6 Ways to Level Up Your Marketing Even If You’re Not Spending Ad $$$

As we continue navigating a global pandemic, it feels as though every week is different from the last. As a business owner, you might be unsure of how to continue promoting your business while cashflow may be little uncertain. We’re here to say that its’s not always about the money honey! In fact, with internet usage at its all time high, now is the perfect time to focus on refining and building your brand and getting it in front of users. Here are some ways to continue raising awareness for your brand even if you’re not looking to spend ad dollars at the minute:

1. Check Your Data (All of It)

While as a businesses you are worried about the state of your future, it’s in fact okay in times like these to even look into the past to gather learnings. Use this time to check any data source/ or analytics you have to better understand your users and where to improve your website!

• Web Builder / CMS analytics

• Google Analytics:

• HeatMaps

• Social Media Analytics

Sample Metrics to Consider & Why:

• Bounce Rates & Time Spent on Page

• Click-Through-Rates, Engagement Rates

• Engagement / Day Of Week/ Time Of Day

• Conversion Metrics

  • Average Order Value

  • Average Basket Size

  • Repeat Purchasers

• Audience Demographics

• Age, Gender, Location, Education, Employment etc.

But why do these metrics matter? Insights are invaluable learnings that you are inadvertently gathering through running your business. USE them to keep furthering your business and create data driven decisions.

2. CRO your website & landing pages

On the subject of website insights…with you using all your data to drive traffic to your website, have you optimized your website for it’s intended actions? Now is the perfect time to explore Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO for short. Some considerations:

• How clear are your CTA’s (call-to-actions)? Are they visible no matter what page you’re on?

• How many clicks/pages/actions are you taking your user through before they complete the intended action?

• Are you keeping key information at the top-of-fold (before they have to scroll)?

• Is your design simple, readable? Are you making use of proper use of headers and body text to improve this?

• and most of all…IS YOUR PAGE MOBILE OPTIMIZED? (consider tap targets, layouts, user experience)

Use the above as a starting checklist towards optimizing your page. Of course, CRO requires a lot of A/B testing - whether it’s copy, images, designs etc. Start with making what you have better.

3. SEO

I’m sure by now you’ve heard about SEO (search engine optimization) and the WONDERS it can do for your website. However while SEO is a process (and be weary of anyone who tells you otherwise), implementing basic and best practice optimizations is not as intimidating as it seems. Here are a few places to start:

1. Figure out what the SEO functionalities are for your web platform : SEO for Squarespace is much different to SEO for Wordpress, Wix, etc.

2. DO YOUR KEYWORD RESEARCH. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to research keyword traffic and volumes. Mix head keywords as well as longtail keywords

3. DO COMPETITOR RESEARCH - going hand in hand with your keyword research above, see what your competitors are ranking for & integrating on their websites

4. Update all title tags + meta descriptions per page. Meta descriptions are HTML tags that describe the contents of each page

5. Content Distribution: For pages to be properly ranked, they have to not be deemed “thin content”. Integrate at least 300 words per page.

6. COMPRESS YOUR IMAGES - more images = higher page size = lower load times, compress your images to save you all these troubles

7. Add Alt Image Text - Google is all about accessible, change both your image title & alt text to describe the image and integrate keywords here as well

Still need abit more help? Of course, Rêveur has a resource for that. Our last SEO tip is to check out our free resource, filled with some pretty juicy SEO secrets: THE BASICS: SEO FOR SMB’S & STARTUPS

4. EMAIL MARKETING

If you’ve got an email list and you’re not doing anything with it, you are sitting on a gold mine. Even if your business isn’t operating, email is a great way to keep your business in the forefront of customer minds, for when it does resume again. Use this opportunity to:

1. Clean up your email list, delete duplicates, removing bounced emails

2. Share important business updates

3. Let your clients know how to keep in contact with you

4. Share tips, tricks or any blog posts you’ve created

5. Promote your new online service!

Other important things when diving into email marketing:

• Keep your subject line, short, informative, sweet

• Keep any CTAs/links/ buttons near the top to encourage that action (make sure you test they work)

• Keep your layout clean and readable

• Make sure your emails are responsive for mobile

• TEST TEST TEST

5. POST.ENGAGE.REPEAT

We added this in here…but do we really need to remind you to post social media content regularly? With a 40% increase in usage & consumption for Facebook and Instagram alone, if you aren’t posting. you’re missing out. Enough said. But wait, make sure you also:

• If you’ve checked your analytics like we said up there, use this information to find out when your users are online to post when they are looking

• Like, engage and comment with your users’ content or even other businesses’ content to increase engagement and build relationships during this time

• Repurpose your content to share across different formats & platforms

• Research relevant hashtags and integrate them within your posts (creep our hashtag strategy here)

Okay now we’re actually done.

6. SHARE VALUABLE CONTENT

While you may not be running, there are other ways to share your services with your customers, ESPECIALLY through content. You don’t need to be a blogger to share valuable tips, tricks and at-home guides. Maybe you don’t like calling it a blog, but take the time to create a content driven portion of your website. We don’t have to say twice that content is still king when it comes to SEO. Consider it, killing two birds with one stone. Then, use the content you create to nurture that email list, engage with others who are also speaking about the same things & as lead magnets. Here is a few inspirations on where to start:

• Take the time to re-introduce your business and yourselves - share your brand story

• How can your clients implement the service you offer to a D-I-Y version at home

• Any quick tips and tricks

• Long for video or tutorials

7. BUILD YOUR SOCIAL PROOFING

This down period is the perfect time to build your social proofing and reputation for your business. With businesses resuming in the near future, your potential clients are going to be looking for services similar to yours, and often times its YOUR RATINGS that sets you apart from your competitors. Engage with your loyal customers and encourage them to support your business and other local businesses during this time. The choice to incentivize a review through some kind of promotion post covid…is totally up to you!

SO there you go, efficient marketing doesn’t always mean spending your money towards paid social advertising or paid search. While it helps these tips can offer you a great starting point. Take the opportunity to learn, grow your business authentically and build meaningful relationships with your current and potential customers.