Who wants to spend a lot of money on marketing? The answer: nobody.
Especially in this day and age, marketing is cheaper than ever before, which is good news for your fledgling small business. Even if your business isn’t the new kid on the block, you can still utilize marketing to gain more customers and reintroduce your brand to people who never would have known you existed before.
The power of marketing is real and true, but only when done right. Simultaneously, cheap marketing methods are preferable to more expensive marketing methods that may bleed more money than they produce. Is there a place where cheap methods and high returns intersect?
Yes. Let’s discuss some marketing techniques you can utilize that will reinvigorate your business while staying within a tight budget.
Social media is an obvious source of marketing material, especially when you consider the fact that you can find massive social success for next to nothing, cost-wise. At the same time, your business may not be totally digital. If you’re a small town florist, sure you can find some success on social media — but you also need local advertising to directly target the largest customer population.
The trick to this is staying consistent. If you work with different marketing mediums, never let one fall by the wayside. You don’t want to run a newspaper ad with your website address, only for a customer to see this ad, visit your website and see completely different advertised promotional offers.
A problem marketers run into on social sites like Twitter is that it feels like shouting into the void. It takes a lot of effort and research to finally get in touch with their target demographic, simply because Twitter is for everyone — and it’s rare that your target demographic is truly “everyone.”
If the mountain doesn’t move to you, you have to move to it. Seek out online communities relevant to your business, whether it’s a Reddit group or a forum dedicated to your business subject.
Don’t neglect the relationships you’ve already help to foster. Sometimes the best way to market yourself is through someone else. When you go to your peers and offer to collaborate on a marketing venture together, they’re sure to jump at the opportunity.
The network you have established is a valuable resource, but also remember this: it’s always a good idea to try and widen that web of peers.
Content marketing is one of your best and cheapest marketing resources. No only can content help to establish your business’ reputation, it can also help you out with search engine optimization — or SEO. This helps Google and other search engines rank you higher on their list of results related to what an Internet user types into their search engine.
Marketing doesn’t have to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars like it used to. If you run a small business, your marketing budget should be modest. Utilize these tips and report back with how well they worked for you.
