Let’s face it, marketing your business, products, and/or services is expensive. Not every business can contract a marketing agency or hire a team of marketers to grow the business. For most businesses starting out, or in the first two years, will rely on their own marketing skills and small budget to catalyze growth.
The good news is that not all marketing requires a stack of cash and a team to be successful. If your aim is to connect your business with your target audience, and deliver value, you have a winning marketing campaign on your hands.
“The almost inescapable noise has caused a shift in the way people view what we do, and who gets access to their attention,” Forbes explained. “Even if you’re one of the lucky few who gets an audience’s momentary undivided attention, you have seconds to make it count.”
So how do you make it count? And how do you make it count without spending a ton of money? To help, we compiled a few highly affordable top marketing tips. Let’s take a closer look!
1. Have a blog to capitalize on more niche keywords and increase online visibility
Content is very much still King. With so much noise online for users to sift through, it’s critical to have more online outlets to promote your business, as well as provide quality content your audience will love. Having a blog for your business does all of the above.
A blog can also help you rank your business higher in Google SERPs, since you can use more keywords than you can in your web page content. Getting a blog up and running is easy, and it is free. Here’s a DreamHost article on starting a blog to get you moving in the right direction.
2. Create a ton of content for social media users to engage with, comment on, and share
Another affordable marketing tip for your business is to utilize social media as much as possible. Many people believe you need a social media manager or community manager to make social media a success, but this is simply not the case. First you need to create content for social media your audience will love, comment on, and share.
As the business owner, you should have a pretty good idea of what your audience wants. If not, just check out what your competitors are posting on social, and make it better. To create awesome posts, you can use Canva (free). To schedule the posts, you can use Buffer (free). And for a few dollars a week, you can boost posts that are performing well organically for even better results. It’s time to get social!
3. Make email marketing part of your daily marketing strategy to get the most out of those leads
Email marketing is another highly affordable, and effective method for businesses to grow and be more successful. If you have a website, attend industry events, or use LinkedIn to get more potential client contact information, you probably have a pretty healthy email list. And this list is gold for business growth.
Email marketing can help you connect with those leads and market to them without spending a lot of your budget. You can use free email marketing services like HubSpot or Mailchimp to send large amounts of emails. The success here, however, is dependent on the email content. You want emails to be of value and personalized for best results.
4. Become an authority for your industry or niche online and in real life
You probably didn’t start a business in an industry or niche that you didn’t have any experience in, or a passion for. Chances are, you have a ton of experience behind you. This is great, because becoming an authority in your industry or niche can have a big impact on your marketing efforts.
However, you’ll need to get active online to start building that authoritative presence. Start with your LinkedIn profile. Post articles about industry quirks or problems, and the solutions you and your business provide. Use real life examples to not seem to self-promoting without valid support of results. Next, write and publish articles in online publications your audience follows and reads. This can be a very affordable and fun for you, and give your business a boost against competitors.
Wrapping Up . . .
Building your business is not as hard as it may seem. Doing it on a tight budget does present challenges, but it certainly is not impossible. With a bit of leg work and elbow grease, you can get your business in front of more people with little to zero cost to your business budget. Make marketing a priority, be creative, and put in the work. That’s the equation for marketing success.
