Not all marketing budgets are made equal. All marketing strategies aren't made equal. But just because they aren't equal in price doesn't mean you should disregard the cheaper marketing tactics. Here are some marketing tips to use when your budget is tight or if you just want to try something new that won't empty your bank account.

1. Rotate your marketing tactics. Not one tactic will work all year round. Consumers will get bored from seeing the same television commercial, or the same flyers or the same brochures for months at a time. People will end up just tuning out your marketing because they've heard it or have seen it all before.

With that said, make sure you don't just change things up to try something new that you don't know will work. Do your research and use marketing tactics that have been proven to work, or that have a good chance of working for little investment. This is where a marketing calendar in a marketing plan comes in: you can plan everything ahead of time and change things at certain intervals so you know consumers won't get bored.

2. Send out postcards. Your direct mail campaign doesn't have to always include product samples and fancy, shiny brochures (although those do help!). You should send out an attention-grabbing postcard every month, and send out nice, more expensive brochures and other direct mail pieces every other month. That way you're being budget-conscience, but your customers still get to see the best of you.

3. Use an e-newsletter. It costs six times more to make a sale to a new customer than to a current customer. That's reason enough to keep your current customers interested in your offerings. Instead of sending your current customers a coupon or an ad every month, why not send them some information they can use? E-newsletters are a great and cheap marketing tactic to let your customers know you care. All you need is their email address. You can create an e-newsletter in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher and send it out as an attachment. Or you can use an email template from a company like Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com) in which you just plug in your info and the layout and graphics are already done for you. If you go this route, it'll cost you about $15 a month to keep using the template.

4. Host an event at your store. Whether it's a grand opening sale with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres or a charity auction for some kind of fundraiser - hosting an event could get you media coverage for free. Even if you don't get media coverage, you can get some good word-of-mouth marketing, and you can't put a price on that!