5 Budget-Friendly ways to market your business
Working with a small marketing budget? Don’t worry, with a little creativity and some smart planning, you can still achieve great results without breaking the bank.
Here are five budget-friendly marketing strategies to help you connect with your customers.
1. Harness the Power of Social Media
I know it sounds obvious but Social media is your best friend when it comes to budget-friendly marketing as most platforms are free to use and it can also help you reach a really wide audience. Here are three really simple ways to make the most out of your profiles.
Consistent Posting: When it comes to socials consistency is key, it helps to keep your audience engaged and algorithms tend to favour the accounts who post consistently So take some time each month to plan and schedule your content. Share updates, behind-the-scenes looks, customer testimonials, and more. Regularly review what content is performing best so you know what your audience want to see from you.
Engage with Your Followers: Social media isn’t just about posting and leaving the chat. Responding to comments, messages, and mentions will help you to build a community around your business and will help to turn followers into loyal customers.
Utilise Hashtags & Keywords: Hashtags and keywords play a crucial role in boosting the visibility of your content by making it more discoverable to users searching for specific topics or interests. Research relevant hashtags and keywords that you can use for your posts and save them to a place you can easily access and refer back to later.
2. Make the most of your Email list
Email marketing is a cost-effective way to stay connected with your customers and keep them informed about your latest offerings. Plus the conversion rate for emails tends to be higher that socials to. But how do you make the most of it?
Build Your List: Collect email addresses from customers through your website, social media, and sign-ups. Think about creating some really enticing lead magnets as this not only gives potential customers a taste of working with you but also helps to build your subscriber list to.
Personalise Your Emails: Segment your list to help you further tailor your messages to what that specific section of your audience want to see from you. Most email platforms have the option to set up retargeting emails so you can send emails to folks that have browsed your content and keep your brand fresh in their minds.
Offer Value: Share exclusive deals, useful content, and exciting news to keep your subscribers interested. You can also repurpose your social content or link to it just in case they haven’t seen it.
3. Collaborate with other small biz folks
Partnering with other local businesses is a great way to boost your budgets as well as increasing your reach.
Works really well if the offerings complement each other so for example a pub and a café that sells breakfasts or a Photographer and a social media expert.
There are many different ways of making this most of this partnership from working together to deliver larger projects to co-hosting events and creating exclusive special offers. If you are time poor then even just sharing each others content, showcasing each other on your respective websites and referring customers.
4. Get Involved in Your Community
Being active in your community can help you build brand awareness without spending a lot of money. Depending on your ideal customer think about sponsoring local events or sports teams. See what networking events are running locally and attend where possible not only will this help you meet other small business folk in the local area but there could also be an opportunity to for you to speak at the events and showcase your knowledge.
5. Create Valuable Content
Content marketing is an excellent way to attract and retain customers. It doesn’t have to be expensive but it does take time and thought as the content needs to provide value for your customers. Not sure where to begin? Here are three simple ideas to get you started.
Refresh your blog: Blogs are still a great tool for creating content, they give you a space to share your expertise, tips, and stories related to your industry. This shows that you are an expert in your field and has a lovely side effect of improving your search rankings to. PLUS you can repurpose the content for emails and your social posts to. For more in-depth content you could think about introducing a paywall to add another income stream to your business.
Time for your close up: Videos are a great way to engage with your audience and you can use them across multiple platforms. Think about sharing some behind the scenes footage, how-to videos or product demonstrations.
Make your numbers speak: If you have a lot of facts and figures you want to share think about creating some infographics. Not only does it make what could be slightly dry content more appealing it also makes it a lot easier for your audience to digest and retain the information you are giving them.
With these five strategies, you can make a big impact without spending a fortune. Remember, the key is to be consistent, engage with your audience, and always look for new opportunities to connect with potential customers.
Need a bit more support?
In September I am opening the doors to Small & Mighty, my community for lovely small business folk like you. Each month there will be a workshop to help you upskill, a chance to ask me questions PLUS you’ll get to network with fellow small biz folks. To find out more tap the button below and join the waitlist.
