Marketing can be the driving force behind your organization’s success. However, with limited resources available for some startups and small businesses, it’s not uncommon for departments to be underfunded or nonexistent. Without the proper tools, resources, headcount, and/or knowledge, many small businesses feel as though they’re navigating uncharted waters when it comes to marketing and balancing budgets. Despite limited resources, marketing on a budget is possible with the right guidance and support.
Get the most out of your investment.
The first thing to note is that no marketing strategy is completely free because you have to account for the hours spent managing marketing efforts and curating content. However, you can leverage organic marketing tactics to increase brand awareness and traffic to your business.
To get the most out of your budget, outline a marketing plan of action. A plan of action is unique to each business but ultimately includes two key factors. Determine:
- Goals you want to achieve. Break these goals down into quantifiable metrics and set timelines for when you’d like to accomplish them.
- How much you’re willing to spend. According to WebStrategies, companies should be spending between 6.5-10% of their total incoming revenue on customer acquisition (also known as marketing and sales).
These two metrics will provide a structure for the overall plan. All other details are dependent on the outcome of your goals and means, so it’s important to do this step at the beginning stage of planning.
Utilize free marketing strategies.
Before investing your time in free marketing strategies, it’s important to understand the need to feed your content engine. Develop a content marketing plan that includes the (1) type of content you plan to produce and (2) the dates the content will be released. This helps you to prioritize your time and get into a content rhythm.
Various free marketing strategies incorporate:
- Brand Ambassadors: As we know, word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most successful and popular types of marketing techniques. That’s why it’s important to understand that everyone in your organization is a marketing tool. With a clear brand identity and market offering, teams align under a common mission, increasing their ability and likelihood to promote the business organically amongst their network.
- Blogs: To communicate with your target audience, produce content that is relevant to them. Consider not only writing about product offerings but also about industry trends, topics, and challenges. Position your brand as an educational and insightful resource to garner more traffic to your site and increase your brand’s visibility amongst your target audience.
- Email Lists: An email list consists of clients and or prospects that you want to communicate with. The best way to build an email list is by offeringgated content on your website. Gated content is free content that requires a prospect to fill out a form to receive access to the content. As a result, they provide you with their email address and you provide them with whitepapers, eBooks, tip sheets, case studies, webinar access, etc. Once you have their email address on record, you can begin marketing to them and move them through your sales funnel.
- Social Media Channels: With social media, people can be marketed to anywhere, anytime. Maximize the content you create by sharing it on your social channels. The most important thing to keep in mind is that social media allows you to engage with your audience. Use the opportunity to interact, not only with people who interact with your content but also with popular industry discussions.
- Sponsorship/Events: Sponsoring, sharing, or attending a partner’s event comes with many benefits, like improving brand awareness, trust, and rapport with both your ideal target audience and with your partner. Additionally, these events can provide you with rich content to assist you in your lead generation efforts.
Implement Free Content Creation Tools.
You don’t have to be a graphic designer to create content, nor do you have to break the bank to get started. There are great resources on the internet that businesses can use for free.
Such tools include:
- Answer the Public: Search insights for hot content ideas.
- Canva: Create content with this user-friendly graphic design platform.
- InShot: Edit and trim videos with ease.
- Freepik: Find free graphics to use in your content.
- Coolors: Gather ideas for your brand color scheme.
- Font Squirrel: Get access to free fonts.
- Grammarly: Improve your writing with this grammar editing software.
- Giphy: Spice up your content with memes & gifs.
Track your efforts.
Whether you invest in free or paid marketing strategies, tracking your efforts is crucial. This allows you to gauge which content performs the best, which content receives the highest traffic, and what channels are the most effective.
If you find that a particular piece of content doesn’t perform as well as others, you can adjust your marketing plan accordingly in order to focus on what does perform well. These metrics are all connected to your business’ return on investment (ROI) efforts, and producing content that your audience wants to consume will positively impact your bottom line.
Take your marketing to the next level.
The best marketing strategy can be created for free. All you have to do is familiarize yourself with what’s out there. If you’re wanting to up your marketing game without breaking the bank, we have the perfect opportunity for you!
Verified First’s own Director of Marketing, Ben Cornett, DBA-Marketing, is hosting an exclusive Growth Hacking Marketing Master Class on December 9th at 10 am EST. Ben will teach you how to assess your current marketing position and offerings and how to optimize your marketing strategy — all while doing it on a limited budget!
And the best part? This event is completely free!Sign up today to secure your spot!
We want your marketing strategy to be the best it can be. By utilizing our tips and resources and signing up for our free growth marketing event, you’ll be on your way to smart savings and marketing success.