How to Market Your Brand on a Budget - Inexpensive Marketing Tips
For small businesses, marketing is essential to get the word out on what you have to offer. Like most business owners just starting out, however, you likely don’t have a multi-million-dollar marketing budget. While marketing on a budget can be more challenging, and it takes more effort to get noticed by a broader audience, it doesn’t mean that you still can’t get the word out on what your company offers and create an effective, inexpensive marketing strategy that doesn’t break the bank.
Market on a Budget by Reaching Out to Influencers
If you’ve ever seen online influencers talk about the latest products they’re using or clothing brands they’re sporting on social media, chances are they’ve made a deal with the company they’re posting about to market this company’s products or services to their followers.
Influencer marketing is a great way to get people interested in what you’re selling because when they see their favorite influencers using and showing off your products, chances are they’ll want to try it too. Additionally, depending on which influencer you choose, and how many followers they’ve amassed, their marketing prices can be as low as $20-35 a post. There are plenty of influencer marketplaces online to choose from that can help you select the right influencer as well as prices for their advertising services.
Using Social Media to Market on a Budget
Nearly every business, no matter the size, is turning to social media to advertise their products and services. This is because it provides a faster method of inexpensive marketing to their target audience on a much larger scale than other forms of marketing.
Social media not only allows you to create business pages for free where you can show off your services, but most sites also offer the option of creating ads for your business that can fit easily into your marketing budget.
Create Flyers and Business Cards
Designing flyers for your business to post around town is another great, inexpensive, way to market your brand on a local scale. While it won’t reach the same number of potential customers that digital marketing will, it’s a good way to spread the word about your business in the area where you’re located.
Additionally, look for other local businesses that would allow you to leave your leaflets or business cards in their establishment to further advertise your services.
Offer Promotional Sales
Creating short-term sales on your products and services is not only a great way to increase consumer interest in your business, without spending a fortune, it’s also an effective way of boosting profits.
People also like to brag about the latest bargain they found during their recent shopping expedition, meaning that if they like what you’re selling, they’ll spread the word about your business; thus, effectively marketing your brand with no additional cost to you. Your sales don’t have to be massive either – a virtual coupon for small percentage off, free shipping, or even a seasonal sale on certain products could be just enough to convince people to shop with you.
Create a Business Blog to Market on a Budget
Blogs promote customer engagement – something that’s crucial for marketing a business. A blog that covers your latest product launches, provides useful information, or news on your upcoming sales will encourage more traffic to your site and, as result, more customers purchasing your goods.
Blogs also help your online visibility because they allow you to better optimize your site for search engines by way of blog posts and help you rank higher on Google. Additionally, they can be shared to your social media, which provides you even more exposure when others share your content. Nearly every business, roughly 80%, utilize blogs on their site to drive traffic and encourage sales.
Create a Business Profile on Google
A business profile on Google acts as a listing for your company when people search either your businesses’ name or your business type online. Creating a profile is completely free and acts as a powerful tool for increasing brand awareness locally.
Google business listings can feature your address as well as your phone number, links to your social media and business site, hours of operation, photos, and customer reviews. If you don’t already have a Google listing, you need one!
Bottom Line for Business Marketing on a Budget
Marketing doesn’t have to cost a fortune to be effective. What matters most is that you’re actively trying to find ways to spread the word about your business and willing to put effort into your inexpensive marketing strategy. Like many business owners, however, you may find that you’re already so pressed for time in your day-to-day operations that trying to market your business has become near impossible on your own. Instead of overburdening yourself, give Olive Group a call and schedule your free marketing meeting with us today to see why we’re rated top 3 for marketing agencies in Tacoma!