While starting my business and trying to get clients to offer my web services, I found it difficult to get effective and low-cost marketing to promote my brand and services.
It was a big deal trying to get my brand known and reach out to a lot of small business owners who needed to grow their businesses with less effort in a short period. I tried a lot of marketing techniques I could find. Yet, most were expensive and some didn’t work or produce desired results at all.
Whether you’re a small startup or an established small business, knowing how to market your business is vital to its success. However, most small businesses do not invest in any kind of marketing or believe their operations are too small to need any form of advertising.
Among the fun marketing facts on the internet, I go along with that of Crowdspring. Which says “Most small businesses have small budgets – or no marketing budget at all”.
Different forms of effective marketing are crucial for a small business even if you are short on people or resources to operate. With the advent of technology and digital marketing, there are a lot of ways in which you can get effective and low-cost marketing for your small business in no time.
Who Benefits From Effective Marketing?
In the words of Henry Ford, “A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time”.
As a company or small business, effective marketing differentiates you from your competitors and puts you in front of the right customers. It helps to inform potential customers of how your products or services can be of great help in improving their day-to-day activities.
Effective marketing helps small businesses engage more with their customers. Who says they want to do business with people they know, like, trust and identify with? Without a doubt, every business should have some type of marketing strategy that will work to help gain a solid customer base.
For a customer, effective marketing is the best solution in filtering and choosing the best kind of product or service needed. Detailed and effective information about a product, business, service or brand, makes a customer become aware of which product is best for him/her, and the cost of the product and also trusts a particular brand anytime that same product or service is being needed for a long period of time.
In general, everyone benefits from effective marketing. Because, it helps to generate more sales, a good reputation, create relationships and build trust in different areas of a business.
Ways to Get Effective and Low-Cost Marketing
1. Professional Website
For a small business, especially if you’re faced with cost challenges or limited resources for traditional marketing (radio advertising, television, billboards etc.), investing in a well-designed, professional website is the number one remedy to reach out to customers and creating the effective awareness needed for growth.
Effective marketing should begin with a website for a small business. Having a website that represents you anywhere in the world is the first step in convincing a customer whether to buy from you or not.
The importance of a good website for a business should not be overlooked in recent times because it is an effective low-cost marketing strategy you can get at your convenience. With that in mind, even if your business is complex, your website design shouldn’t be.
A simple website design should load faster, convert customers quickly and better, and is mobile-friendly to users. Though you find yourself grimacing about the potential costs.
You’re not alone. Most business owners worry about the cost of website design. However, you can afford to have an on-brand, revenue-generating website regardless of your budget. Contact Helprocure Solutions to create a strong business website for your brand in no time and at less price now.
Your website is one of your most valuable marketing tools. It continues working for your business even when you’re sleeping. So, make it the priority it deserves.
2. Start a Blog
Starting a blog is one of the most essential small business marketing practices. By writing actionable, informative content about your industry, you can highlight your expertise and give value to your readers. This will help you establish your brand’s authority, improve the perception of your services, and attract and keep customers.
Content, created for marketing purposes should align with the product or service you are trying to sell. It should also have a motive driving your audience to some conclusion that benefits both them and your brand. Writing a few blogs each month helps keep your site on top of search engine results, and ensures your existing audience remains engaged with your website.
You can drive more traffic to your blog by focusing on search engine optimization (SEO), and sharing blog posts on social media groups and relevant pages that discuss your niche.
Maintaining fresh and relevant content on your website is a zero-cost marketing strategy to promote your small business online, through tales about your business and useful information your potential clients are seeking out. It is completely free.
Need a content writer to create search-engine-optimized blog posts for your brand website? Send a message now to get articles directed towards your target audience and convert them into paying customers.
3. Referral Network (Word of Mouth)
Informing your friends, existing clients and relatives to help refer customers to your business should be of high priority. As noted above, customers love to do business with people they know, like, and trust. And getting a referral is the cheapest marketing you can find out there.
It is a completely free type of effective and low-cost marketing that works every time. It’s like having your potential customers get reviews and testimonials of your business from people they already know and trust.
To be able to access this type of effective marketing technique, you need to network with other small business owners that do not provide the products or services you produce. Partnering with another business means twice as much notice and exposure to a whole new audience related to your niche.
4. Flyers and Business Cards
This is another form of an effective and low-cost marketing strategy for your startup. Find an area where you would like to do business and distribute flyers to all other businesses around.
Your flyer should be brief and to the point. Highlighting the services you offer or products you sell and providing contact information.
Your business card is also essential for marketing your business. Because it helps people you meet, remember you and what your company does. Business cards tell prospective customers you are a professional who takes your business seriously.
Get your business cards into the hand of anyone who can help you in your search for new clients. That way, when their friends and neighbours ask them for a recommendation, they have an easy way to pass on your business name and contact information.
Need high-quality branding and designs for your products and services? Send a message now to get amazing graphic and logo designs that tell a meaningful story about your brand.
5. Facebook for Business
Facebook has more than 1 billion active users every month. It is a low-cost marketing strategy that you can leverage to reach out to a lot of customers within a short period of time.
Create and connect your website to a Facebook page for your small business, to share your blog posts, products or services. Be sure your business profile includes a good description, keywords and a link to your website.
You can also advertise your products/services on different Facebook groups related to your industry or those of your target audience.
On a tiny advertising budget, you can still run some Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads can become expensive if you don’t know how to run an effective campaign. On an affordable budget, the trick is to work with targeted keywords and a website with closely correlated content.
By keeping your keywords and location extremely targeted you won’t have to worry about wasting your budget. You will only be paying for targeted click-throughs that are more likely to result in a conversion for your business.
Conclusion
There are a lot of low-cost marketing ideas for small businesses out there. Yet, the types listed above are effective marketing techniques for a small business. Advertising products and services for your small business shouldn’t be ignored (Even on a low budget).
By investing in a professional website, you stand a chance of getting and converting more leads than your competitors who do not have a website. But, your website must be simple enough for users to navigate, view your products/services and contact you.
Adding a blog to your website helps attract customers far and wide to your brand through Google or other search engine page rankings. It also ensures your existing audience remains engaged with your website and new products.
Word of mouth is the most effective and cheapest of all others. Informing friends and relatives about your products and services is very crucial for the growth of your small business.
Handing out flyers and business cards helps your existing customers remember and contact you anytime your products or services is being needed. You can also give a stack of your business cards to them to help you share when referring their friends.
Today, social media is a very effective medium for passing messages from anywhere in the world. Almost all people own a smartphone or have other social media accounts. Use Facebook Ads and a Facebook company profile as a tool to enhance your marketing efforts. And generate more leads to your website by posting interesting and relevant content to your account.
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Do you put in place marketing strategies for your small business? Comment below! What other effective and low-cost marketing strategy has worked for you in the past?
This is an awesome article. All these ways are really awesome for low-cost marketing for small businesses. Thanks for sharing.