BEST LOW-COST MARKETING IDEAS

INTRODUCTION

Advertising your business effectively and reaching a bigger audience can be challenging if you are a small business because of the costs involved in the marketing processes. However, there are inexpensive ways to promote your business and reach your audience.

Use these tips to reach your marketing goals without investing too much money into the process.

BECOME A BLOGGER

Blogging is one of the most effective ways to command your audience’s attention, raise brand awareness, build industry authority, and help people understand your business better. It is key to establishing meaningful relations with prospects and converting them into loyal customers. So, create a blog and use it to promote your business. Use WordPress or Wix to design the blog, give it a professional look, and launch it within a short space of time. Pick a domain name that’s in line with your business or use your company name to make it easy for people to identify you. Register your domain name with reputable hosting companies like Siteground, Bluehost, or Namecheap.

The main reason for launching a blog is so you can reach your target audience and attract more and more people to your business. So, blog about on-demand topics that pique interest and capture attention. Create content that your audience finds valuable and interesting. The kind that gets people talking and looking forward to what you will share next.

Pick a niche and stick to it to ensure success. Consider your business purpose and audience. Choose a topic that’s in line with your business and one that your target audience favors. Once you identify your niche, focus on your content strategy. What sort of information are you going to share with your audience? How are you going to attract them to your content? and How often are you going to post? Create valuable, high-quality content to boost engagement and increase your readership. Share how-to guides, complete guides, infographics, and listicles to increase traffic to your site and encourage shares and likes. Post frequently to increase interaction and retain your audience. Become a thought-leader and be the go-to person for specific information. Offer helpful advice, share the latest industry trends and updates. Add value to your audience’s lives and make sure they come to your blog for certain information.

Once you come up with an effective content strategy, optimize your blog for SEO for visibility and to ensure people find your content. Use meta keywords and meta descriptions on your content to rank high on search engine results pages. Identify popular keywords within your niche and incorporate them into your strategy. Use ubersuggest or KWFinder to identify common phrases that your audience searches for.

Guest blog on popular sites to reach a bigger audience, prove credibility, and attract attention. Work with top bloggers within your niche to reach the right audience and ensure success.

Once you build industry authority and get a decent number of loyal blog readers, promote your business. You have already established meaningful relations by adding value to their lives through your valuable content, therefore, convincing them to engage in business with you won’t be difficult.

So, advertise your product or service and upload promotional content here and there to convert readers into buyers.

USE TOP SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Social media marketing is by far the cheapest way to market your business and take it to the next level. You can reach millions of people, build brand awareness, and reach your goals without investing too much money into the process. Use top social media platforms to advertise your brand and get the attention you need. Consider your business goals as well as your audience to pick the right platform. Answer key questions; What is my main goal? What do I want to achieve from using social media platforms? Who is my audience? Which platforms do they prefer? And what sort of content are they interested in? Know your audience to choose a platform that they favor and spend most of their time on.

Create business pages on at least 3 social media channels. Work with the top platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to reach a bigger audience and increase traffic. Come up with an effective social media marketing strategy to get people to follow you and interact with your posts. Use different content formats to pique interest and boost engagement. Use high-res images and professional videos on your posts. Add calls to action to guide users through your content and get them to visit your business website.

Determine the best times to post on each platform and post during those times. Connect with your audience at a personal level and engage with them. Respond to questions and appreciate comments. Join relevant groups and engage with other people’s content. Leave constructive comments and hit “like” when you see an interesting post. This will encourage other group members to visit your profile and engage with your content as well. Once you form meaningful relations and get a decent number of followers, promote your business.

Track and measure social media performance with Buffer, Sprout Social, Hootsuite, or Google Analytics to ensure ROI. Identify areas that need improvement and make the necessary adjustments.

LEVERAGE EMAIL MARKETING

Use email marketing to market your services, grow your target audience and convert them into long-term customers. Collect emails from website visitors and build your mailing list. Add a popup on your site or blog and ask users to enter their email addresses. Tell them why you want to add them to your mailing list. Highlight a few things that users will benefit from subscribing to your emails to inspire action. For example, if you own an online marketing agency and want to help companies market their businesses online, say “Join our mailing list today and increase traffic to your website with our free content.”

Use your emails to form meaningful relations with prospects and get them interested in the rest of your content. Share helpful resources and add links to your blog to increase traffic and boost engagement. Keep your emails short and straight to the point. Use attention-grabbing headlines and eye-catching emails to pique interest and retain it. Grow your mailing list with your existing contacts. Talk to past clients, recurring customers, and your followers on social networks. Ask them to subscribe to your emails and give them a reason to.

Share promotional content to help potential customers understand your business better. Email interesting offers such as giveaways, massive discounts, vouchers, coupons, and other exciting deals to raise interest and inspire action. Add a clear call to action on every email to guide users to your site and make it easy for prospects to find what they are looking for. Use MailChimp, HubSpot, or Active Campaign to create professional emails, track them, conduct A/B testing, calculate click-through rates, automate processes, and ensure marketing success.

START A PODCAST

Countless businesses are using podcasts to connect with their audiences and grow their organizations simply because it works. People prefer podcasts because they give them the convenience they need and make it easy for them to access valuable information on the move. They are highly engaging and are key to building brand authority.

Start a podcast for your business to grow your audience, promote your brand, reach your marketing goals, and boost revenue. Use the best practices to ensure success. For example, determine why you need to start a podcast, define your audience, pick a niche that’s in line with your business, decide on your format, come up with a compelling description, feature influential people, and promote your podcast on relevant channels.

Use your podcast to share valuable content within your niche and attract a bigger audience. Share motivational quotes time and again to retain your listeners and convert them into loyal followers. Become an in-demand speaker. Speak at conferences and other local events to gain publicity, show expertise, and reach a bigger audience. Get involved in your local business community. Attend networking events, do volunteer work, and donate to local charities. Collaborate with other businesses and see how you can make a difference in your community. Join industry-specific organizations to connect with the right people and promote your work. Some of the best business organizations to consider are SCORE and Business Networking International.

CREATE A GMB ACCOUNT

Part of the reason why most businesses fail to reach their marketing and sales goals is that no one knows they exist. People go online to search for certain services and products before making the final purchasing decision and if you don’t have a strong online presence, you won’t see the desired results. Create a Google My Business account for free to appear on local searches, advertise your business, and reach your target audience.

Go to google.com/business to get started. Add all the important information to appear on searches and improve your rankings. Add your business name, description, services, working hours, location, website URL, customer reviews, and other relevant details. Optimize your account for SEO to ensure success. Use meta titles, meta descriptions, and meta keywords throughout your content. Claim and verify your listing to prove ownership and increase visibility.

Use your GMB account to advertise your business and engage with your audience. Post upcoming events, discounts, or a new product launch. Incorporate quality images to pique interest and increase interaction. Send timely responses to inquiries to retain your audience and convert them into customers. Add customer reviews and ratings for credibility and to increase your conversion rates.

START A YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Open a YouTube channel for free and use it to raise brand awareness, grow your audience, advertise your business, and reach your goals. Upload helpful and interesting videos. The kind that commands attention and keeps people interested in what you are sharing. Upload instructional or educational content to get more subscribers and increase your watch hours.

Identify common problems that your target audience has and offer practical solutions. Know their daily challenges and help them mitigate them. Upload how-to videos and teach your audience a new skill. Be creative. Share quality and highly engaging content to get more subscribers and views. Connect with your subscribers and engage with them. Appreciate comments and hit “like” when someone leaves a positive comment on your post. Ask viewers to leave their thoughts in the comments section at the end of each video. Ask them what they thought of the video and what sort of content they would like you to share next. Promote your services or products to your subscribers now and then to help them understand your business better. Add your website URL and attach links to other relevant pages such as your social media platforms to increase traffic and get more conversions.

Mention your YouTube channel to your existing social media followers, blog readers, and customers. Explain what the channel is about, why you started it, how it’s going to benefit them, and ask them to subscribe.

RUN ONLINE CONTESTS

Online contests are a great way to reach your audience, introduce your business, and tap into an untapped market space. So, run an online competition to get the attention you need and convert prospects into buyers. Consider your audience when creating your competition and make sure they would be interested in participating. Answer key questions; What do I want to achieve from this competition? How is it going to benefit my audience? And How can I convince people to join? Offer prizes that pique interest and convince people to participate. Aim to add some sort of value into participants’ lives through the contest. Some of the best prizes to consider are money prizes, free services, vouchers, giveaways, and free business marketing materials. Promote the upcoming contest on your blog, website, YouTube channel, and across social media platforms.

Host webinars or start a free online course to attract attention and increase your conversion rate. Create a course that’s in line with your business and use it to prove credibility and grow your audience. Blog about it and promote it on your YouTube channel and other relevant platforms to ensure ROI. Use Udemy, Teachable, or Thinkific to create your course.

START COLD CALLING

Cold calling can help you reach new customers and understand what prospects want. So, use it to market your business, attract more leads and convert them into customers. Target at least 100 people or companies per week and start selling. Introduce yourself and get straight to the point to get your prospect’s attention and retain it. State your name and the name of your organization. Mention why you are calling and how the potential client will benefit from the call. Talk about what your company does and how you think it will benefit the person you are calling.

Conduct enough research on the people you are calling to make an offer they can’t refuse. Use the best practices to achieve desired results. For example, focus on what prospects will gain from your offer, ask the right questions, address concerns effectively, and don’t oversell yourself. Anticipate and embrace rejection. Understand that you may get a thousand Nos before your final Yes but don’t let it stop you. Keep at it until you see the desired results.

CONNECT WITH INFLUENCERS

Connect with influencers. Interview and feature them on some of your YouTube videos. Ask them to talk about their successes, challenges, and failures to get your audience’s attention and retain it.

Ask thought-leaders to share valuable tips on how to overcome common problems and mitigate challenges. For example, if you blog about entrepreneurship and target entrepreneurs or freelancers, ask the interviewee to share helpful tips on how to launch a successful business. Guest blog on top sites within your industry to market to a bigger audience. Identify at least 3 influential bloggers in your niche and approach them. Ask for backlinks and give them a compelling reason to mention you to their followers. If you constantly produce high-quality content, have a decent social media following, and have a strong online presence, influencers will be more than happy to work with you.

Network with journalists and send out press releases. Identify top reporters that cover content related to your niche and ask them to feature your business on some of their work. Advertise your business on top magazines, local newspapers, and other media outlets at least once a month to reach a bigger audience and get the attention you need. Another option is to go live on Facebook or YouTube and hold a Q&A session to help prospects understand your business better or familiarize themselves with your product.

Enable the live chat feature to increase interaction. Encourage your audience to ask questions to keep the conversation going. Monitor comments throughout the process and always send timely responses to ensure success.

CREATE A CUSTOMER REFERRAL PROGRAM

Create a referral program and ask customers to recommend your product or service to their networks. Offer interesting and valuable rewards to encourage them to become loyal brand ambassadors. For example, if you sell office equipment, offer a free printer or photocopier to people who refer new customers.

Another option is to offer cash rewards to clients who refer friends to your business. Offer interesting rewards to get them interested in joining the referral program. For example, say “Earn $15 for each friend you refer to our business” or “Refer a friend to our business and get free 3-months access to our premium content.” Aim to offer exciting and valuable rewards that will encourage people to recommend your products.

BONUS:

Brand your vehicle. Add your business name, logo, website, and contact details to attract attention and advertise to more people.

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