Marketing is definitely more effective and budget-friendly than advertising, but there are still things you can do to get the most bang for your buck possible (and to trim expenses!). Low budget marketing can still be incredibly effective and successful. Here’s an overview of the 5 best ways to make your marketing strategy budget-friendly AND successful.
1. Evergreen marketing materials
The easiest and simplest way to get more bang for your marketing buck is to make all your marketing materials “evergreen” (means they are relevant all year round). This way, you’ll be able to use them for longer, and buy in bulk to save money. When designing your flyers, handouts, coupons or other materials, speak about your business generally, or include a year-long listing of specials.
Investing in instructional videos is an excellent way to get in on the rising video content trend, and also doubled as evergreen content you can use for quite some time. Instructional videos also have long lifespans on YouTube, so potential customers will be viewing them indefinitely. Infographics come in as a close second!
2. Measure
The next most important budget-friendly marketing strategy is to measure every individual tactic to see if it’s working or not, and how well it’s working. This doesn’t have to be rocket science! Simply use different coupon codes for each marketing tactic (flyers vs advertisements vs social media posts vs blog).
When you get a new customer, ask them where they heard of you, or came from. if you use online check-outs, include an additional text field to gather this info.
Another great, and easy, way to gather this info is to ask your customers, via a newsletter or simple email, how they heard of you or which of your marketing placements they’ve seen. It’s easier to collect customer feedback than you think- trust me!
If you know how to use Google Analytics, check to see where your website traffic is coming from- a directory listing, social media, your blog, or something else. This will also help you gather data to see which efforts are worth the money (so if no web traffic comes from an expensive directory listing, you can probably cut that expense)
3. Conferences
In the small business, B2B world, in-person events remain the number one way business deals are made.
But simply show up isn’t enough to make this tactic work for your business- get your money’s worth by following these Event Booth Guidelines:
- Clear and large signage with your brand name, and explaining what you do Example: FG Receivables Manager – The #1 Accounts Receivable Management Software
- Have ample flyers (with a unique coupon code) explaining your business & why you’re the best. Even if someone only pauses briefly in front of your booth- hand them a flyer
- Use an email collection list or program – if people express interest or talk to you, get their email! Then, follow up with an email about sales/deals (with your special conference- coupon code).
- Have knowledgeable staff around to answer questions. Being able to answer customer questions correctly, and being able to make a “sell” when the opportunity arises are both critical to conference booth success.
- Have a freebie (or two!). This will help get traffic to your booth. Cookies are cheap, easy, and effective
- Check out the booth designs of the most popular members at the conference and of your competitors, see if you can apply any of their tactics to your booth next time (t-shirts? video demos? actual products on view?).
4. Local Support
One of the most true and effective marketing strategies for businesses in small towns (or medium towns that feel like small towns) is the idea of reciprocity. This means if you help them, they’ll help you. Get involved in your town, sponsor a little league team, a charity run, a park clean up, or anything else that helps the town (just make sure your brand name gets visibility!). Community outreach and involvement has a big impact in small or close communities.
In the same vein, make t-shirts with your company’s logo and the town’s name. Today’s young customers love to support their local businesses and show off their local pride with t-shirts and tote bags. This will give your business increased visibility around town and Learn more about marketing your business via local pride!
5. Retain Your Leads
It’s Business 101 that retaining leads and customers is much more cost effective than constantly curating new ones. Focus your marketing and advertising (and budget overall) towards running a successful customer loyalty program. This tactic has exponential power because loyal customers are more likely to give word-of-mouth referrals, which still have the strongest persuasive power amongst B2C & B2B customers.
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