5 Ways To Do Marketing On The Cheap
A marketing strategy for your company, product or service can be as complex or as simple as you’d like. It all depends on what you hope to achieve and the budget you have to work with. While you should always be doing as much as possible and exploring every avenue you can in getting yourself out to the world, there are a few ways you can increase your marketing cheaply. By no means should you ONLY do these avenues – you want to spread yourself in as many ways as feasible – but this is a great way to save money or get started until you can implement a bigger, more intense campaign.
Giveaways
You are probably familiar with the idea of a giveaway even if you haven’t officially launched your own. Yes, offering a prize in return for an action, such as joining your email list or following you on social media, can work on any scale but you to truly catapult this concept you should consider partnered giveaways. A partnered giveaway is when you team up with other brands to hold larger contests with grander prizes. Not only will the incentive to follow your call-to-action be much stronger and more tempting, you will benefit from the other brand’s marketing reach and them sharing their email lists and/or social media followers with you. The bigger the reach, the better the results.
Referral Programs
Creating a referral program for your product or service can increase your sales and your marketing reach exponentially. By having individuals refer their friends and family to you and offering them an incentive for everyone that signs up or purchases, you can cultivate a strong, loyal following that can boost your business growth. You can offer a flat fee per conversion or a percentage of each sale but the incentive doesn’t necessarily have to be money. It can be free products/services, promotional gear, exclusive discounts, etc. Major companies such as Uber and Airbnb actually rocketed their growth due to referral programs – of which they only offered small incentives.
Online Tools
Nowadays, if you are seeking something, you will likely find your heart’s desire stashed somewhere on the internet. There are online tools and software for just about everything and that includes marketing. Take advantage of what is out there and save a little money for your efforts. For example, MailChimp is an exceptional free email marketing service where you can manage and maintain your list or launch specific campaigns. SurveyMonkey is a free survey and questionnaire tool for polling and analyzing audience opinions. Be sure you know what you want to achieve or implement into your campaign before you seek out online tools to prevent spreading yourself too thin by doing too much and wasting your time.
Social Media
The mother of all online interaction, social media can be quite a boon for your business. You don’t need any money to post and engage clients on various platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. You can even host Q&A sessions to get feedback from your audience or create fun videos to bolster your engagement. All you need is the time to stay consistent with your interactions and content creation.
User-Generated Content
This is a great option to have content created FOR you that not only increases your online visibility but helps you curate information that your users are actively seeking. You can offer a community post option where your users can submit articles, graphs or their own information to contribute to the site content. You can have customers share pictures or video of them wearing or using your products or services and choose the better ones or even run a contest asking customers to make the best video/content for a prize and the chance to be featured. Consumers LOVE UGC because they feel like they are a part of the community you’ve created and they crave authenticity and interaction. They get to call the shots and help shape the future of your business. UGC should be a crucial part of your future marketing plans.
Overall you should be doing as much as possible when you implement a marketing strategy. There is never such a thing as TOO MUCH marketing, only how well you perform it. Be original, authentic and real. Consumers can’t stand slimy tactics or infomercial sales pitches so don’t try to cut corners or short-change them. Your products and services are the star of the show so let them shine.
If you find yourself a little short on the time needed to launch a full scale marketing plan or feel like you might be missing something, give us a call and find out how we can help.
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