5 Budget-Friendly Marketing Strategies

Marketing has evolved to a league of its own since digitalization started stepping up. Nowadays, it is difficult to even imagine old-school advertisements or newspaper ads. Pretty much all activities have moved online.

However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t advertise your business locally if it can be efficient. For example, if you run a gym, the word of mouth and some discounts for regular referrals will do wonders for you.

However, you will still need to maintain your brand’s online presence.

Getting Started With Online Marketing

Online marketing can be very expensive, especially when you’re just starting out or are unfamiliar with all the perplexities, which are way numerous many to count. Basically, Google has the final say in the matter, so if you cannot afford paid ads, you should turn to SEO and email marketing to get you started.

It goes without saying that you should always keep informed. Google is rather (in)famous for changing the rules of the game regularly, doubtlessly because they mean business. Since Google has no real competition, you better keep reading their novelties and learn to understand their workflows.

The primary aim of email marketing should be to increase your brand’s visibility, to attract new customers, and to keep loyal ones. Make no mistake about that: competition is fierce and big competitors will always have more money to spend on advertising, so be clever with your offers.

Here are some tips to better maintain your marketing budget.

1. Focus on Social Media

Social media is free to use and even though they do charge handsomely for paid ads, you can still use them to attract followers and promote your offer for free. What’s more, analysts predict that social media will soon transform discovery places to purchase places, meaning that your cumulative efforts will bring you sizeable results, in the long run, should you choose to focus on cross-promotions.

Make sure to include a link to your social media pages on your website. Also, make it a habit to offer occasional rewards for loyal customers (discounts, exclusive content, etc.). Share new content and re-share older content for new customers to see, and do it regularly.

2. Focus on the Reachable Market First

As mentioned above you don’t necessarily have to choose to focus on the global market in the beginning. To reach larger audiences you’ll need more money and it’s not a good idea to start big when on a tight budget. It’s better to invest cleverly, little by little, and grow your brand’s popularity from scratch.

It is safe and affordable to start locally, especially if you ship your products. Focus on a smaller audience first and grow your business gradually from there. The most helpful trick here is to offer promotions and special benefits. It is also a good idea to set up a referral program. For example, you can offer a discount for both the referral and the referee on their next purchase.

Build a loyal audience. Remind them about your offer from time to time (via email, for best results) and respond to all queries. Also, keep in touch via your social media pages.

3. Interact with Your Customers

In addition to keeping in touch with the audience via social media, you can also organize virtual events, add a podcast to your page, or organize a Q&A session. Even with all the possibilities digitalization has unearthed, nothing beats human interactions.

The key takeaway is that your audience should see clearly that they are communicating with people not with a faceless machine. You will be able to build trust faster with the help of this method.

4. Leverage Data

That being said, we live in an age where success is linked to data-driven decisions. Volumes of data have increased over the last couple of years and significantly at that. Data can help you understand your audience better and adjust your offer to meet the demand.

For starters, make use of insights. If you’re having second thoughts about what to invest in, opt for systems that will help you leverage data more efficiently. Such an investment will never go to waste as data-driven decisions truly are the future.

5. Make Use of Email Marketing

Email marketing is the most widely used form of advertising because it is cheap and easily accessible. When used to its full potential, email marketing can boost your ROI by up to 4400%!

You should, therefore, do it right. Take your time building your email list. Rather than sending out messages to random people (these usually end up either being deleted or marked as spam), offer incentives to subscribers. These can be anything — from free e-books to discounts and coupons. And be sure to use the right email client!

Conclusion

Online marketing can be quite rewarding in the long run, but it does take time. The greatest benefit of this way of advertising is that you can use your imagination and let your creativity roam free. People love unique content, giveaways, and discounts. The only thing you need to do is to make it attractive to them.

Of course, over time as your audience grows and you earn more money, you can invest more into ads to attract a wider audience. Be patient and plan ahead and results are certain to follow.

Angela Ash is an expert content writer, editor and marketer, who focuses on topics related to remote work, freelancing, entrepreneurship and more.