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After a tough 2020, it’s no surprise that many companies are having to tighten their belts to survive. In fact, your marketing budget may be severely cut back. Therefore, it’s more vital than ever to ensure that every approach you take is effective in generating that all-important revenue for your business.
Below, we list some effective strategies to help your marketing plan achieve the results you want, regardless of the size of your budget.
Identify Your Target
Forget generic mass-market ads and a scatter-gun approach, especially with a limited marketing budget. Use online marketing tools to identify and target the specific niche you want to reach. Before launching your ads, research the sites your desired customers typically use: clubs, interest groups, publications. Focus your spending and your creative efforts on reaching these sources. Then you’ll be far more likely to get the response you’re looking for.
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Use PPC
When your budget is limited, pay-per-click advertising is unbeatable for cost and flexibility. Once you’ve targeted you’ll only pay for those who show any interest. Cost per click on Facebook is less than $1 and you can set your budget with a daily maximum payment. Plus, you can cancel it at any time if you see the ad isn’t working.
Go Guerrilla with Your Marketing Budget
As consumers, we are bombarded with thousands of ads per day. It should come as no surprise that we block the vast majority of them hardly before we notice them. We simply filter out the predictable messages and the stereotyped images that endlessly try to influence us.
But guerrilla marketing can make better use of your marketing budget. This is the term used for tactics that create surprise and interest. There are many creative types of guerrilla marketing. For example, there are ads that make innovative use of visuals (3D, augmented reality), location, and messaging.
Make the News and Spare Your Marketing Budget
Use every means you can to generate free promotion for your brand. Support local causes and offer your services as a subject-matter expert to local media, whether it’s a TV/radio station or print media. They’re all crying out for engaging stories to interest their audience, so incorporate some no-cost self-promotion strategies into your marketing plan and save your marketing budget for other strategies.
Form Strategic Partnerships
If you’re a small business owner, it may seem hard to make a splash with your marketing budget. Consider forming strategic partnerships with others in related activities. This will help share your advertising spend and maximize the effect of the marketing you do.
This kind of cooperation can really help to build trust with customers, as they perceive your brand as being more connected and therefore stable. This kind of partnership, when approached creatively, can lower costs. Moreover, it can help you to engage with a whole new market and potentially open up new distribution channels.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing Will Be Kind to Your Budget
By far the most cost-effective way to impress new customers is via reviews from your existing satisfied customers. One glowing review can be far more effective than an expensive advertising campaign. So focus your efforts on obtaining customer referrals and positive feedback on social media.
A conversational approach and a personal reply to all comments, whether positive or critical, will allow you to capture the interest of readers. In short, word-of-mouth marketing will allow you to promote your brand and service level at no cost. Then you can use your budget for marketing in other strategic ways as well.
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