Here are 9 low-cost but highly effective marketing tips to help you boost your sales and profits fast.

Tip #1: Look for some low-cost ways you can enhance perceived value of your product or service. Then test raising your price. Don't be surprised if both your sales and your profit margin go up.

Tip #2: Try to limit your customer's decision making to either "Yes. I'll buy." or "No. I won't buy". Don't risk losing them by including "which one" decisions. The more options you offer, more likely some customers will procrastinate and never make decision ...causing you to lose a sale needlessly.

Tip #3: You can demonstrate a low cost for your product or service by breaking down price to its lowest time increment. For example, "Enjoy all of this for less than 90 cents a day" (for something priced at $325 a year).

Tip #4: Add an unexpected bonus to every sales transaction just before completing sale. It prevents customers from developing any last minute hesitation ...and changing their minds about buying.

Tip #5: Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. Postcards are inexpensive and easy to use. Most recipients who ignore other types of advertising will read a brief ad when it's delivered to them on a postcard.

Tip #6: Prospects who ask questions are usually close to buying. Take advantage of this. Don't just answer their question. Include a reason for them to buy as part of your answer. Then ask for sale ...or tell them exactly what to do to place their order.

Analysts predict that 2005 will be year that mobile marketing really takes off and that companies will take advantage of this medium in much same way as they did in early days of Internet.

>>The benefits of mobile marketing The key benefits of mobile marketing are clear to see. Most mobile users carry their phone or keep it within easy reach at all times, which means that mobile marketing offers a very personal way for marketers to communicate their message to customers. Messages are almost guaranteed to be read, unlike e-mail marketing or direct mail. It also allows companies to build a relationship with their customers, track preferences and highly target their marketing.

>>And dangers There are of course dangers in using such a personal medium and a badly thought-out mobile marketing campaign could easily be considered intrusive and cause sender to alienate or lose customers.

>>Can any business do it? Is mobile marketing just for big companies then or can small businesses do it too?

If you are a small business person then good news is that mobile marketing is a technique that companies of every size can employ. There are of course several points you need to consider before embarking on your first mobile marketing campaign.

>>What technology is involved? The options available to you are primarily WAP and SMS. WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is essentially a cut down version of a web browser that enables people with WAP enabled mobile phones to access very basic versions of web pages.

SMS stands for Short Messaging Service and is also known as text messaging or texting and allows mobile users to send and receive text messages of up to 160 characters long. Most small businesses will find it easier to use text messages to communicate with their customers rather than WAP.

>>Mobile marketing – how do I do it? What does a small business need in order to carry out a mobile marketing campaign?