Are You a Small Business Owner? Here are 5 Tips to Help you Create an Affordable Marketing Plan

Are You a Small Business Owner? Here are 5 Tips to Help you Create an Affordable Marketing Plan

Did you know that nearly half of small businesses say that marketing is their primary strategy for promoting growth? At the same time, 50% of small companies responding to a recent survey said they don’t have a marketing plan.

Without a solid plan for identifying and reaching target customers, your business could be facing higher marketing costs and less effective results. On the other hand, fine tuning your marketing strategy could boost your outcomes and help you achieve growth with less expense.

Keep reading for tips on how to market your business more affordably.

Affordable Marketing Requires a Plan

Whether you're a startup looking to gain traction or an established business trying to expand your reach, having a solid marketing plan can help you get in front of more customers and boost sales. To realize the best results from your efforts, you’ll need to get started the right way, by identifying your target audience.

With a clear understanding of who your ideal customers are, it's possible to create compelling marketing messages that speak to their unique needs and desires. To get started, analyze your product or service and its unique selling points. Think about who would benefit the most from what you have to offer.

Next, take time to flesh out your target customer in detail, identifying characteristics related to demographics and behaviors, such as age, the channels they use, and the pain points you are helping them to solve. Remember, the more you know about your target audience, the better you can tailor your marketing efforts to reach and engage them.

Once you’ve identified your customer, think about your company’s value drivers. Where do you excel and provide greater worth to your customers over the competition?

With an understanding of your target audience and how your business is uniquely qualified to serve them, you can focus your marketing efforts to achieve more effective results with less money. Strive to create messages that resonate with your audience and demonstrate how your service or product fits their needs and answers their pain points.

Tips for Making Marketing More Affordable

With an understanding of your target audience paired with your unique selling points, it’s time to decide where you will market your business to build your marketing plan. Thanks to digital marketing opportunities, you now have several ways to affordably market your company and its offerings.

Email marketing

With 4 billion active email users, 77% of marketers say they saw an increase in email engagement last year. Email marketing offers a significant $36 ROI for every dollar spent.

To utilize email marketing for your business, start by collecting a list of customer emails and incentivize buyers to sign up for your communications in a way that coordinates with your business model. Sending special content, timely information, and offers can be great ways to drive audience engagement and boost sales.

There are many online platforms for email that offer list management as well as tools to build content and design.

Social media

Recent research indicates that there are 4.59 billion people using social media, so when executed correctly, marketing on social media channels can give visibility to your business where your customers are already interacting.

 Before getting started on social media marketing, determine the channels that are most applicable for your audience and create a posting calendar. Consistent, authentic and interesting posts will be important for social success. Also, be sure to publish more than sales-oriented content. Share relatable stories or tips to demonstrate your brand’s personality.

Rewards programs

Offering a reward or frequency program can be a great way to incentivize sales as well as customer loyalty, and since rewards can be customized to your business parameters, it’s also a marketing tactic that may be affordable for your business.  

Starting a rewards program can be as simple as offering a punch card, a returning customer credit, or rewards per swipe through a merchant service or point of sale (POS) system. Take some time to test various options and determine what types of rewards motivate your audience.

Web presence

Up to 99% of consumers use the internet to discover and research new products or services, and businesses that include a blog on their site receive 67% more monthly leads. That makes a website one of the most important marketing tools, and a basic site can be done cost effectively.

There are several online tools to help secure a domain and affordably build a website, that can benefit your business by bringing awareness through search and showing credibility to customers and prospects.

Recommendations and Reviews

A Nielsen report found that 92% of shoppers rely more on word of mouth recommendations than paid marketing messages, making referrals and word-of-moth a powerful element of your efforts. You can ask satisfied customers to review your business in digital channels - online or on social media. Then you can encourage prospects to look at reviews when considering your business.

Asking for reviews as a practice will also help you understand where your business might benefit from changes or improvements. A continued understanding of customer experience and sentiment is an important element of any marketing strategy.

Affordable Marketing the Easy Way

With a sound plan, and a commitment to executing and ongoing evaluation of your efforts, your business can develop an affordable and effective marketing strategy. By identifying the right target audience, crafting compelling messages, and leveraging affordable channels, businesses can promote their products or services to the right people without breaking the bank. So, why not start planning your affordable marketing strategy today and take your business to the next level?