One of the biggest problems for any business is having a big enough budget to market in a way that will really make a difference and bring them a lot of new business. Having a large marketing budget means you can set up memorable campaigns that entice people to buy from you; having a small budget means you can’t do as much, and so your reach will be limited.
Or rather, that’s how it used to be. Thanks to technology, it’s now possible to powerfully market your business on even the smallest budget as long as you plan carefully and understand exactly what each method you are using does and how it works. Read on to find out what some of these methods are so you can start using them right away.
Gather a Mailing List
Gathering the contact information of those who sign up for your newsletter or who buy from you must be done carefully; you need to ensure you are fully compliant with the rules regarding having this sensitive information, and you must check whether you’re doing the right thing. You might wonder, are unsolicited political text messages illegal, or are marketing emails allowed, and getting the answers is crucial before you start.
Assuming you are doing the right thing and you aren’t going against the law, you can use this information to send out emails and text messages which give your customers and potential customers information about what you’re doing, any special offers you might be running, and that will ultimately remind them you’re there and available for them to buy from. Do your research first so that you don’t run your business into trouble, and this can be a highly effective way to communicate. Think of all the text messages and marketing emails you get throughout the day; could yours be better?
Use Social Media
No matter how big or small your marketing budget might be, using social media to put your message across and engage with your customers isn’t just a good marketing idea; it’s something that the people who buy from you or who might buy from you will expect.
Much of the adult population has at least one social media account, and if you can determine which social media platform your target market uses the most (and it might be more than one), then you can actively engage with them there, posting information they will find useful and responding to their comments. Although this might take up a fair amount of your time, it will be worth it – many people take to social media before they use a search engine, especially since not only can they find the business they are thinking of buying from, but they can find reviews and ratings too.
Not having a social media account or having one and not keeping it up to date could mean your potential sales go to a competitor instead of you because people just can’t find you.
Create Valuable Content
Having valuable content on your site (and your social media account) is a great marketing tool. Customers love it as they can get plenty of information for free, and they know your site is interesting, entertaining, and trustworthy. Even if they don’t need to buy anything from you right now, they will certainly know where to come when they do.
However, as well as the customer themselves enjoying the content you create – which could be in the form of blogs or videos, for example – Google will like it too. The more unique content you have on your site and the more often that content is updated, the better your search engine rankings will be. You also need to include keywords you want to rank for, and this can easily be done within a blog post. When you rank higher in the Google and other search engine results, you’ll receive more visitors to your site, and that will result in more sales.
Contests and Giveaways
It’s unlikely anyone is going to turn down a free gift, which is why contests and giveaways can be an ideal way to market your business. Although it will cost you something since you are giving something away, the return you get on that investment should be high. Although there will only be one or two winners, everyone else who signed up to win your competition will be aware of your business now, and they may well buy from you. It’s not guaranteed, but it is highly possible and even probable, assuming your goods and services are high quality.
Giveaways are a great way to let people know more about your business, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve only just launched or you’ve been active for a while now; a giveaway will always give your sales a boost. You just need to think carefully about exactly what it is you’re planning to give away since if you do too much, you can lose out, and if you don’t do enough, not enough people will bother to enter.
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Neha Nidhi
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