacy and connectedness. In order to create an environment where actors can settle into their characters, and the crew can be mobilized to take advantage of opportunities that arise, a small, close-knit yet independent production team can be more productive, and more resourceful than a larger, and more dependent, team.

This is never more apparent than in the recent Australian success, Samson and Delilah, the recent Australian feature, shot and directed by Warwick Thornton, who shot with a crew as small as 6, and rarely more than 12 throughout the shoot.

“There were no grips, no gaffers, no cranes and not too many lights on set… Money creates problems. You know, films turn into these sort of big circus and clown shows in a sense and it was important for me just to have that sort of personal space with the two actors and be able to direct that way. Not to direct through a crew.”[3]

Warwick Thornton re: Samson & Delilah

According to sociologists Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith[4], there are six fundamentals of collaboration that are necessary for high performing groups:

- Small numbers of people — Typically less than twelve

- Complementary skills in group members

- Common purposes for working

- Specific performance goals that are commonly agreed upon

- Shared working approaches

- Mutual accountability amongst all members

Their study extends to the differentiation between “real teams” and “extra-ordinary teams” citing that a “real team” is a group with complementary skills, equal commitment and who are mutually accountable, and an “extra-ordinary team” is a real team that also has a deep commitment for one another’s personal growth and success.

It could be quite useful to have cast and crewmembers, prior to the formation of the team, write a one page outline of why they want to be involved in the film, and how the film will benefit them, professionally and/or personally. This exercise would provide a strong platform for leadership, as it would ensure that there are fewer unspoken expectations from the process, and will give insight into the potentially lateral skills that might be available within the team (ie. the sound recordist might have a witty and ironic writing style that could be utilized to blog about the production while on the road).

3. Develop a Style Born of the Limitations

In a vast majority of independent films done on low budgets, the style was innovative due to the filmmakers embracing the limitations of lower budgets. Using the challenge as a point of stylistic innovation.

“As we got closer to production, I said, ‘we should shoot colour, because nobody is going to watch a black and white movie.’ But Scott said, “If we shoot colour we are going to have to rent an entire light package because we can’t use the store’s fluorescent lights.’ And I said, ‘So if we shoot black and white, we can just us the store lighting and some keys? F*#k it – shoot in black and white!”

Kevin Smith, re: Clerks

In the case of creating films that would typically require more resources, such as road movies or action films, rules must be put into place that will serve the dramatic purpose of the film, and will keep the production within the available budget. For instance, a road movie is typically about upsetting status quo, and the need to escape, so the choice to shoot the majority of dialogue from within the car, to emphasise the confinement of the characters, could serve the dramatic purpose of the film, and therefore magnify the themes.

During the production of Easy Rider, most of the film was shot outside with natural lighting. While this can be attributed to the film being a road movie, at the time Hopper said all the outdoor shooting was an intentional choice on his part, because “God is a great gaffer.” The production used two five-ton trucks, one for the equipment and one for the motorcycles, with the cast and crew living out of a single motor home.[5]

In contemporary filmmaking, there are an increasing number of tools available to the modern filmmaker. It is in the creative and innovative use of these tools that can create a seismic shift in the possibilities available on a modest budget. A great example is Slumdog Millionaire, during the chase sequence at the beginning of the film, Danny Boyle opted to use a combination of traditional film cameras and stills cameras with HD capturing capabilities, to capture the dynamic coverage needed to create a muscular, fast paced action sequence. These cameras also allowed Boyle to capture footage in a surreptitious and non-invasive way within the slums of India in a way that didn’t draw attention to the filmmaking process, using passers-by as extras, which added to the authenticity of the film.

“We just wanted to get in the middle of everything, while preserving a natural, unscripted energy: If people see a stills camera, they don’t think it’s recording live action.”[6]

Danny Boyle, re: Slumdog Millionaire

4. Cultivate Ownership and Shared Risk/Return

There is a spirit that exists within the fabric of successful independent films, a cohesion of purpose, a relentless ambition and a shared passion by the cast and crew.

According to author and sociologist, Dan Pink, people in the work force are looking for ways to invest themselves into what they do, and are increasingly willing to give up the “security” of a regular wage, for the freedom of working as free agents, on projects they are passionate about. Furthermore, people are given the opportunity to share in the rewards of their own efforts, whether in personal or entrepreneurial endeavours, they are more productive and more heavily invested in their work, creatively and emotionally.[7]

It seems rational to deduce that in “independent” cinema, this trend is also occurring. Therefore I see a need to create models where cast and crewmembers alike share in the relative risks and rewards of creating an independent film.

Robert Connelly, in his white paper, Embracing Innovation: a new methodology for feature film production in Australia, states that, “In order to negotiate a workable industrial model for wages on lower budget films we need to find a reasonable combination of award minimums and a meaningful share of the film’s income,” and while this is a common contract arrangement for ‘above the line’ creatives, this structure could be implemented for ‘below the line’ crew members as well, and fits the road map for independent film creation.

5. Plan to Involve the Communities in which you Work

It’s hard to place a price tag on the value of community involvement in a film project. In my own short film, Echo, we approached the Ku-ring-gai Council to help us with permits and access to the National Park for a sequence we were filming, which involved a young boy falling from a small boat and drowning.

To shoot the sequence, which involved a dialogue scene in a vehicle as well as underwater photography, we also needed a small boat and permission to close down one of the roads leading into the park. One of the workers for the Council became involved in the film, and helped us with all manner of things. If I were to tally up the dollar value of her contribution, which included running food to the crew, standing on the road holding a stop sign, standing in as an extra, getting us a discount on boat hire from the local marina, and coming to work two hours early to open up the gates to the park for us, it would have run into the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

In the end, all it cost me was a thank you letter and a copy of the DVD, sent to the Council. Her reply to my thank you letter was “no… THANK YOU! I never knew what went into making a film, and now I’ve had the chance to see what goes on behind the scenes. It was such a great experience. We just watched it in the office here, and everyone loved it… Well done!”

This is just a small example of how community involvement can be a mutually beneficial addition to any film’s resource base, particularly if shooting in rural or small communities where a film can make a big impact, socially, culturally and economically.

6. Make Use of Available Resources

With all the social networking, and Internet connectivity at the fingertips of the contemporary filmmaker, it opens up a variety of ways to source things you may need for a film shoot. From props to wardrobe to specialty vehicles, it can often be easier to find things within your social network than it could be to go out and buy them.

One advantage that Independent productions have is time. Without the typical constraints of more commercial productions, Independent films often have more time to, say, spend on pre-production, the editing process, or to build a groundswell of market support online. Filmmakers, Joel and Ethan Coen, while making Blood Simple, discussed the process of using people who were committed to the process and the film saying:

“We didn’t pay anybody anything. Well, we paid them the minimum. That’s the one thing I always say when people ask about this type of thing: it makes more sense to find people who don’t necessarily have the experience doing what you want to do, but who you think are ready to do it and shoot for longer, than it does trying to find some four thousand dollars a week DP who you think is going to save you time and allow you to shoot for a week less. It doesn’t work like that. That was the philosophy that he [Mark Silverman, line producer] brought into the movie and it was really helpful for us.”[8]

7. Create a Process that Aligns with the Tone of your Film

This is a relatively esoteric concept, but I believe the emotional context of a creative endeavour directly feeds the outcome of that endeavour. As a director, you begin to see that creating a tone in conversation with your actors, a dialect you use with your crew or a way of phrasing things to a cinematographer effects the tonal outcome of the film you’re creating. This is why you try to keep actors a safe distance from crew chatter to reduce the consciousness of artifice, and why you may give a cinematographer more or less direction about coverage in a scene if you want a corresponding amount of chaos in the capturing of that scene.

From the start of the pre-production process to the final day in post, it is important to realize that the choices you make affect the tonal outcome of the film. It’s a natural process of human creativity to match the emotional and psychological tone of our deepest creative investments and It’s not uncommon for filmmakers to discover parallels between what’s happening on screen and what occurs in the lives of the cast and crew.

The important thing is, to understand that this occurs, and to be aware of your power to choose what tone or approach you are going to take in the creation of your film. For instance, if you’re creating a road movie about taking risks, challenging status quo, and embracing adventure, then you would create a context for the cast and crew where you would expect them to take risks, embrace adventure, and exhibit a level of anarchy at times.

8. Implement a Marketing Plan From the Beginning

Marketing an independent film in the current climate can be heartbreaking, as filmmakers, film festivals and studios alike are increasingly forced to embrace a commercial model if they are going to survive. This form of big-budget advertising has been met with diminishing returns over the past number of years, with an increase marketing budgets required to capture the same market. But yet, on the other end of the spectrum, there are incredible opportunities for ‘cut-through’ in niche markets. Jeff Levick, AOL’s president of advertising and strategy, says of the Internet market, “niche is the new mass,” and even big business is trying to find out how to engage the market by appealing to small pockets of people around similar interests.

In other words, they’re trying to implement what the Independent’s do so well…. Match a production with a niche market and build a relationship with that market around the film.

“Today’s audiences say that online word of mouth has become one of the most important elements of their movie decision-making, and Paranormal Activity is certainly benefiting from that shift in behavior,” said Amy Powell, senior vice president of Internet marketing at Paramount Pictures.

Find ways to interact with your market from the beginning. Develop a following on Facebook, on blogging sites, get someone to twitter about the production. Start a behind the scenes video diary, get people to engage with the filmmakers about the making of the film. Tap into an existing market for your film online, and in interest groups that exist in the real world, ie. create an awareness about your road movie within collectors groups.

One marketing idea that is being implemented for rock concerts and bands by Posse (www.posse.com) is to allow members to earn a commission for each ticket they sell to concerts or merchandise that is sold through links from their website or Facebook page. This and other similar engines exist to raise awareness, promote and spread the word about your film, but a strategy needs to be started as early as possible.

9. Get it Done

Creating a film is better than not creating a film, so never stop energizing the process. Don’t let a week go by without achieving something, no matter how small the victory. Call a production designer. Go to a bookstore and collect reference images. Watch films that move you and break them down. Read the script. Make notes. Read the script again. Map the emotional arc of the film. Find the drama in every scene. Take photographs of things that inspire you. Go to an art gallery and find an artist who makes you feel like you want your film to make people feel. Read the script. Buy a box of crayons and find your colour palette. Find musical references for your film. Stop people in the street and pitch your film to them. Call an editor and get their perspective on pacing. Read about independent filmmakers who are making films and how they are doing it. Tattoo the title of your film on your arse. Get inspired.

I am an independent film-maker first and foremost. I have always cut my own cloth.

Mira Nair

It doesn’t matter what you do. Just keep building momentum for the project.

Find a way. Get it done. No excuses.

And Finally…

Filmmaking is an art form that is a natural extension of our need to communicate through stories. The films we choose to embark on must be personal and grounded in our own personal ethos. It follows that they will be crystallized through our increased understanding of the world.

By expanding our experiential database, even in non-film related endeavours, we inform the stories we tell. Sometimes the best thing for the creative process is to step aside and refresh our creativity. Obsessions cannot often be controlled, but they can be held at arms distance for a few minutes while we gain perspective.

There will be setbacks. There will be triumphs.

Feature films are often born through a persistence of vision, a determined and dogged resistance to compromise, and a knowledge that the film you are making is an essential volume in the lexicon of stories that “must be told”.

My view is that limitations are a necessary evil in the creation of moving art. There is a gutteral resourcefulness that comes from the exhaustion of creating. Reaching for that last piece of inspiration is the key to finding the inspired thought, the right shot, the perfect tone. The job of a director is to limit his choices, after all, to choose the correct way to illuminate the story, capture the emotional moment, create a reality just as vivid as what is going on around us. Film is reality too, and the experience an audience has is real. It’s tangible. And if you embrace the limitations that come with Independent filmmaking, and look at them as empowering, there is inspiration there for the taking.

There are more stories that must be told. It might as well be you telling them.

[1] Horowitz, Josh. The Mind of the Modern Moviemaker. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2006.

[2] Lowenstein, Stephen. My First Movie: Twenty Celebrated Directors Talk about Their First Film. New York, NY. Pantheon Books. 2000.

[3] ABC News Online “Low-budget masterpiece pulls focus on Indigenous problems” by Rebekah van Druten Posted May 12 2009

[4] Katzenbach, Jon R., and Douglas K. Smith. The Wisdom of Teams. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2003.

[5] “Easy Rider: 35 Years Later” Moviemaker.com

[6] Mackay, Mairi. Shooting ‘Slumdog’ in Mumbai, City of Extremes. 12, January 2009. CNN.com/entertainment

[7] Pink, Daniel H. Free Agent Nation : how independent workers are transforming the way we live, 2nd Edition. New York, NY. Warner Books, 2007.

[8] Lowenstein, Stephen. My First Movie: Twenty Celebrated Directors Talk about Their First Film. New York, NY. Pantheon Books. 2000.

As a common practice, the marketing budget should be about 2% to 5% of the overall gross sales, but this is not the same for all markets and products. So the first thing you need to do when you start a business is to figure out what your marketing budget would be for the first six months.

You could use the following promotional activities to begin with – events, aggressive advertising, internet marketing, word of mouth, strategic partnerships, public relations and direct marketing. For a low budget start-up unit, the following marketing tools can be useful:

Newspaper write-ups – You can get articles that talk about your product in a broader perspective, published in a newspaper. For example, if you are selling a sauna belt, the article can be about the effects of sauna treatment for weight loss. The article can also have a word or two from a famous personality who religiously believes in the sauna treatment.

Direct marketing – Instead of going for expensive marketing techniques when you start a business, go for direct marketing. Keep your target audience limited and specific to reach them in the most effective and the cheapest way. For example, fliers inserted in newspapers and informative emails are two inexpensive direct marketing tools.

Word- of- mouth publicity – Get your friends and colleagues to spread the word about your product. This is the most effective and economical way to advertise. Get your friends and colleagues together for a small gathering and introduce your product to them. Keep in mind not to sell it too aggressively!

Internet marketing – Get people familiar with your product through internet write-ups and blogs. Most enterprises depend upon blogs to garner awareness for their products. This is again an extremely cheap and hassle free exercise. Similarly, market your product via social networking sites. Keep people intimated about new schemes, discounts, product enhancements and other new developments.

Make a website of your product – This is a relatively inexpensive option. Making a website of your product gives you a better chance to display your product and explain its features to millions of eyeballs everyday.

While all these could be effective marketing techniques that you can use when you start a business, you would eventually need to have a more consolidated and planned marketing strategy to promote your product and services. Therefore, keep putting aside a small part of your profits every month for your marketing budget. Use your marketing budget judiciously and keep a track of the results on each front. A marketing tactic that does not give you the desired numbers should be dropped.

All in all, make sure that every penny of your marketing budget is used to effectively project and promote your product. Follow a strategy that convinces your target audience to follow the lead and lets your business grow.

For more information and to learn how to work with Maryjean.

Where can I find marketing startegies that are free on the internet? Social Medias are the most popular ones and I am probably not telling you anything new here. What you may not know is the Social Medias should not be about selling your products or services but selling you as a leader, as an expert in your field. Places like Twitter and Facebook are the most popular but you can also use Linkedin and MySpace.

Other free internet marketing strategies would be blog marketing, forum marketing, classified, article, video, press releases, Squidoo, Hub Pages and your warm market (Friends, family members and professionals you know). Using these free internet marketing strategies can be very powerful for branding and your business.

There are several low budget internet marketing strategies that can help you build your business as well. If you want to get more exposure from your free internet marketing. You can pay a small fee to get your article, press release, video and classifieds to be published and get a bigger exposure. These sites that will host your marketing will place you ahead of everyone not paying and therefore provide you with more exposure and more potential customers. Usually between $20 and $100 will do the trick here.

You can use banner advertising for a low cost internet marketing strategy. You can get your banner up on many sites for less than $100 per month per site and get around 1 million impressions. Another low budget marketing strategy is email marketing. You can use some of the best sites for around $200 per 6 months and advertise directly to other entrepreneurs. And believe it or not, you can use Pay Per Click as a low cost advertisement strategy by setting your budget to meet what you can afford. The cost can set per day or month.

To learn where are some of the best sites to use your low cost internet marketing strategies. You can use Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines. They will place on their 1st page which one they think is the best site. Remember that success with your home based business is not related to how much money you have to invest in your marketing but on how much work you are willing into put in your business. All the internet marketing strategies listed work very well. All you have to do is learn how to put them in place. This can only be done via education and testing what you learn. If you are really committed to your success remember this. If you could doing the same thing the same way over and over and expect different results, you are insane. Keep learning and testing and eventually success will find you. Don’t give up on your dreams, don’t ever give up.

To your success
Ghyslain

Another reason for failure is that an effective marketing campaign is hard work. Since marketing is probably not what motivated the entrepreneur to open his or her business, it receives less priority than product development and other tasks. Marketing also often comes up short when scarce funds are allocated. Sadly, there are start-up companies that spend tens of thousands of dollars on furniture and equipment, while complaining that there is nothing left for marketing.

New companies also make a mistake by hiring expensive advertising agencies that are incapable of cost-effective, low-budget marketing. Or they hire marketing and sales talent from big companies, and these people are often clueless about how to get results on a limited budget. So if you are in a small company, be careful about hiring the hotshot from a big company to come solve your problems. It often doesn’t work. This is not to say that everyone from a big company is incapable of being effective with a smaller budget-some are great no matter the company size.

Small to medium businesses and start-ups face two major obstacles not shared by larger, entrenched companies. First, if you happen to be a small fish in a large pond, you will be confronted by competitors with much larger advertising and marketing budgets. Second, you may have to spend a larger percentage of your revenues on marketing than older, established organizations.

Given the reality of this situation, you need to squeeze as much efficiency as possible out of every dollar. Be assured that you can do a lot on a limited budget, and expensive does not always mean better. I’ve often used limited-budget strategies to beat the big players and you can do the same. And the lessons you learn by doing it the frugal way will serve you well, no matter how successful you become, or how far your marketing budget expands. Here are a collection of small budget strategies and tactics you can use to beat the big guys:

Small Budget Website Strategies:

1. Don’t overbuild your Website. There are ways to create an impressive site using less-complex open source or template approaches.

2. If possible, have an easy-to-remember Website address that relates to what your company does.

3. List your Web address (URL) on all of your corporate materials.

4. Make sure your Website is optimized for organic search terms. This is a low-cost strategy that will make you much easier to find.

5. Try narrowly focused low-cost pay per click search terms.

6. Give some information away for free to increase your Website stickiness.

7. Create many links with other sites to increase your search engine visibility.

8. Refresh your content often. Do not let the site go stale.

Small Budget Social Media Strategies:

1. Start your own blog and comment on other blogs.

2. Always list your Web address on your blog postings and any electronic communication.

3. Leverage LinkedIn and other networking sites.

4. Use Twitter to find relevant posts and prospects.

5. Be controversial (but not too controversial) to attract attention.

6. Choose a niche where you can be an expert.

7. Write articles and get them published in online media.

8. Focus on one or two social media outlets. This concentrated attention will bring more attention than throwing your efforts at five or six outlets.

Small Budget Email Strategies:

1. Work hard to build your email prospect file of opt-in names. This will be a gold mine of low-cost leads and sales.

2. Include a promotional message and your Website address as part of your standard email signature.

3. Provide links to valuable information in your emails, not just product pitches.

4. Make your emails interesting and/or unusual.

5. Run your email copy through a spam detection tool like EmailExam, Acxiom Digital, or Lyris ContentChecker to ensure your emails will not be caught in the spam filters.

6. Have an easy opt-out process. You do not want to keep sending emails to people who want to be removed from your list.

Small Budget Direct Marketing Strategies:

1. Target your lists more effectively by using demographics, psychographics, and some of the other list segmenting tools available. The object is to mail fewer packages and achieve greater response.

2. Test your mailing and telemarketing in small quantities before committing large sums to full-blown programs. Equally important, use the information you learn on every program to make the next work better.

3. Try a postcard mailer. The production costs are low, the first-class postage is less expensive than letter mail, and they pull very well. You can drive prospects to a Web form or toll-free telephone number.

4. Cut back on four-color process direct mail packages. Unless you sell food, magazines, resort properties, or other products requiring excellent graphic reproduction, you can probably pull as much response using two-color printing.

5. Consider mailing with third-class postage instead of first-class. Depending on whether you presort the file, this will save you a great amount of money, and most prospects will not notice the difference. The exception is with time-sensitive offers, since third-class mail can take a week longer to arrive than first-class.

6. If you mail to large numbers on a national basis, or send highly concentrated mailings into local or regional areas, use postal pre-sorting to lower postage costs.

More Cost-Cutting Ideas:

1. If you are a small company (a flea), find a big company (a dog) to partner with. This will make it much easier for you to sell to bigger companies.

2. Read the chapter on public relations carefully and begin carrying out its advice. PR is a low-effort, high-reward vehicle that is often under-utilized by small-budget marketers.

3. Be persistent. Remember the eight times rule: You don’t have to spend a lot of money on each communication, but you must repeat your message up to eight times to gain prospect awareness.

4. Write handwritten personal notes to prospects and customers. They are cheap but make a big impact.

5. Ask for referrals. They are much easier to sell, at lower cost.

6. Utilize experts. An expert’s advice will cost you something in the short term, but can save you money and aggravation in the long term.

7. List your primary products and services on your stationery and business card, or anything else you give to potential buyers.

8. Since consistency is vital for those with small budgets, make sure every one of your marketing efforts supports and reinforces your unique selling proposition (USP).

9. Sharpen your bargaining skills. Media outlets are hungry for business and many have unsold inventory. Use this to your advantage by negotiating aggressively.

One other important principle to practice is leverage. Try to create content once and use it in multiple marketing scenarios. This is less expensive and time-consuming, and the consistency of message is important.

Cost of budget process depends upon the business model. Generally, start-up businesses have more heads to be covered under budget process in comparison to mature retailers. It can be done in-house or can be outsourced. Both have unique positives sides; selection depends upon the particular parameters. However, cost of budget process in the both the options vary at large. Therefore, the right selection of process for budget process is important to get it done at bare minimum cost. If you know enough about the technical terms and microscopic components that budget processing involves, you would certainly be able to get effective budget process at amazingly low price. The following part of this write up highlights such important factors of budget process.

Net profit is the difference between gross profit and expenses. You need to estimate revenue. To calculate gross profit, subtract the cost of sold goods from revenue. Major E-business expenses include the cost of development, maintaining and promoting (marketing) the web store. Providing world-class customer services including guidance, after sales, warranty etc also generates recurring expenses.

SEO (search engine optimization), arranging genuine e-mail lists and sending informatory e-mails, appointing new affiliates and offering more attractive discounts etc are few of those marketing activities that need considerable expenses. Generally, retailers are suggested to invest 10-12% of total revenue for customer acquisition. Retention cost includes the expenses like customer segmentation tools, promotion and e-mail campaigns etc. It is kept 5-8% of revenue.

The cost of search engine marketing includes the charges of pay-per-click, submission to different directories & search engines, banner postings and placing advertisements on relevant popular sites etc like services. The fixation of this cost entirely depends upon one’s budget and may vary from $2,500 pm to $25,000 pm. Comparison Shopping Engines are effective traffic generators. Registration to these engines depends upon the size of business and nature of services or products. The cost of affiliate marketing is generally kept around 20% of revenue; however, selection of this business marketing strategy depends upon particular business model.

The cost of e-mail marketing depends upon the volume of mails in each phase. This cost can be adjusted both way according to the budget limits and response.
Customer Relationship Management consumes considerably major part of marketing budget. It needs to be very effective because repeat and reference business volume solely depends upon its success.

Social Media Marketing and Mobile Marketing are relatively new marketing practices. Both of these low budget exercises have been successful in establishing brand image as well as making it popular among the masses. Content management and Imagery creation practices also help in making the brand popular and unique. This practice needs considerable good budget. Under this practice retailers modify the promotional materials and programs, offered by manufacturers, according to local market and clients. Online Merchandising is another marketing strategy that includes categorizing of products and associating them with other products, which are more in demand.

When we talk about the technology of e-store, there seems no limit because we see new developments in internet technology every day. The budget selection depends upon the facilities, an e-retailer wants. Development of E-commerce Platforms, Order Management Systems, Fulfillment and Customer service are the major activities of E-business that need special consideration. Budgets for creating E-commerce Platforms may be anywhere from tens of thousands to million dollars; budget for Fulfillment may be around 20-12 % of total revenue and budget for customer service is kept around 2-7% .

If the budget allows, retailers may opt for having Site Search costing around $2500-10,000 pm; Personalization/ Product Recommendations costing $1200-2500 pm; Ratings & Reviews costing $2000-3000 pm and Web Analytics costing $500 to 15,000 pm like facilities too.

Therefore, we see that budget process gives us enough freedom to choose our own way that suits to our business and targeted customer segment. Budget processes guide us to optimize the distribution of funds for various business activities. Because of the increased accountability, it becomes easier to improve the efforts and strategies according to the identified voids well before the loss occurring.

Can the Budget 2011 really save bulls in the stock market?

Not much is expected from the budget. Government is not in comfortable situation where it can think or do much about growth, since now the bigger challenge is for controlling inflation.

However if Budget doesn’t throws up higher cost to industries in the way of hikes in excise and custom duty, then market will take some positive cues from it.

Individual sectors like Gems & Jewellery, Agriculture, Housing sector is likely to see some benefits from the Union Budget 2011.

Falling Crude Oil Price would provide some temporary relief to market bulls

Rising Crude oil price is one of the biggest problem for Indian economy. Since we depend heavily on import of this commodity. If tensions in Libya cools off, expect oil prices to come down.

Also that U.S has “threatened” OPEC’s (oil producing countries) to control oil prices by introducing higher supply to the market by increasing production of oil.

Will it be enough to sustain market at the higher levels going ahead saving the crash?

Its a big doubt. And I don’t think its enough to sustain the markets going forward. Though temporarily markets can rally, but the bottom line is that markets are unlikely to sustain and hold up.

Q4 results will not be great this time around and we may see disappointing performance from many of the big names. Rising input prices are going to put profit margin pressure, next month in April 2011, Q4 results will start tickling in.

Use rally in market to exit from stocks (long positions) and for going short in market

No matter you are just an investor or a hardcore stock trader. But again I want you to think about the markets in a wiser way and trying to show you the clearer picture.

Assuming you are an investor stuck with stocks which just don’t show any hopes and can be given the category of junk. Its time you get rid from the junk, free some money and then wait for your time to come to buy stocks which will hold value in the medium-long term going forward.

I know its not easy selling stocks in losses, off loading them at lower prices than been originally bought is always painful. But let me tell you that its the wisest thing to do.

You may have made mistakes choosing and selecting stocks for investment, but now its time you make over for your mistake and improve your chances of going into profits by doing the right thing.

If you are just a stock trader, it could be a good news for you. Do you know the world’s smartest stock traders makes the most money during the crash in markets? If you don’t know it yet, you are certainly not aware of the possibilities and opportunities markets provide.

Trend is your only best friend, do you know what the trend in market is?

For a trader or an investor, the most important thing to know about is knowing the trend. If you know the trend, market go down or market rise, your stock will be following a different route and thats because of the trend which is so powerful that it can stand all storms n tornadoes, in fact create one of its own!

We don’t just say it, we show n prove it as well. Past 2 weeks when markets have been dicey with a downward bias, our premium members have made most of the money and more surprisingly it came from buy calls which outperformed markets by big big margin. Everonn (free call) was one of the example in the recent time which we shared with all of you.

Buying the right stocks at right time is important, but so is selling at the right price is equally important and most of the market traders and investors actually lack this quality. Booking loss on stop loss and booking profits on rise is the only needed thing with just a little patience.

Nifty levels to watch out for and trade accordingly to understand the market trend

Expects Nifty (5316) to bounce back off 5250 levels in the extreme near term on the back of Crude Oil price falling on less Libya tensions and on some positive reforms and announcements which are part of the budget expectations.

On the higher side markets, Nifty is going to face stiff resistance at 5470-75 levels, unless market closes above that level, theres less chance that bulls will survive.

On the lower side, Nifty has strong support at 5200, break of which will be a clear game over call for bulls. We don’t change our view on market and would like to stick to the opinion stated earlier in Indian Stock Market Future Forecast.

On rise in markets, when Nifty reaches around its resistance levels, look to buy some puts of may be 5200-5300 strikes. But please don’t be over-confident of things and always take calculated risk, no matter how good our accuracy is, market is supreme and I am just a human like you.

Roller coaster ride waiting for us ahead, are you ready and all set to ride??

Good Luck!!

In addition, the top ten budget hotels in China were Home Inns, Jinjiang Inn, Motel168, 7 Days Inn, Hanting Inns & Hotels, GreenTree Inn, Super 8 Hotel, Ibis Hotel, Vienna Hotel and Hotel Home. The top three, top five and top ten accounted for 37.0%, 52.5% and 63.3% of China’s budget hotel market respectively, and the market will be further concentrated in the future.

China’s budget hotels are mainly distributed in first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, and Beijing and Shanghai alone accounted for around 25% of China’s total. In the future, the well-known budget hotel groups will expand to second-tier and third-tier cities due to a wide and prospect future there.

The report has made an in-depth analysis of China’s budget hotel industry in terms of tourism development, hotel industry development, budget hotel regional development, nationwide budget hotel groups, and regional budget hotel groups.

Table Of Contents:

1. Definition & Characteristics of Budget Hotel
1. 1 Definition
1. 2 Characteristics

2. International Budget Hotels
2.1 Development Course
2.2 Management

3. China’s Budget Hotels
3.1 China’s Tourism Industry
3.2 China’s Hotel Industry
3.3 Overview of China’s Budget Hotels
3.4 Operation Modes of China’s Budget Hotels

4. Regional Budget Hotel Markets in China
4.1 Beijing
4.1.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.1.2 Budget Hotel
4.2 Shanghai
4.2.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.2.2 Budget Hotel
4.3 Tianjin
4.3.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.3.2 Budget Hotel
4.4 Chongqing
4.4.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.4.2 Budget Hotel
4.5 Guangzhou
4.5.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.5.2 Budget Hotel
4.6 Xi’an
4.6.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.6.2 Budget Hotel
4.7 Nanjing
4.7.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.7.2 Budget Hotel
4.8 Hangzhou
4.8.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.8.2 Budget Hotel
4.9 Shenzhen
4.9.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.9.2 Budget Hotel
4.10 Wuhan
4.10.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.10.2 Budget Hotel
4.11Chengdu
4.11.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.11.2 Budget Hotel
4.12 Jinan
4.12.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.12.2 Budget Hotel
4.13 Shenyang
4.13.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.13.2 Budget Hotel
4.14 Suzhou
4.14.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.14.2 Budget Hotel
4.15 Qingdao
4.15.1 Tourism & Hotel
4.15.2 Budget Hotel

5. Nationwide Budget Chain Hotels
5.1 Home Inns
5.1.1 Profile
5.1.2 Operation
5.2 Jinjiang Inn
5.2.1Profile
5.2.2 Operation
5.2.3 Listed in A-share
5.3 Motel168
5.3.1 Profile
5.3.2 Operation
5.4 7 Days Inn
5.4.1 Profile
5.4.2 Operation
5.4.3 Successfully Listed on the New York Stock Exchange
5.4.4 Gaining Pricing Power through Direct Sales
5.5 Hanting Inns & Hotels
5.5.1 Profile
5.5.2 Operation
5.5.3 Successfully Listed on NASDAQ
5.6 GreenTree Inn
5.6.1 Profile
5.6.2 Operation
5.7 Super 8 Hotel
5.7.1 Profile
5.7.2 Operation
5.8 Ibis Hotel
5.8.1 Profile
5.8.2 Operation
5.8.3 Launching Franchise Operation to Rapidly Expand China’s Market
5.9 Vienna Hotel
5.9.1 Profile
5.9.2 Operation
5.9.3 Boutique Business Hotel Orientation
5.10 Joyinn
5.10.1 Profile
5.10.2 Operation

6. Regional Budget Chain Hotels
6.1 Hotel Home
6. 1.1 Profile
6.1.2 Operation
6.2 Gold-Lions 100
6.2.1 Profile
6.2.2 Operation
6.3 Nanyuan Inn
6.3.1 Profile
6.3.2 Operation
6.4 City Inn
6.4.1 Profile
6.4.2 Operation
6.5 Huatian Inn
6.5.1 Profile
6.5.2 Operation
6.6 Xilong Hotel
6.6.1 Profile
6.6.2 Operation
6.7 Garden Inn
6.7.1 Profile
6.7.2 Operation
6.8 Shindom Inn
6.8.1 Profile
6.8.2 Operation
6.9 Huakun Hotel
6.9.1 Profile
6.9.2 Operation
6.10 An-e-Hotel
6.10.1 Profile
6.10.2 Operation
6.11 Grace Inn
6.11.1 Profile
6.11.2 Operation
6.12 Holiday Star
6.12.1 Profile
6.12.2 Operation
6.13 Jin’s Inn
6.13.1 Profile
6.13.2 Operation
6.14 Orange Hotel
6.14.1 Profile
6.14.2 Operation
6.15 WHWH
6.15.1 Profile
6.15.2 Operation

7. China’s Budget Hotel Industry Development Trend
7.1 Operation Differentiation & Brand Building
7.2 Management Specialization & Technology Improvement

Pens are considered as effective and low budget marketing tool helping businesses to achieve their marketing objectives in an easy way. Because of the features, these products are also quite popular and instantly accepted. They can be considered as gifts on varied occasions to create brand awareness. These products are ideal as corporate gifts, business gifts and also giveaways to consumers, business honchos and targeted audience.   

Promotional pens give business professionals the option to print or emboss company logo or name in an attractive manner and flawlessly. This part of job is executed with the assistance of experienced and skilled designers who can get things done ensuring the highest level of customer satisfaction.

There is no dearth of manufacturers or suppliers of such products but you should scour the market before you come to a conclusion. The best way to find a supplier of promotional pens is by taking the support of internet. Using the internet, you can find a reliable supplier offering fancy and captivating features.

Among the range of promotional pens made available only a few of them has been tagged as hot sellers. These hot selling products are made available at great price or excellent value. Moreover, a good numbers are designed and manufactured with the assistance of green technology which are environment friendly. For instance: BioPens with a frosted finish is one of the popular and high selling pen made from biodegradable plastic. It is a great marketing item if you want to promote your eco-friendly product or services.

So, with the help of such small and cost-effective promotional products you can now take your business to the next level and achieve business goals easily.

How Much Should You Budget for Aviation Marketing?

Asking an aviation marketing consultant for an answer to this question may seem like asking the fox what kind of lock to put on the henhouse. (grin)

But there are three reasons to answer the question honestly, ethics aside.

We often get paid out of profits, which would be nothing if a company spends too much on marketing.
We often coach companies on aviation marketing and get paid for getting results.
Even the companies that pay us out of their marketing budgets wouldn’t keep paying if we didn’t get results.

Unfortunately, many of the companies we provide consulting services for with begin with one of two approaches to budgeting for marketing:

Bad (But Common!) Approaches to Marketing Budgets

Approach One – “Budget? What budget?”

Approach Two – (This is worse.) Developing a marketing budget as  a percentage of gross sales  from last year.   In other words, if sales were bad last year, they’ll make up for it by investing LESS in marketing this year. Can anyone reading this GUESS how well that approach will work?

The Best Approach to Marketing Budgets We’ve Seen

That said, the best approach to determining a marketing budget I’ve seen is best expressed is by John Jansch, author of Duct Tape Marketing.

“You should spend as little as you possibly can in order to achieve your marketing goals.”

This statement assumes three things:

That you have measurable marketing goals (let’s say you express that in a number of clients you intend to acquire this year.)
You have a calculated average of how much each new client is worth to your business.
You know how much it cost to acquire each new client last year (divide your number of new clients by the amount you spent on marketing.)

So, to keep the math easy, let’s say you’re a high-value consultant that needs to acquire 10 new clients this year.  Last year you found 5 new clients and spent $10,000 on marketing.  So each client cost you $2000 in marketing expenses to acquire.

You need to run a check to ensure that your cash flow is positive – that your clients brought in enough profit to justify that expense. If that’s the case, you’re in good shape.

This year, you can use $20,000 as your baseline marketing budget ($2000 times 10 new clients needed). All things being equal, if you use the same marketing methods you used last year, theoretically you’ll meet your goals and still have positive cash flow.

Get the Most For Your Money.

But since things never work out the same way twice, we recommend that you spend some time on the strategy of how you spend that budget. You’ll want to get the very best value you possibly can for that money. If you use methods that are more effective, you will exceed your targets.

How do you do that? Start by taking a look at your very best clients – the ones that provided highest value. Where did they come from? Invest MORE in the marketing that got them in the door. Invest LESS in things that didn’t bring you clients.

Fix or Get Rid of What Doesn’t Work.

As an example, if you ran an ad in a publication last year, do you know for a fact that enough customers found you because of it?  If not, you’re wasting that part of your budget.

If you suspect that an ad IS working but can’t prove it, you can rewrite the ad so that there is an obvious clue that a customer found you that way.  (You can do this by providing a coupon or password for an additional savings or free gift, or by changing the phone number or web address that you ask readers to respond to.)

But keeping an ad in a publication because you always have, or because you like the salesman, is not a good use of your hard-earned cash.

Another very common example – if you made a trade show appearance and did not acquire enough new customers or valuable contacts to justify your expenses (including travel, meals, booth rent, and all other associated expenses) then you need to rethink your strategy and do a better job of tracking, or simply don’t go next year!  Reasoning that  “we go to this show every year,” or “everybody else is going,” is not a sound business philosophy.

Examine every mailing, every show, every ad with the same kind of scrutiny. How many new clients contacted your company because of it?

Some marketing companies have a philosophy of “name recognition” and “getting your name out there” and that works for companies the size of Coke and Pepsi, (a concept called “brand advertising”) but unless your budget is in that neighborhood, you should concentrate on advertising that gets proven results. You CAN do both- get your name out there, AND get potential customers to respond, and smart companies hold their marketing accountable for accomplishing both tasks.

Diversify Your Methods

Divert the money spent on non-productive marketing last year to more of the methods that actually worked. Better yet, experiment with something new.  Some portion of your marketing budget should be spent each year trying something you’ve never tried before. To keep growing, you need to reach parts of the market that are not yet familiar with your products or services.

And the more different effective marketing methods you use, the more stable your marketing efforts become. Each method reaches a different portion of your target demographic, and each method works in a different way. Fluctuations in the economy or in particular geographical areas won’t impact your steady flow of new clients as much.

We know of one company that advertised for many years in a particular publication and always got reliable results.   They were reluctant to try anything else while they had this perfectly good, reliable channel.  When that publication went out of business, however, they were left scrambling for another effective method.

“Diversity leads to stability”

If you’re just starting out, use your business plan as your guide for how much to spend on marketing. If you don’t have a business plan, we like JIAN’s Business Plan Builder software – it builds a very workable and credible business plan by asking you questions in interview form, like Quicken’s TurboTax.

Spread your initial budget among at least three activities from each phase of marketing, and of course, track and adjust accordingly.

Spread your marketing budget among at least three activities from each phase of marketing.

A word of warning – Many companies jump from method to method without giving their marketing a chance to work. Running an ad in a publication just once (to see how it works) doesn’t constitute a fair test. Aviation is a very specialized field, and the numbers of responses are often so small that they’re not as statistically reliable as they would be if you were marketing a product to the masses. Keep writing articles for your blog, even if you’re not getting obvious response to every post in the first few months. Keep a small ad running in a publication for several issues before making a determination.   We recommend creating a solid, proven strategy for the year and committing to stick with it for the year, then you can evaluate the data and make adjustments.

Need assistance?  Write to me,  Paula (at) AviationBusinessConsultants (dot) com and I’ll send you our New Client Questionnaire. After you send us the completed questionnaire, we’ll write you a complete set of recommendations that you can use for your marketing planning.

The real reason you’re doing a marketing budget is the same reason why you create a budget for your personal life. You want to allocate what you will spend money on, and know what your limits are. By taking the time to do this in advance, you’ll reap huge rewards once you start using your marketing budget.

This is covered in step by step detail at http://thomfinn-ebooks.com/default.aspx. The most useful type of hotel marketing budget is a combination of a historical based budget and the zero based budget process. By reviewing the trends of expenses in the past (borrowed from the historical method) and looking at each expense anew (from the Zero Based Budget), you’ll be able to get the most accurate numbers for your budget.

Although you may be required to write a marketing budget for a boss, a bank or even because you think “you have to do it”, the smart, truly professional hospitality marketer will embrace the marketing budget process. The real reason you’re doing a marketing budget is the same reason why you would create a budget for your personal life. You want to allocate what you will spend money on, and know what your limits are. By taking the time to do this in advance, you’ll reap huge rewards once you start using your marketing budget.

The most useful type of hotel marketing budget is a combination of a historical based budget and the zero based budget process. By reviewing the trends of expenses in the past (borrowed from the historical method) and looking at each expense anew (from the Zero Based Budget), you’ll be able to get the most accurate numbers for your budget.

Budgets can be done yearly, but quarterly budgets give you greater flexibility to make fast changes if a strategy isn’t working out for you. For those who fear commitment, a quarterly budget allows you to decide on strategy for only 90 days then decide if it’s a strategy you want to continue with. Once you’ve completed this combination method, run each line item as a % of sales against total revenue. When your revenue numbers fluctuate, “this % of ” will allow you to level the playing field for fast comparison.

And for pity’s sake- use the budget! Once created, your budget should be reviewed on a weekly or at the most-monthly basis. Check your budget before you make purchases or approve an invoice. All those invoices will get coded back to your department, and eventually you’ll have to answer for them.

When creating the actual budget, start with pen and paper, review your marketing plan and list any task that will cost any money. Don’t worry about the details or the order right now, just list the different tactics you’ll be using. From then, working across a tablet and listing the 3 months you are budgeting for, begin filling in the dollar amounts of what you want to spend. Once you have this rough draft, transfer the information into the excel templates provided to you for free.

Mediocre (or even under performing) hospitality professionals will never view their marketing budget as the return on investment tool it should be. And those same average professionals will probably never advance to their full potential. But managers who “get it”, that understand that the marketing money they are entrusted with is nothing more than seed money. This seed money needs to be planted and then return on this investment in the form of revenues (the return on the investment). At the very least, every tactic on your marketing plan should break even. It’s appalling how many marketing professionals spend money on strategies that don’t cover its costs.

But no more excuses! Follow the guides in this Ebook, read the insiders tips, and complete the assignments and you’ll soon master your marketing budgets for quarters and years to come!

Thom Finn is small business coach in Central Pennsylvania. Known for his toughness and high standards for his clients, he has coached hundreds of businesses to improved profitability. With a bunch of fancy letters after his name, and his experience from the school of hard knocks, Coach Thom combines small business education with accountability to bring massive results for his clients. He was recently named Runner up for the 2007 North American Coach of the Year, and voted “Last Person you want to meet in a dark alley”. thomfinn@coachmybiz.com