Marketing & Advertising Budgets Are Increasing
According to the 2018 CMO Survey, digital marketing expenditures were expected to increase by 12.3% this year, and marketing budgets that previously consisted of 44% digital are projected to reach 54% digital within the next four years. Likewise, according to Statista, the United States spends nearly $197.47 billion on advertising (China – $79.08 billion; UK – $24.21 billion; Canada – $8.66 billion; India – $8.65 billion). Needless to say, small business are feeling frustrated that big spenders are outshining them. The truth, however, is that setting up an effective digital marketing campaign can actually be pretty inexpensive if you plan it out smartly. With the following 6 steps, you’ll begin witnessing improved results with your marketing efforts at a very low cost.
1. Be Specific
It is impossible to improve on ten areas at the same level at the same time, irrespective of whether you have unlimited budgets or not. Focus on setting very clear, measurable goals so you can adapt your marketing and social media advertising plans in real-time to get more bang for your buck.
In addition, be very clear about your key target audience and identify which channels do they spend the most time on – that is where your marketing and advertising focus should be directed to, rather than spreading yourself too thin across every single possible platform.
Being clear about these two areas will also enable to you create very targeted content that is relevant to your audience base and it will also empower you to setup ads with improved filters.
2. Harness FREE Influencer Marketing
While it is possible to build strategic partnerships in which multiple parties share the cost of co-branded advertising and marketing, if you plan things out smartly, there are ways to get some free influencer marketing done.
> Blog Listicles & Interviews – Featuring influencers in a listicle relevant to your industry helps generate content that they will want to share on their SM platforms – this allows you to tap into some of their following at 0 cost. Same holds true for feature interviews.
> Guest Speakers – Hosting a special event in-house or even a FB live/Webinar that features an influencer (who is accessible) will allow you to tap into their following because they will co-promote the event on their SM handles and email lists. You will not be able to rope in a top-tier influencer, but many micro-influencers will be approachable.
> SM Shout-Outs – Kindness goes a long way. A weekly or bi-weekly shout-out to industry professionals you admire (who are not direct competition) will help you establish a warmer professional equation with them and they are likely to return the favor, too. For example, if you are a company that is promoting a particular app, doing a “technical reviewer of the month” series on social media is a great way to get into the good books of critics. You’ll need to get a bit creative with your ideas.
3. Content Is King, Queen, The Whole Empire!
Audiences are being bombarded with so much content 24/7 and most of that content is actually being pushed out through aggressive social media ads, too. So, if you’re strapped on budgets, it is important to develop content that organically lends itself to a wider reach. Keep these pointers in mind –
> Graphics Matter – If you do not have an in-house graphic designer, that isn’t an excuse to put out sloppy creative audiences are going to roll their eyes at. It looks shoddy. Use free resources like Unsplash and Pixabay for free high-res images that are royalty-free. Start using Canva. Get DIY and leave a strong visual first impression.
> Quality, Not Quantity – Rather than putting out 10 posts a week on social media that offer no value, develop fewer, evergreen infographics that offer something important to your target audience – this will result in more shares, comments, likes and tagging. Short instructional videos also receive a great response. Also, instead of putting out tons of blogs about topics that are done to death (you won’t be able to show up in the first 3 pages of Google Search Results easily), look for relevant topics that aren’t being written about too much so you rank better for those!
> Reinvent The Wheel, With A Twist – If you have a small team and are pressed for time and resources, get thrifty with pre-existing content. Turn your older blogs into a nice downloadable e-book. Convert your Webinar into video tutorials. Repurpose older photographs, links and other content into #Throwback and #Flashback posts selectively. Most importantly, breathe life into data that’s already out there in the market by giving it your own spin in terms of perspective, predictions, thoughts and re-present it in a new format with your own charts and visuals so it is easier for audiences to digest.
4. Leverage Your Community
Marketing is about building a relationship with your audience. Be consistent in the frequency you put out information and remain interactive – reply to DMs, reviews comments, ask for testimonials and feedback, conduct meaningful giveaways and contests to engage your current following and gain new leads and create a customer referral program to build loyalty. Use automated email drip campaigns wisely.
Besides your target audience, it is important to also leverage community in a wider sense – write guest columns on other platforms where you can hyperlink to your company’s Website and SM handles, for example. Or, join local business groups where you can network strategically. Or, offer one small pro-bono product/service as a barter when it makes sound business sense. For example, if you are a leadership coach, offering a free 1-hour consultation session might actually get you long-term paid bookings.
5. FREE PR
PR does not have to cost you a dime. A bit of research will help you uncover email IDs of journalists/bloggers, and you can easily create another email ID to send press releases without anyone knowing you’re conducting your own PR.
Don’t have anything newsworthy to say? Think out of the box – conduct a new survey relevant to your industry or audience base, and send out the results/key findings to the media.
6. Social Media Ads – Frugal, But Consistent
Facebook and LinkedIn offer free ad promo credits – if you haven’t availed these yet, do so! You can tap out to more people with your products and services for free, initially, understand how these ads work and then build effective low-cost ads each month when your credits expire.
When you do begin running ads, remember that consistency is of utmost importance. Let’s say you are a luxury spice brand –
a) most audiences seeing your Instagram and Facebook ads may ignore it, initially, and make a mental note to visit your Website later on.
b) when they see your ad again, they might actually check out your Website’s full product range.
c) when they see your ad yet again, they might actually ad products to their cart.
d) And, then, when they see your ad one more time, they might actually follow-through with the check-out.
Long story short, it is important to run carousel ads to push out products consistently because converting interest into tangible action takes time. A lot of fashion brands do this, in particular, such as Shein and Romwe.
It is also important to keep varying ad sets with new images – in case an audience isn’t too intrigued by the initial products snapshot in the first ad set, they may actually like something from the second ad set.
Lastly, it is important to be consistent in running ads because in addition to pushing content to your existent following, you also need to draw new audiences/followers to your pages – there’s no such thing as too many relevant followers and customers! So, rather than investing $1000 in one month, feeling disheartened with low conversion rates in terms of sales and then ditching social media ads altogether, split that $1000 ad spend into four quarters and run campaigns accordingly to run longer – you’ll see more consistent results.
If you need help in putting together a cost-effective marketing campaign tailored to your company’s specific needs, contact us right here.
