As a small business constrained by a tight budget, the effective marketing of your services and products can be somewhat of a challenge. From engaging social media posts and email marketing campaigns to your branding and pricing strategy, marketing is a big demand for small business owners while they strive to grow their business.
The US Business Administration found that in two-thirds of small businesses, the owner is solely responsible for more than three business areas, including marketing. That’s many hats for one person to wear at one time.
Here, we look at some of the things that you can do to market your business effectively without blowing your budget.
Think about your most influential marketing channels
You can use a wealth of organic and paid online channels to promote your small business. However, putting all of your time and resources into every single available channel can be a waste. If you try doing everything, you will quite often end up doing nothing successfully.
Instead, spend some time researching and experimenting on which channels work best for you. For some businesses, Facebook and YouTube work well. For those with beautiful visuals, Instagram may be the most effective medium. It also depends on your target demographic. For example, if you are marketing your products at older people – the ‘Boomers’ – Snapchat is probably not going to be an effective channel for you.
Once you know which one works best for you – or which combination is effective – focus on curating and producing superb content that consumers want to engage with.
Promo products
Everyone loves a freebie, and that is why promo products with your branding on works well as a relatively inexpensive but memorable and effective marketing tool. From tote bags to mugs and click pens with a logo on, handing out the odd freebie to potential customers will make sure that you stick in their minds. Whenever they use the pen or drink from the mug, your logo will be right in front of their faces.
Build customer relationships through email campaigns
If you have customers signed up to your email marketing list, you are already on a sound footing. They have already connected with you somewhere, whether you have signed them up in-store or they have clicked through from your social media channels or website. Now, you need to engage with them and build up a relationship. The Email Addiction Report 2019 found that 83% of people prefer email as a channel to receive promotional material and messages from a business.
You can use email to give them exclusive discounts or sneak peeks into upcoming products or events. Give them something that makes them feel unique and valued, and with that, you will build up a loyal customer base who recommend you to their family and friends. No marketing channel will ever be quite as good as the word of mouth recommendations.
Marketing does not have to be expensive or fancy to get your business noticed. It has to be engaging and make your customers feel special.