How To Market Your Small Business On A Tight Budget
If you’re worried about how to find the funds to market your small business, you’re not alone. So many business owners and entrepreneurs struggle to get the money to make a dent in their industry. With so many big players around, you might think that marketing budgets need to be huge in order to do the job properly. Well, not quite. Money can buy you an expensive agency and a premium TV campaign, but it can’t buy you an understanding into your customers. You can do just as much research as big brands, but for far less money. It might mean investing more time, but that’s always the case if you can’t afford to pay someone else to do it for you.
Rely On Software
There are so many programs and software out there that can help you with marketing. You can build a website with little to no knowledge of front or back end development. You can write your marketing copy with no previous experience in copywriting. You can create logos and banners with no design know how. You just need to know how to find the software, and then follow the instructions. You can even get a hold of high quality, free marketing automation platforms, meaning you can roll out professional looking marketing campaigns, without half the resource required to do so. You should also look into automating your social media and blogging posts. Spend a day or two writing a week’s worth of social posts and a month’s worth of blogs, and then schedule them in. That way, you can tick off a big job in just a few days.
Use Your Built-In Data Analytics
You can spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on marketing collateral, but if it doesn’t engage and inspire your audience, then it’s all for nothing. You need to understand who your audience is, where they are, and what their issues are if you’re going to be successful. Simply put, it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. As you’re probably working on a cloud-based platform, use either the built-in data analytics or free software, to figure out what your customers want. Then, use social media listening skills to see if this matches up across the board. Once you’ve done that, you can create a campaign that ticks off all the boxes. Doing this planning first means you’re more likely to get something back on your efforts: Your marketing ROI.
Learn The Skills Yourself
There’s a multitude of marketing courses available to take online, and while you’ll need to spend a bit of money to take them, you’ll learn enough to pay it back within the year. There are some great free marketing courses too, you just need to hunt them down. Hiring a full time or consultant marketing expert costs a lot of money, and your business might not need such an investment just yet. However, you will need a better steer on marketing than just going by your gut instinct. So, make the investment in yourself, and learn the ins and outs of marketing. Plus, you’ll be able to add this skill set and experience to your resume, and broadening your experiences is all part of running your own business.
