Let’s face it, marketing is costly, but it doesn’t mean you can’t reach your prospects on a budget. However, you can scale it with strategy – This article will educate you on how to market locally on a shoestring budget.
Large businesses have big marketing budgets and resources. They can afford costly advertising, premium lead generation, paid social ads, etc., which new businesses cannot.
It’s not a crime to start your marketing on a small budget. What is important is your approach. With the right strategy, you can achieve so much marketing mileage with a little budget in this age of digital marketing.
Apart from a few resources needed to execute your marketing plan, you need little to no money to market your ideal customers online.
While the strategies discussed in this article can help businesses of any size, those on a shoestring budget will gain immensely from it. We will start with the strategies and discuss relevant tips for efficient lean-budget marketing to conclude our discussion.
Below are three simple local business-marketing activities you can implement to reach and convert your target audience.
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Video marketing
Video marketing uses videos to promote and inform your prospects about your offer. It helps increase engagement with your target market and magnetizes them to your message.
Luckily, smartphones these days have superb cameras for recording. You can use your phone to make videos and run targeted ads on Facebook with the videos. You only pay per view for the ads – as little as three cents per view.
How to create videos like pros:
- Do a short video script to guide your performance
- Keep your recording background bright and clear
- Choose a good video editing program or app
- Keep your message simple and to the point
- Prioritize sharp, clear image and audio
- Avoid shaky footage or distractions while shooting the video
Google is your friend! You can Google “how to make videos like a pro” for more insight to create cool and quality videos for your marketing.
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Content marketing
You should own a website and host a blog for an engaging convo with your audience. With your blog in place, create weekly articles, possibly on the same topic as your video to share your views and engage your audience.
Create high-quality blog posts to discuss interesting topics. Learn how to create a blog that gets shares and followers. If you pulled through, you should have your audience coming back to your page from time to time.
How to create blog articles that convert
- Know your audience and create a compelling headline to attract them;
- Use subheadings to break the page into shorter paragraphs;
- Use bullet points for easy reading and understanding;
- Optimize your content for SEO to make it searchable;
- Add a clear call-to-action where necessary to help your audience take action.
It helps to search Google for information on creating high-quality blog posts for your marketing.
One benefit of owning a blog is controlling the content you share. It attracts your target audience and easily converts them into paying customers.
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List building
You must have heard the saying, “there is money in the list.” Yes, it is true! If you put your list to good use, you should reap huge benefits in ROI. List Building Marketing is about interacting and calling the attention of your target audience (ideal customers) to your offer.
You can build a list comprising quality target audiences with permission to send them marketing content from your video and blog engagement.
Since your list contains your potential customers, you can plan a targeted email to send them your offer frequently.
Email marketing is huge! According to Statista, about 333.3 billion emails will exchange hands in 2022. The figure continues to grow as long as there are offers to market.
Email marketing ROI offers a $45 return on a $1 spent if put to good use. Take advantage of list building to increase your marketing success for your local marketing on a shoestring budget.
Tips to exponential success when marketing on a shoestring budget
If you allow your local marketing on a shoestring budget to focus on marketing psychology and use it strategically, you can reach new customers and increase sales exponentially.
The saying, “If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes accepted as truth,” couldn’t be truer in today’s digital marketing strategies.
Follow these three marketing tips built on human buying psychology to succeed in your marketing with little budget.
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Prioritize local SEO to boost your visibility and discoverability in searches
People search for what they need before meeting the seller. SEO strategy provides an easy way for your audience to find you. There are lots of resources online to create quality SEO content.
- Use Google search to your advantage. I can’t stress that enough!
- Increase your SEO knowledge to know what’s trending and serve your market the hot soup!
- Read “How to Market a Local Business Effectively” for more insight.
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Invest in content marketing to build rapport with your target market
There is no cheaper way to engage your audience than content marketing. You should know your audience and create content that meets their needs.
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Focus on educating your target audience and solving their problems
Every potential buyer has a question they want to be answered. With your SEO knowledge, find trending discussions on sites like Quora, Reddit, Pinterest, and other social communities and create relevant content to connect with your target audience.
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Leverage email marketing
Your list-building effort will pay off if put to use. Don’t just build a list and fold your arms. Use it to engage with your audience.
Send targeted emails to your list according to their buyer persona and buyer journey. When your audience receives a relevant email from you, it increases the open rate and engagement.
Do you need help to market on a shoestring budget?
Let’s be frank! Digital marketing is a new game for many new business owners. It is possible to find implementing some of the tactics discussed here a bit challenging. Not to worry, SwingPointMedia has got your back!
SwingPointMedia focuses on helping local businesses succeed in their marketing by strategically creating content that attracts and filters out your ideal customers from the crowds.
With SwingPointMedia, your company can easily become a household name by being front and center in your neighborhood.
SwingPointMedia is a marketing company focused on using content marketing, such as written articles, video and podcasts, to attract their customers ideal audiences. This approach has proven to attract higher quality customers while simultaneously reducing the sales cycle by as much as 70%.
SwingPointMedia serves local businesses in Southern California and can be reached by calling 760-422-5176.
You are invited to also attend a free weekly presentation, providing you the tools and strategy to roll out your own content marketing program for your company, or see exactly what SwingPointMedia does for its clients to achieve success. It can be viewed live on SwingPointMedia’s YouTube channel, Wednesdays at 11 am pst.