You don’t have to dump an endless stream of money into marketing your business, and you don’t have to rely solely on social media marketing when you’re working with limited funds. Budget-friendly ideas work beautifully, especially when you’re targeting a small demographic or a local potential customer base.
Optimize your website. You don’t need a full-blown SEO specialist to improve your visibility on search engines. Research keywords associated with your industry and business, update your title tags and meta descriptions accordingly and keep content focused and organized.
Create a blog. Although a time investment, tying a blog to your business site lets you offer valuable content to customers and potential customers, and provides an easy way to keep your site fresh.
Comment on other blogs in your industry. Remain thoughtful, focus on the content you’re commenting on, and offer something of value. With these three rules, you increase the chance that readers will click over to your site or blog and avoid coming off as “spammy.”
Create a free Google My Business account. For local businesses especially, a Google Business Profile has become one of the most effective free marketing strategies available. This free listing allows your business to show up on Google Maps, the local section of Google Search, and the right-side Knowledge Panel for branded searches. But in order for your Business Profile to show up higher on Google Maps or local results, you need to optimize your Business Profile, and in order to optimize it, you need to have verified ownership of it—which is done through your Google My Business account.
Answer questions on forums. There’s a forum for everything, and they give businesses a great way to reach out and build a following. A mechanic shop active in a car repair forum and offering their expertise on minor issues has the opportunity to increase traffic to their site and social media accounts, just by being friendly, helpful, and avoiding sales pitches.
Go old school with press releases. Do you have a new product or service launching? Put together a punchy press release and send it out to local news outlets.
Consider postcard mailers. Cheaper than full-blown mailers, postcards cost less to send, less to produce, and if you target your direct mail list correctly, you’ll get your money back and then some.
Create promotional campaigns with other local businesses. Pinpoint local businesses in your area whose products or services go hand-in-hand, yet don’t compete, with yours. Together, develop a joint marketing campaign, sharing the costs and the benefits.
Make friends with local journalists. Newspaper and magazine ads get costly, but local journalists are constantly looking for story ideas. If you have a new campaign, product launch, or you’re building yourself up as an expert in your field, reach out to reporters and pitch story or interview ideas.
Take advantage of free trials and samples. Promote trials and samples in-store and through your business’s social media sites to draw customers in. Free cupcake Tuesday at a bakery or a free family holiday photo at your studio gets people in the door, and typically results in additional sales.
Look out for discounted ads. A few days before publication, magazines and newspapers discount unclaimed ad space. Take advantage of the reduced cost and dip your toe in print marketing.
Don’t forget classic classifieds. Depending on your business type, placing an ad in your local paper’s classified section or on sites like Craigslist is a cheap yet effective marketing solution.
Use hashtags! Another free marketing tactic that can broaden your reach is to incorporate hashtags into your social media posts—on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for sure but also for Facebook and LinkedIn. Broad or trending hashtags can help you reinforce your brand identity, but they should not be the only hashtags you use. More specific hashtags (sort of like long-tail keywords) are good for when you’re providing resources or advice. Location-based hashtags are a must if you’re a local business. And don’t forget custom hashtags! Apply a mix of hashtag types in your posts so they can reach the people for whom they are meant
Develop an email marketing plan. Email marketing is a great way to get new visitors engaged with your business, as well as maintain relationships with your existing customers. And though email marketing isn't new, it's still one of—if not the—most reliable ways to achieve a strong return on your marketing investment. Here’s how to ensure that:
Put thought and creativity into your subject lines.
Make sure every email has an offer that encourages your readers to take a next step.
Track your performance and run A/B tests to see what copy and offers resonate with your list.
Get new website visitors to sign up for your newsletter by offering a bonus content piece or coupon/discount for subscribing.
Slowly nurture your subscribers via email until they are ready to become paying customers.
Start your promotional email campaigns with a free email marketing service like MailChimp.
Claim free ad promo credits. While massive ad campaigns may be out of your budget, there are often discounts and coupons floating around for Facebook or Google Ads. Some web hosting services offer advertising discount codes as part of their membership offerings. Check and see if yours does. Of course, receiving the promo is easy, but you’ll still want to brush up on your PPC skills to get the best results and audience insights.
Remember – you don’t need a national chain’s marketing budget to get your business, product, and services out there. Take advantage of economical opportunities, be creative, and diversify your marketing avenues.
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