I think it’s pretty safe to say, every entrepreneur wants their business to grow and succeed. To succeed, you must learn how to attract customers and increase the demand for products or services you offer. Therefore, for your business to grow, you need to employ tactical marketing strategies.
This is easier said than done for most small business owners! Many small businesses are working with a shoestring budget.
The good news is that you do not need to spend your budget on billboards or TV ads to succeed in marketing as a small business owner! Instead, you and deploy low-budget (effective) online marketing strategies like these…
1. Network Online
I think it’s safe to say that small business owners and entrepreneurs are familiar with the value of networking with other like-minded businesses. There are many networking groups that meet in communities across the country. But, I have found that few people have embraced online networking.
There are (3) primary benefits to joining online networking groups over face-to-face (in-person) networking groups – they are:
- Benefit 1 – networking online saves time. Traditional networking can be very valuable, but it can also be incredibly time-consuming. Commuting your meeting location (potentially getting stuck in traffic), meeting with people before and after the event, and then commuting back to the office can take half of your workday!
- Benefit 2 – increased exposure. When you join networking groups online they tend to be much larger because there’s really no limit as to how big the groups can grow. The larger the group grows, the more exposure you and your business can receive.
- Benefit 3 – build trust and authority. In traditional networking groups, you get 30 – 60 seconds to share your “elevator pitch” to share with your group. In an online group, you have the opportunity to contribute as much as you want. The more you contribute and help other members with your experience and expertise, the more exposure (and potential referrals) you can receive.
2. Use Motion Graphics
There is no doubt that social media offers tremendous opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses to gain exposure for their brand.
The key to your social media marketing success is to post or publish content that is enticing enough to make your ideal customer to stop scrolling.
Images have always played a significant role in online marketing, but if you want to impress your customers more, try posting content that is different and unique. Motion graphics are a great way to stand out in the newsfeed!
Motion graphics allow you to communicate a story to your viewers. You can combine images, copy, voiceover, or music to provide a powerful message.
Check out these motion graphics to spark ideas for your business.
3. Use Video Marketing
Have you ever heard that a picture is worth a thousand words? If this is so, then a video could be worth more than a million words. Therefore, if you have never considered using video for marketing, this is the time!
Did you know that 85% of all internet uses watch online video content monthly and 54% want to see more video content!
You don’t need a massive budget to create videos. Online programs like Animoto make it is to produce inexpensive but great looking videos.
4. Using Facebook Live
When it comes to video, Facebook would prefer that your brand focus on creating content that’s original, engages viewers, and is valuable.
A well-planned Facebook Live broadcast is an amazing way to share your expertise and experience in a way that engages your viewers, that’s original, provides value, and builds your trust and authority while ultimately playing right into Facebook’s algorithm.
Great Facebook Live content = more exposure for your brand. And it’s FREE!
5. Start Blogging
Blogging is another powerful strategy that every business should incorporate in their marketing.
Blogging helps you:
- Drive organic traffic to your website through SEO advantages
- Deliver value to your visitor first to help build trust and authority.
- Capture the contact information of your visitor (aka “capture leads”).
When I am coaching clients, one of the first strategies I recommend they deploy is to, “turn their website into a lead generating machine” so that they can create a steady stream of leads to their business. Blogging is the perfect strategy to do this.
6. Look for Strategic Partnerships
Developing strategic power partnerships is one of the best ways for small businesses to grow quickly.
Strategic power partnerships are connections that you build strategically where you and the other business can share content, pool finances, share resources, and open up marketing lists to provide value to both parties involved.
It’s hard enough for small businesses to survive. You don’t have to do it alone!
I have found that many businesses are eager to run Facebook ads.
And there’s nothing wrong with Facebook advertising…but, why capture cold leads when you can get MUCH BETTER results with warm referrals from a strategic power partner?
Many businesses have spent thousands of dollars on Facebook to capture leads. And many of those businesses are paying Facebook to get in front of the same exact audience! Why not pool your resources and email marketing list with a strategic power partner and save money, get better results, and lift both businesses up in the process?
7. Ask for Referrals
Referrals are (and probably have always been) one of the leading ways that small businesses have grown. And most small businesses know that it’s effective – yet, they don’t have a system to ask for referrals consistently!
If you have been able to grow your business through word of mouth so far, imagine how many more referrals you could receive if you consistently asked!
You don’t need a big budget to get great marketing results!
I hope the examples provided here illustrate that you don’t need a big budget to get great results in your marketing efforts.
Sometimes all it takes is a little creativity and time to implement some low-budget marketing ideas that can maximize your marketing efforts.
