Marketing Without Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring [Paperback]

Shel A. Horowitz (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The publisher, Alan Friedman , August 15, 1999 Reviews of the most comprehensive book on low-cost marketing "Thank you for your wonderful book 'Marketing without Megabucks'. It is the single most profitable investment I've ever made. With its superb advice, I managed to build a small company turning over close to 1,000,000 US Dollars a year within 2 years and I have not spent a single penny on paid advertising! With our special computer-noise reduction products we have obtained front-page coverage with the most important German computer magazine, and have been featured in 13 other magazines and newspapers. We (rather the product) even have been featured twice on TV...

"Starting this year, we employ 5 people, and estimated turnover for 1999 is 1,400,000 US Dollars. Most helpful were the chapters on working the media, and on customer service/referrals. (20% of our new business comes from referrals.)"

--Georg Schlomka, A Conto GmbH, Germany [e-mail]

The book, written by AWM's director, Shel Horowitz, is a 384-page comprehensive guide to inexpensive, effective marketing and publicity, including major sections on press coverage, advertising, direct mail, and self-made marketing. Originally published in 1993 by Simon & Schuster, it is now available exclusively through the author's firm. We ship out within 48 hours of receiving an order.

There is also a valuable update for this book, covering the Internet and many other marketing developments, available inexpensively to customers of the book.

Here are more reviews and reader comments:

"A scrappy and practical guide for a business owner or manager with limited means. Horowitz is a true salesman for his ideas and provides detailed examples of what can be accomplished...ideal for would be marketing mavens who just happen to be a little short on cash."

--David C. Walters, Christian Science Monitor

"Essential reading for any entrepreneurial venture operating on a financial shoestring and is packed with practical, specific, effective 'things-to-do" that anyone can immediately apply with good effect!"

--Jim Cox, Midwest Book Review

"A real eye-opener...comprehensive yet practical, offering step-by-step methods for creating awareness in the marketplace...specifically geared to the small business. Designed to...help the reader actually create big time marketing opportunities without spending a fortune...step-by-step techniques for implementing marketing strategy...ideas here that you can use on a daily basis."

--Information Broker

"Packed full of ideas...a great deal of useful information here."

--Joel Jones, Library Journal

"Distinguishes the high-cost hype from hard-hitting, cost-efficient techniques...illustrates what can be done when ingenuity and imagination, smart research, and savvy follow-through are recognized as the real riches of sound marketing."

--Business Life

"Leaves no stone unturned: the electronic media...copywriting and graphic arts fundamentals... classified sections (did you know it is often one of the most carefully read parts of any publication?)...display ads...ads on the electronic media (including ethnic and subculture shows)... special interest and service programs...donating or bartering premiums...on-line computing..."

--Sylvie Schneble, Omniartists

"Shel Horowitz is a marketing genius. His marketing book is one of my favorite secret weapons in the fight to get and keep customers. He's sincere, creative, and persuasive."

-Joe Vitale, author, There's a Customer Born Every Minute, The AMA Complete Guide to Small Business Advertising, Cyberwriting, etc.

"I have saved over 100 times the cover price."

--Brian Jud, author/producer, You're On the Air and 16 other books/videos

"Cuts through the glitz to the most effective, economical methods."

--Oregon Business

"I read straight through Marketing Without Megabucks: How To Sell Anything on a Shoestring and thoroughly enjoyed it (I almost missed supper this evening)."

--Kathleen Ryan, Publisher, The Frugal Bugle (private letter)

"Marketing Without Megabucks has proved to be a tremendous boon to our publishing business. The target marketing advice, media placement recommendations, and general message of hope has meant courage and sales. Bravo, Mr. Horowitz."

--Amy Zuckerman, Co-Principal, IN/EX Information Export, Massachusetts

"I wish I had gotten my hands on your book sooner!... I put together a press release and sent it to 9 community newspapers... The first follow-up call I made resulted in a newspaper reporter and photographer at my house yesterday!... It worked and without your book, it definitely would not have happened."

--Christine Smith, Owner, The Babysitters Directory, Minnesota

"The definitive one-volume reference resource for a wide range of inexpensive and easy marketing strategies."

--David J. Dunton, Trade Books Editor, Simon & Schuster

"A one-stop marketing shop. I can't think of a topic that is not comprehensively covered, from classified ads all the way to huge campaigns."

--Brandi Jasmine, freelance business reviewer and Web publisher

"Horowitz puts Jay Levinson's popular Guerrilla Marketing theory into practice by explaining, in detail, how to market... Also thrown in is a heap of useful examples and some of the best advice we've read for naming a business."

--Rodney J. Moore, Home Office Computing

One thing's for sure: anyone who spends the money for your book will save those dollars many times over.

--Gloria Grening Wolk, author, Cash For The Final Days

From the Author

One-stop marketing resource for small business/nonprofits A complete guide for the entrepreneur or agency staffer who wants to get the message out effectively with little or no expense. Covers free publicity in the media, writing power-packed ads and direct mail copy, ways to save big bucks on traditional advertising, and much more. (The Internet and other newer marketing methods are covered in my newest book, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World.)

Home Office Computing noted that this book puts into practice the theories of Guerrilla Marketing.

Marketing Without Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring should save the average business owner thousands of dollars every year. I have used the techniques to build my little two-person shop in Western Massachusetts into an international business with clients on three continents--with a marketing expenditure so small as to be ludicrous.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; 1 edition (June 18, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067176036X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671760366
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,075,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Want to lower costs, boost profits, and have potential customers calling YOU? Multiple-award-winning author, marketing consultant/copywriter, and international speaker Shel Horowitz of GreenAndProfitable.com specializes in those types of win-win green and ethical strategies. Five of his eight books have won awards, sold rights to foreign publishers, and/or made at least one Amazon category bestseller list--most recently, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (Wiley, 2010, an Amazon Environmental category bestseller at least 13 months).

His other recent books include Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World and Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers

Shel also writes the internationally syndicated Green And Profitable column (GreenAndProfitable.com), for business, and its sister column, Green And Practical (GreenAndPractical.info), for consumers--both of which are available for license to companies and organizations wanting to supply their readers with high-quality practical green content. He speaks internationally on reaching the green consumer, business ethics, and book publishing/marketing, to such groups as
* ForumDavos (Switzerland)
* Green America/Global Exchange Green Festival
* GoGreenExpo
* SolarFest
* PRSA International Conference
* ASJA National Conference
* Book Expo America
* Publishers Marketing Association University
* American Marketing Association/CT
* Noteworthy USA National Convention
* Ragan Strategic Media Conference
* Sustainable Food Summit
* Boston Green Fest
* Numerous regional publishing associations, colleges and universities, and community groups

Shel will help you with both big-picture strategic marketing, especially reaching green, socially conscious Cultural Creatives--and also with specific tactics such as attention-getting, benefit-focused copy...joint ventures and strategic alliances...social media and traditional media publicity...publishing a book. Specialties: green/environmental/eco, authors, publishers, books.

As a marketer, he has gotten his clients into major publications and broadcast media (including the New York Times and Publishers Weekly)...opened partnerships and endorsements for clients with prominent businesses, organizations, and celebrities--including a major Hollywood director and a Hall of Fame athlete...and helped authors, publishers, small businesses, and nonprofits differentiate themselves in a crowded market. He also turns unpublished writers into published authors, helping each publish in the most appropriate way.

As a thought-leader, he has been a pioneer in spreading the news that green and ethical business practices are not just the right thing to do, they're also the profitable thing to do. He is the founder of the Business Ethics Pledge campaign, with signers in more than 30 countries.

Shel has been in both the environmental movement and in marketing since 1972. His first book, on energy issues, was published in 1980.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, May 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Marketing Without Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring (Paperback)

I seldom rate a book with five stars, but I feel this one deserves it.

I am a budding entrepreneur who is new to marketing, but after reading Mr. Horowitz's book, I believe I can get the word out about my product, creating "the buzz" that will help make my business successful.

"Marketing without Megabucks" instills this confidence by providing copious, detailed examples and methods that, I believe, leave little room for error. For instance, in the direct-mail sections, Mr. Horowitz not only gives careful advice about writing and designing the marketing piece--complete with a multi-page, real- world example--and whom to mail it to, he also explains how to address the envelopes (all caps), how to seal stacks of them efficiently, and which post offices to take them to for quickest delivery.

He covers a plethora of marketing techniques in this way. The book begins by explaining the importance of honing the focus of marketing messages and the business image, discusses picking out an effective name, then explains how to generate free publicity. It moves on to discuss fliers, posters, signs, business cards, magazine and newspaper ads, television and radio spots, and so on. It even takes on advanced methods, such as using networking and customer service as marketing tools to build new and repeat business. Furthermore, Mr. Horowitz delivers examples of how these techniques can be used for a variety of applications--from selling goods and services to waging political campaigns to non-profit fundraising.

Even though the book is thorough, it is not dull. Mr. Horowitz's writing is lively, friendly, and encouraging. I found myself reading it with interest, chapter after chapter, which sharply contrasts with my experience with a textbook I started to read on the subject. Rather than give me rigormortis, Mr. Horowitz has fired me up.

In addition to all this, "Marketing without Megabucks" is a tightwad's treasure house. Did you know you can get sharply reduced rates on newspaper and magazine ads? This is just one tip the author tells you how to take advantage of; for every marketing technique, he offers money-saving ideas, especially emphasizing the value of creating free publicity and carefully targeting and designing marketing for maximum cost-effectiveness. Considering that half of profit is saving, this information is nearly priceless.

I hope this review helps you decide whether or not to buy the book, and I wish you the best in your endeavors. May "the buzz" be with you!

3.0 out of 5 stars Buy the Replacement Instead, December 17, 2007

By 

Shel Horowitz "Shel Horowitz, author, Guerril... (Hadley, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marketing Without Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring (Paperback)

As the author, I can tell you that Marketing Without Megabucks was a great book for its time, but its time is past.

Everything that was contained in Marketing Without Megabucks is incorporated within my newer book, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World--along with 15 additional chapters of new material. For the small difference in price, you get a lot more complete and newer information in Grassroots.

So while it's very rare for an author to recommend against buying his own book, in this case, I strongly recommend buying Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World--and I definitely would not buy both Grassroots and Marketing Without Megabucks together, as you'll be paying twice for the same content. I would, however, note that my other current marketing books, Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, and Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, are designed specifically to complement Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World. For authors or publishers, the three together would be an excellent investment--and for those outside the book trade, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World and Principled Profit will prepare you well for the marketing challenges you'll face in the coming years.

Shel Horowitz, frugalmarketing.com