Big Business Marketing on a Small Business Budget
In business marketing, size isn’t the only factor to success. In fact, it doesn’t matter how good your products or services are if nobody knows about them.
Thus, if you own a small business, effective business marketing is essential to your success.
However, when your budget for marketing is small, creating and implementing a solid marketing strategy can be challenging.
Below are some tips to help you develop a big business marketing strategy on a small budget.
1. Use social media for business marketing.
Social media can reach a large audience. The number of people with active social media profiles continues to grow, and many of these prospects use their profiles to interact with their favorite brands.
Fortunately, social media is a relatively inexpensive marketing channel, so even small businesses can afford to participate.
Your business marketing may benefit from a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram and/or Pinterest. However, if you are new to the social media scene, start small and build your presence gradually for the best results. Here’s a previous post from us on how to get started with Social Media Marketing.
2. Build a business website.
The majority of your prospects are going to check out your website before contacting you. Creating a website for your business gives you credibility and allows you to reach out to a larger group of prospects and customers. Depending on your needs and ultimate goals, you can also use your business to increase sales by allowing customers and clients to make purchases online.
To get the most out of your website, stick with simple navigation and a clean, polished appearance so that visitors won’t feel overwhelmed when they try to find the information they need.
3. Incorporate traditional business marketing.
While many businesses are now focusing on building an online presence, traditional marketing methods can still be effective. For instance, explore various traditional marketing techniques such as direct mail campaigns to a targeted list and consider printed ads in strategic publications.
Be sure to continuously monitor the results and returns on these strategies to ensure that they are bringing in a justifiable amount of revenue. If you discover that one or more strategies aren’t pulling their weight, move some of your budget over to those areas that are performing better.
4. Keep Your Marketing Connected.
Regardless of which business marketing strategies you decide to employ, you can save money and increase the overall effectiveness of your marketing efforts by incorporating your strategies into a comprehensive marketing plan. All strategies should promote a consistent brand image, and customers who connect with you via one marketing channel should be able to recognize your brand and transition to the other platforms easily.
For example, if you send direct mail to consumers, include your company’s colors, design cues and web address and/or social media information on the mailer. Likewise, your website and each of your social media profiles should include links to your other online marketing channels.
5. Bring in a marketing consultant if you need help
Although it may seem counter-intuitive to hire a third party when you are trying to keep costs down, marketing consultants can often boost revenues and help you be much more efficient. This can end up saving more than enough to pay for themselves in time.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, a marketing consultant can help you decide which marketing strategies will provide the best return on investment.
Creating a strong marketing campaign with a meager amount of money can be challenging, but it is far from impossible. By following these tips, you can help your business grow without going over budget.
