6 Low-cost marketing ideas small businesses can take advantage of

6 Low-cost marketing ideas small businesses can take advantage of

Does the potential cost of marketing hold you back from marketing your goods and services?

Here’s some good news: the quality and outcome of a marketing campaign aren’t proportionate to your budget. With enough creativity, you can develop an awesome but affordable marketing strategy that will help you reach and attract your target customers, and help you increase your revenue.

Here are some effective but low-cost marketing ideas you should try for your small business:

  1. Create and distribute great content
  2. Thanks to the internet, content has become one of the world’s top commodities. Whether it’s on syndication sites, social networks, or web forums, people are sharing different kinds of content not just to express themselves, educate, and entertain, but also to earn money. You can leverage the popularity and ubiquity of content to spread word about your brand. These types of content are particularly inexpensive to produce and easy to distribute:

    • Blog articles

      A well-written blog article can capture your target audience’s attention and even improve your visibility on the internet. The best part about this type of content is that it’s practically free. Blog sites like WordPress offer free accounts. And with the capabilities of mobile devices nowadays, you won’t even need a computer to get started.

      You don’t have to be an experienced writer either — you only need to focus on things you know, such as lists of open industry secrets or best practices. Or tell a story about your brand or day at work. If you’re not confident in your writing skills, outsource to a freelancer or, better yet, have someone in your team to do it for you.

    • Infographics

      Infographics are popular for several reasons. They’re engaging, educational, and very easy to share on the internet. When you post them on your blog, website, or social networks, they can help with your search engine optimization too. As long as you have an eye for design, you can easily make simple but effective infographics, thanks to free tools like Canva.

    • Videos

      Did you know that watching videos posted on your website not only makes visitors stay longer, but that it also makes them more likely to buy your products? Now, you may think producing a video is costly, but it actually doesn’t have to be. For starters, you can do it yourself using your smartphone.

      Make as many videos as you can. Showcase your brand or products by posting demos or FAQs, or highlight benefits for your customers. You can even do a virtual tour of your office or vlog about your events.

  3. Recycle and upcycle
  4. High-quality content is a gift that keeps on giving. As long as their topic remains relevant, even old content can be republished. You may even post throwbacks using old videos or photos covering past events or products. Alternatively, you can upcycle old content by updating its contents. For example, you could refresh data on an outdated infographic or rewrite a blog to include more relevant information.

  5. Guest-post when you can
  6. Another way to utilize content for marketing is to create one for someone else through guest-posting. This strategy may seem counterproductive, but it’s actually great for accessing audiences who probably don’t know about your company. With the right use of links and referrals, you can even drive traffic back to your website. Blogs or websites that post content about your industry are good places to start if you want to guest-post.

  7. Go live
  8. Live videos, which you can create through Facebook or YouTube, are popular because they permit real-time interactions with your audience. You can use this medium for live FAQs, wherein users post written questions which you answer through video. Live videos are also ideal for covering events or doing virtual tours.

  9. Be Insta-famous
  10. Instagram has over 1 billion users worldwide and is considered one of the best social networks to market a brand in. It doesn’t take much to create Instagram-worthy content either. Just snap a photo or video with your phone, probably add a filter, include a catchy caption, and you’re set.

  11. Tap your audience for content
  12. Customers love to be involved. Take advantage of this by encouraging your customers for photos and videos with your products and other types of user-generated content (UGC). You can even tap into their competitive side by launching a contest for the best content and rewarding the winner with a small token, such as a gift card or freebie. Social networks like Facebook and Instagram are great for this kind of strategy.

Effective marketing does not entail a large monetary investment in order to succeed. Rather, it requires your creativity and time. We at Founders Technology Group understand this, which is why our experts are more than happy to manage your IT for you, so that you can focus on marketing and other tasks that will drive your business’s growth. Schedule a consultation with your team today.