Marketing on a Shoestring

Marketing is such an important component that’s integral to your business. To maintain it you should be allocating at least 5% of your total revenue, much more if you wish to grow your business.  However, with finances tight and most small businesses just making enough to make ends meet, it’s a difficult concept to grasp as to exactly just how important it is to your business.  Marketing is often seen as a non-essential part of your business, yet it’s probably the most essential!

That being said, understandably you need to see the return on investment that can sometimes take a while unless you are investing with a large budget, for example on Google Ads (that can give you a very quick ROI).  That’s why we’ve put together a few low-cost ideas on how to promote your business on very little or no budget to get you started.

• Blogs

A blog is a great way to connect with your target audience that is easy to set up, free if you create a new page on your website and you can use the same content across a broad range of your platforms.

Firstly, create a topic plan – subject areas you think will resonate with your target market. Write something helpful for your customer such as news / update on product or service/ legislation or simply an event. Then share on your social media platforms, on an EDM to your database and anywhere else that is relevant.  Writing regular blogs is also great for your SEO.  Remember you can recycle your blog articles at any time so that they come up in the search results when new people are searching for certain topics and if they have been popular, then why not?

• Database marketing

Your customer list is gold.  You can email your customers who are already your advocates direct to their inboxes.  They should have some level of loyalty and trust towards you and this is a low cost form of marketing that can really add value to your brand and keep you top of mind amongst your customers.  If you use an email marketing software you can obtain analytics of when your emails are opened, if they were clicked on as well as design your templates to re-enforce your branding.

• Google My Business

You can create a Google My Business account for free.  When people are searching for your business, you appear in the search results with a highly visible listing, map and phone number, address at a glance.  You can optimize this with information about your business, hours of operation and photos.  You can ask for your customers to leave Reviews which help with your SEO.

• Local Networking

Attend local networking events to mix with like-minded business community to promote your brand and products/service.  You may be able to offer helpful workshops or take up guest speaker opportunities to educate and delight the community around you. This is also a great way to get referrals from your local business community as well as build trust and credibility.

There are lots of tips on how to do marketing on a shoestring. Key is to do something that reaches your target audience, builds your brand, credibility, authority in your field and brings in the sales.  Spend your time on the marketing activities that help to grow your business and resonate with your potential customers.

If you need help, contact the experts.