I often get asked about the process of marketing and how to speed things up. Many business owners get frustrated by the fact that any marketing they do today can take up to three months to get results and ask what is the secret to getting business in through the door fast.

Well, actually there are several things that you can do to create instant cash, but all do rely on getting organised and taking time to act on these ideas. Here are my top ideas on creating cash fast when you need it:

Speak at an event and create an offer

One of the best ways to create instant cash is to speak at an event which has your target market in the room and make an offer at the end of your talk. Most audiences will recognise that you only have a limited time to share your expertise at the event and some people will want the opportunity to take things further with you. A contact of mine offered to work one-to-one with companies helping them set up their social networking for a £295 fee. Six businesses signed up there and then instantly bringing £1,700 into the business.

Approach your past customers

Your past customers are a great quick source of income and many businesses don’t bother to catch up with them after work has finished. Touch base with anyone you’ve worked with previously plus people who were interested in the past but never actually started working with you and see how it’s going for them. You’d be surprised how quickly this can generate cash for your business.

Create a pre-launch product

One way to create quick cash without doing a lot of work is to create the basis of a product but sell it on a pre-launch basis i.e. this is the product I’m creating and to get it before the launch is £x, but once it’s launched it will sell for £y. Doing things this way does two things. Firstly, it tells you whether your customers are interested in this product. If they’re not, great – you’ve just saved yourself a whole lot of work. Secondly, if they are interested, you’ve got cash in the bank as an incentive to actual create the product.

Create a seasonal offer that expires shortly

One thing I’ve used in the past is to create a seasonal offer that expires shortly. We did this before Christmas 2010 where we told our list about some old CD stock that was taking up space and that we wondered whether people wanted this. This was a great campaign as we got rid of the stock and brought in some quick cash too.

Go back to your current customers

Your present customers have already bought from you and hopefully like working with you now. It’s always worth going back to your current customers and making a special offer just to them to see if you can give them more products and services. You can make current customers feel special as the offer will just be for them and hopefully bring in some instant cash too.

Generating instant cash in your business is just a matter of thinking outside of the box a little bit. Hopefully the ideas above will give you some ways of making marketing work quickly for you without creating a lot of additional work.