If you run your business on a tight budget, you can still launch effective marketing campaigns without having to spend a lot of money. There are many methods for advertising a business that can capture the attention of many potential new customers and don’t involve high expenses. Here are a few smart ways to market your business on a budget.
Remain Active on Social Media
One of the best aspects of social media is that it allows you to create multiple accounts for free across different platforms to advertise your business to broader audiences. However, simply creating eye-catching social media pages that showcase your brand in a positive light likely won’t be enough to keep your existing and potential new customers engaged on social media. To make the most of your social media marketing efforts, you’ll want to update posts regularly and communicate with anyone who has a question or wishes to share positive or negative feedback.
Put Up Signs and Other Physical Displays
Even with today’s online marketing craze, posting some eye-catching signs or other displays outside your business can help you get more customers through the door. Signs that feature your business name and any brand slogans you may have that are showcased in an easy-to-read font can help you get more noticed. Custom flags featuring your business’s name and logo can also be made to display outside your business. These displays can often be professionally created for a low price to keep you from going over your company’s budget.
Make Sure Content Has Value
From your business website to your blogs, you’ll want to make sure that all the content that you put out for others to see is excellent in quality. Content that’s poorly written or doesn’t effectively highlight what your business can offer to consumers could sink your marketing efforts. Improving your content doesn’t have to eat into your business expenses and can make a world of difference in your marketing efforts. When you create content, think of some problems that people may have and how your products or services can solve them. Search engine optimization, or SEO, involves using certain keywords and phrases to boost search engine rankings and online exposure and can also help add more value to your content. As Entrepreneur.com explains, you can try improving your content yourself or hire freelance writers who are willing to work at a low pay rate.
Start an Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing allows you to advertise your business for next to nothing while simultaneously helping bloggers and other companies promote their brands and earn money. Links to your website will be placed within blogs and websites of individuals who’ve signed up to be part of your affiliate marketing team. Each time that someone clicks on your business’s website link, they’ll be taken to your company’s webpage where they can start shopping for your products or services. When someone who clicks on a link that was posted by a particular affiliate buys something from you, the affiliate will get a percentage of the sales commission.
Featured Contests
Contests that involve giving away free products or services to winners can be a great low-cost marketing tool for your company. You don’t necessarily have to give away your most expensive goods or services for a contest to be enticing to people who will want to enter just to get what they can for free. Ideas for contests that you might consider using include photo caption contests, writing contests, and trivia contests. You can also feature a drawing that allows people to enter their names and contact information, and then you can select a winner from a random draw.
Capitalize on Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the oldest advertising strategies and can still go a long way in promoting a particular brand. People who hear about your company from friends, family members or other trusted individuals will be likelier to explore what you offer. A great way to get people talking about your business is to create a unique hashtag to post on social media. You may also have success in setting up a booth at a tradeshow and talking to people who pass by without having to spend a lot of money.
These clever marketing strategies prove that advertising your business to the masses can be done on the cheap. By utilizing the low-cost advertising methods that work best for your company, you’ll be able to rake in bigger profits without having to put a huge strain on your business’s budget.
