The Startup's Guide to Low-Budget Marketing Strategies
The road to starting up a business
is a bumpy one and one of the main obstacles that new businesses face is
marketing. It is necessary for them to get their name out there to grow the
business, but it can be quite costly when considering their low-budgets. Actually,
about 80% of entrepreneurs do not know how to measure a marketing strategy’s
effectiveness, which is often why marketing is the first to be axed from the
budget.
However, there are plenty of
low-cost marketing strategies that are highly effective which any startup can
use to grow their business.
Here are some of the best low-budget
marketing strategies:
1. Referrals
One way to go about marketing is to
let your customers do the marketing for you. One of the main reasons this strategy
is effective is because people are more likely to buy a product or service
referred to them by a friend. Establishing a referral program is usually
inexpensive. All you need to do is offer your current customers discounts or
other rewards for referring a new customer.
2. SEO
SEO stands for search engine
optimization and investing time into improving it can provide long-term
benefits. With a little bit of reading, you can easily understand the basics of
how SEO works. You need to use online tools such as Moz’s Keyword Explorer to
find relevant keywords that could bring more traffic to your site. Then you
change your site to include those keywords, making it easier for customers to
find your site.
To do this will require a lot of
work since you need to make structural changes, but if you do it yourself, the
only cost will be time.
3. Social Media Marketing
Social media accounts are free to
make, but if you decide to create one, consistency is key. Using platforms like
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can help to promote your business by keeping
your customers updated on your activities.
4. Email Marketing
One of the most cost-efficient
strategies is email marketing, with some sources claiming a ROI (return on
investment) of 400% or more. All you need is a good list of recipients and a constant
but non-invasive stream of outgoing email blasts.
5. Cross-Promotion
One strategy a lot of businesses
use is cross-promotion. Cross-promotion lets you partner with related
businesses who can market your services, in exchange for marketing their
services.
6. Upsell Existing Customers
Oftentimes, we think that marketing
strategies are only focused on gaining new customers. In reality, some of the
best marketing strategies work on existing customers. When you market towards
your own customers, it is usually low-cost and easier to do.
Econsultancy and PredictiveIntent
reported that upselling is “20 times better than cross-selling.”
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