Marketing remains a massively powerful element of any kind of brand, especially since it’s marketing that lets brands shine in their respective industries. However, if we consider the fact that marketing has a lot to do with advertisements, branding, content creation, and even social media, we may not help but worry about costs. And for small and medium businesses, the idea of having to spend a ton just to secure an effective marketing strategy can seem to be a bit overkill. Although, what if we tell you there’s actually a way to reduce marketing spending without sacrificing quality?
In this article, we’ll explore some of the things you could do to maximize your marketing spending without compromising the rest of your plans for sales and operations. How do we do this, though?
Improve and amp up your content game. When we talk about marketing, we don’t just mean advertisements and social media posts. Content marketing remains as one of the most efficient marketing methods out there, and that’s primarily because content creation permeates all aspects of marketing. We need to write good copy to make sure our advertisements and posts get noticed, right? Imagine what we could do when we write blogs and articles about our own products, services, and branding in a way that attracts audiences to our site. Of course, writing a blog and getting people to see it right away isn’t really the way it works. If we want to maximize our content creation game in the context of marketing, we need to be smarter when tackling content. We need not only to update our own content, but also write pieces on things people want to know about… and on things people didn’t even know they wanted to know about!
Take the chance of writing content for your brand, as well as your products and services. You can generally write different forms of content, but it’s the “attack” or the angle that matters the most. When you write content for your brand, make sure your content will be representing your brand properly – these include your tone and voice, the kind of content you want to write, and “speaks” to your audience.
Make blogs to expand on your products, services, and other information you’d want to share in your industry.
Make social media posts to reach your audiences much faster. Add photos and videos to these posts to make your content much more engaging.
When we say content, we don’t necessarily just mean blogs, either. If you have the time and the resources, don’t hesitate to create related media and content on your products and services. For instance, if you want to promote your online games website, you can expand your reach by encouraging creators or your staff to make free online games such as car driving game, or even have players write reviews of your games.
These principles apply to other industries as well. If you have a restaurant business, don’t just rely on your advertisements, make blogs and have people make reviews on your site. The more content you have on your brand and offerings online, the better you can be marketed via SEO.
Create tutorials and informational materials on your field. Aside from creating blogs on your products, services, and branding, you might want to consider focusing on becoming an industry leader in your field. The best way to do this is to prove you’re the best authority in what you do, and you can only do this by focusing on teaching audiences many parts of your industry. You might think this should be included in the previous point, but we want this to be a separate section to emphasize its importance. It’s okay to write about news in your industry, or even features on your products and services. However, it’s totally a different battlefield once you start writing or creating content on concepts and ideas in your field that your audiences will want to know about. These can come in many different forms – such as infographics, webinars, and even ebooks.
When you have a product or a service you want to offer to clients, don’t hesitate to make tutorials and informational materials on how to use these products and services. We don’t necessarily mean release your instruction manual online. Rather, try to find aspects of your products and services other people and users might be curious about, and then make articles about them. Try to look into reviews and other user comments, compile the ones that make sense, and try to answer them through blogs. This helps users be aware that you’re actually answering or attending their concerns.
Likewise, don’t hesitate to actually tackle problems and hot topics in your industry. If there are things other popular stores or brands in the industry haven’t been exploring, don’t hesitate to write or make content about them – no matter how simple or technical the topic can be. The point here is to accommodate readers and viewers looking for content on industry topics that others haven’t written about.
Take advantage of the power of social media. The best part about social media? They’re mostly free – and they really only offer extra perks for a certain price. At first glance, this makes social media a tad bit “unreliable” for marketing – why, what’s the use of a few likes and a few shares on Facebook, a few retweets on Twitter, and a few hearts on Instagram, right? It’s not like that would make us money, right? Well, you’re partially correct. What others don’t understand is that there’s a lot riding in social media – it’s the easiest place to access the most audiences and, given the right thrust, it can also be the easiest way for you to grab audiences to avail your products and services. Marketing over social media can be a relatively cheap way to reach your audiences – and it’s really just finding the right “attack” that makes social media marketing a hit-and-miss thing in terms of “cheap” marketing methods.
When it comes to your social media content, don’t hesitate to create content that will try to catch the audiences’ attention. Make sure content you make fits the tone and voice of your brand, and emphasizes on your products and services without rubbing them too much on the feeds of your customers. Try to make sure the way you make your posts would be in a way that would encourage replies and comments from users.
Likewise, try to engage with users and other social media users you know are into the same field. If people comment on your posts, make sure you try to respond to them – be it in social media, in review sites, or even in your forums. Make sure you interact with your audiences, so they’ll see your brand as a brand that actually “talks” to their audiences.
If you have the budget, don’t hesitate to start investing on paid advertisement and “boosting” your content, so it can reach more audiences. Social media sites tend to use this feature to further push your content to better “targeted” audiences, and can give you that much-needed support to reach your audiences. Likewise, don’t hesitate to use related marketing apps and resources, free or otherwise, to boost your marketing potential and integration to social media and other platforms. Remember, the more tools you have to properly target audiences, the more benefits this could bring to you.
Make use of your network and connections to spread word of your brand. Just because we’re encouraging you to talk to more people “to get yourself out there” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not marketing. In fact, networking is one of the most beneficial marketing methods out there. And the best part? The level of expenses here really depends on how far you want to take networking, as there’s a lot of ways for you to network your brand, products, and services to your audiences. You can go to events and other public places to actively campaign for your brand. Likewise, you can also attend conventions and conferences and have booths for people to go to. You may even hire influencers and other brand ambassadors into advertising your products into their websites. Taking advantage of your network can make working on your brand marketing effortless, provided you play your cards correctly.
If you’re a growing or fledgling brand, don’t hesitate to tag brands and other companies related to yours that have shared information useful or helpful to the industry. This can not only bring some of their audiences on your end, but this can also be a way to start business relationships with these brands.
When you attend events, conventions, and conferences with other brands, don’t hesitate to attend and interact with them. Bring business cards and advertisements, as well as promotional materials you think they’d be interested in. This can be a great way to encourage partnerships, and you may even find sponsors to your content and even products.
Marketing For Cheap: Make It Work With Thorough Planning
If there’s anything the above points have shared, it’s that it’s actually very possible to spend less on marketing while still reaping its benefits. The key here is to maximize your resources and to ensure you’re following a thorough, stable, and consistent marketing plan. And remember, you shouldn’t hesitate to make adjustments to your strategy, especially if there’s something you’d like to try.
If you have more tips and tricks for us, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
About the Author: John Salazar is a certified techie-at-heart, but he shares a love for all things science and technology, health and wellness, and even a bit of music on the side. As a creative writer, John makes sure to write both informative and entertaining pieces. He loves writing, and he plays the guitar when he has free time.