Low-Cost Marketing for Small Businesses
4/5/2016
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So you’ve taken the leap and started your own business, congratulations! You know how fantastic your product or service is, your business partners and close friends know too, but how on earth do you spread the word to your target audience? We’ve developed this guide just for you so read on and start building your marketing game plan!
Why Choose You?
What you’re
offering is special and unique, so let everyone know! The first step in setting
up your first marketing campaign is to pinpoint exactly what makes your
business stand out from all the others.
Are you
creating a stir with a new twist in an established field?
Or blazing a
brand new trail with your product?
Whatever it
is, find it, label it, and shout it from the rooftops! Maybe not shout, but plaster
it on your website, social media, business cards, and essentially anywhere your
business is in the public eye. Whether it’s online or physical.
Assemble Your Tools
Once you
have your professional schtick, it’s time to assemble your marketing tool belt, and your list of choices is ever
increasing. This allows you to pick the cream of the crop for your business and
most of these tools are very low-cost or completely free!
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| *Image Credit via Flickr Creative Commons Sean M. TR Online Marketing |
A helpful
tie-in to your online theater of operations is to create an email list. This
will allow you to continually communicate with potential customers who are
already interested in your offerings, without requiring them to visit your
website directly. We won’t go into the nitty-gritty details of how to set up an
email list here, but check out how I was able to add 500 subscribers to
an email list in a week.
Quality Over Quantity
Remember!
For an indestructible marketing campaign, quality over quantity are words to
live by! It’s easy to create a fistfull of social media accounts and smother
the web with news of your products, but if these small pokes about your company
aren’t backed up with quality content then your target audience will slip right
through your fingers.
Take the
time to develop and publish in-depth articles about your new business. Remember
that professional schtick you created earlier? Elaborate and explain what makes
you unique!
● Who are you?
● What are you trying to achieve?
● What what makes you different?
This is also
the time and place to incorporate a little SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
into your marketing campaign as most consumers will actively search for your
product as opposed to stumbling into it on social media. For a few more tips
and advice on balancing in-depth marketing with social media, take a look at this article from American Express Open Forum.
Shake Hands (In Real Life Networking)
While it’s
easy to be swept into the power and outreach that virtual marketing offers,
don’t ignore the real-world theater of operations!
Attending
networking events or conferences is an excellent tool to get your business
brand out in the open.
Whether it’s
investors or potential customers, they’re already interested in the field and
that’s a foot in the door for you! So don’t ignore it!
When
attending these events, keep your eyes on the ball and remember that you’re the
first impression for your entire business, and you want to build lasting
professional relationships.
Scribbling
your business email or phone number on a napkin at a luncheon hardly screams
‘professional business owner’ to your target. So plan ahead!
Think about
how you’d like to introduce your company, and stock up on business cards.
Conclusion
We hope the
options presented here set you on your way to developing a top-notch marketing
strategy! While marketing is an important aspect to developing your business,
there are several more levels to creating a well-rounded company, and becoming
a successful business
owner. You have the
tools, now go out there and strengthen and grow your business!
Doug Cunnington is a
small business owner and writes at Business Credit Workshop. He’s passionate about helping people make
smart decisions on the path to get business
credit.