How To Market Your Business When You Don’t Have A Massive Budget
When it comes to growing your business, you’re not going to get very far if you’re not marketing, and the thing about marketing is, although it can seem overwhelming – especially in today’s world when there’s so much information available telling us that one marketing strategy is better than the other, the thing about marketing is that it’s actually very simple – it’s just something that people tend to overcomplicate.
The other thing to remember when it comes to marketing is that there really isn’t one right or wrong to do it, and it’s really all about what works for you and your business, and since every business is different then it’s really not possible for anyone to say without testing out what will actually work for your business.
Social media
In today’s world it’s currently one of the best times to be running a business because of things like social media making marketing and advertising more accessible, easier to understand and more affordable than it’s ever been. The thing to remember with social media is that it’s not something you have to be using constantly to market your business and you shouldn’t be on every platform out there.
The key to using social media when marketing your business is to identify who your ideal clients are and what platforms they’re using and then build a strong brand within those platforms to build relationships and connections with them so that they start to trust you and come back to your website. Social media when done wrong can really mess up your business and reputation, but when done right it’s seriously one of the best things you’ll ever use in your business.
Blogging
When it comes to an online business, content is king, and the best way to create content – especially if you’re hoping to drive organic traffic is through blogging. Whether you want to create written posts or even video content for your blog, it’s still one of the best ways to drive targeted traffic to your website that consists of your ideal clients. It’s important when planning out your blog content that you don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed, and this can be done easily by creating a content calendar and scheduling out posts to go automatically so that you don’t run out of content. It’s also important to make sure that you don’t try to take on too much and publish more content than you’re actually able to write each day or week. Many people make the mistake of starting their blog and planning to write a post each day, but then they soon find this to be too much which then means the motivation fizzles out, and so does the blog.
The best thing to do is start with less content and build it up as you start to get an idea of how much you need and also what kind of content your clients are responding to best. The other great thing about blogging is that it gets you higher up on Google, and if you have a Google business listing, then this can even further boost your search ranking to keep you at the top of the search engine. If you want to set up your business listing, then you can find lots of information online for How to set up your Google My Business listing.
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Webinars
Although webinars have gained a less than great reputation in recent years for the way that people have been using them, they’re still one of the most effective ways of marketing your business and make sales online today. The trick with webinars is to focus on delivering great value and providing a real tangible outcome for people so that they’re able to see that buying from you is the next logical step in solving their current problem.
The mistake that many people make with webinars is that they focus only on the sale and not enough on the value because they’re scared of giving away too much for free, but actually when you focus on value and giving your best stuff for free, this is actually when people really start to trust you and will feel comfortable working with you.
Podcasting
Whether it’s on your own podcast or being interviewed on other people’s podcasts, these are a great way to get your name out there and position yourself as an expert to an already exisiting audience. Podcasts have a great way of allowing you to really make more of a connection with people than you’re able to through social media or blogging.
Paid ads
The great thing about things like Facebook ads and even Google ads is that you don’t need to have a big budget to use these, which means you can potentially reach millions of people all over the world who have never heard of you or your business for as little as $10 per day. Although figuring out how to use paid ads is something that won’t happen overnight and you will have to keep learning since it changes so fast, it’s still definitely worth learning since it’s one of the best ways to really grow your business fast on a small budget – especially if you don’t have a lot of time to spend using organic strategies.
Affiliates
Whilst word of mouth is still one of the best forms of marketing and advertising there is, it’s also something that takes time and a lot of effort to build up to, so if you want to fast-track that process and are prepared to share some of your profits in exchange, then partnering up with some current and past clients to help promote you to other people who may also be interested in your products.
Email marketing
Email marketing is a fantastic way to grow your business through building relationships with your existing audience and any new people who come into your audience. It’s also something that can be completely automated, so you can basically set up things like email funnels to create different sources of passive income within your business.
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Hi, I'm Kelly O'Donnell.