Marketing On A Budget: A How-To Guide
Marketing is a complex art form to master, especially on a budget. But if we are careful and use good research-informed practice, we can efficiently make a small budget go a long way.
Here we will look at the main aspects to consider when planning your marketing strategy.
Identify Your Aims.
Planning and preparation are key to success in any project we undertake, and this is especially true when talking about marketing. Are we looking for new customers? Are they the same type as we are attracting just now? And do we know the profile of our current customers? If we do not, then conducting some market research can give us some fantastic insights into what people want from our company, and what they think we need to improve upon. Knowing our aims can help us identify points for our strategy.
Use Your Current Network.
Before we look to potentially expensive advertising and marketing strategies, we should consider our current network. Every business has a natural reach and can get the message out for free in a variety of ways. Use social media as an excellent way to get your marketing message quickly and easily out there. There are a few ways to get the most out of your posts. Be sure to make them engage by creating visually impressive posts. Using images and videos can grab user’s attention much more than those that contain plain text.
Other ways of reaching our customers are to communicate directly to them. A simple way of doing this is to have your staff verbally inform customers of any new offers or promotions. If you have an email or mailing list then use them. Many customers need a little reminder that you are there, and if that nudge is accompanied with some offers, all the better.
Consider a Level of Spending.
It may seem strange to encourage spending money on promotion in an article looking to discuss how to conduct a budget marketing campaign. But the old saying that you have to spend money to make is true, partially at least. The key aspect of this is to use what money you do choose to spend in as efficient a manner as possible. We should think back to the aims we have set, and sometimes when we do this, we realize some groups are reached by paid advertising. You can pay for some advertising via social media, this allows a large degree of targeting. It is possible to choose who sees these adverts and you set preferences in parameters such as gender, occupation, and interests. Even with all this control, sometimes it still requires an expert eye to conduct the marketing campaign. If you choose wisely and find a good professional organization to run your promotion for you, such as one of these world-class PPC agencies, the expense can be worthwhile if it brings business in.
Constantly Assess.
We must regularly assess how our promotional strategy is working for us? We can see if our sales and profits are up or down by consulting the profit and loss report, but how can we be sure what is causing any changes? We can use surveys following a sale to see if customers will tell us where they found us as a company. To encourage participation, we could offer entry to a free prize draw. Using this data, we can determine which adverts are yielding results and which are not.
Ambush Marketing.
Ambush marketing is an interesting concept. It is where you ‘piggyback’ on the attention and prestige of an event organized by others. If we take the example of a large sporting event, such as a World Cup or Olympics. We know that to become an official sponsor carries a premium price tag. But we can benefit from the attention by using ambush marketing. This can be done physically, or online. Physically, put up posters near the event venues, or hand out flyers as close as you can to the location. Online it is simple to use hashtags, this way you can make an unofficial post about the event from your brand’s point of view.
Partner with Other Organizations.
Sometimes different companies can help each other out. You must think of how the big businesses do it. How often have you seen a washing machine advert that recommends a type of detergent? Do you think that they believe only that one brand is good for the machine? Not a chance, this is a classic example of a commercial arrangement.