Marketing Small to Make it Big
Marketing doesn’t have to come with a huge price tag. Small businesses often don’t have the budget to afford hefty paid-for marketing plans. Having five subscriptions to different apps and online tools, employing designers and directors, writers and paying for adverts can rack up. We are here to show how you can market your business for as little money as possible so you can concentrate on seeing those sales increase rather than getting in mountains of debt in your first year.
Will This Work Long-Term?
No. Eventually, you will have to start paying for advertising. It won’t be possible to make your business work without it. Spending money to make money is an integral part of business leadership.
These tips are for those people setting up with little to no real budget. Once the sales start coming, it is vital to set aside a percentage, say 40% of the profit, to go towards advertising and marketing. Make sure you are paying off any debts you might be in first at a steady rate. Call up any debt companies and ask about token payment plans. Remember that until you have made back the money it cost to buy your stock or any other money you spent setting up the business – you aren’t making a profit!
Our Tips
Use free tools as much as you can. Why should you be paying for someone to design things for you, when designers are publishing so much of their work via. free to use tools online? You can get everything you need to set up a business and market it in its early days, for a price tag of exactly zero.
Create a whole brand identity for free by using a free logo creator online. Research trending colours, shapes and styles and incorporate them. Have fun playing with the different features. Make a few designs that you can show to family and friends to help you choose. Ask them what stands out to them and what they like/dislike and create a logo you absolutely love.
Join social media sites and set up business pages that make you findable. Choose a business name that is available for use across all socials, so that people can approach you easily. Put your logo on all the sites as your profile picture or thumbnail.
Go on a graphics creator like Canva or Vectr and create adverts and posters that have the same style as your business and post them on all your socials. You will be amazed at what you can create with no design experience. Create a folder and organize them, so that you can publish them once a week or so and keep your pages visible to your audience.
Choose relevant and trending hashtags, and post in groups and on pages that harbour your target audience. Make a list of the days you can advertise in specific places and join a post scheduling site that allows you to choose when your posts go out. Tag those groups in your post to make sure it is visible on their sites.
Always respond to customers as quickly and efficiently as possible. Be friendly, helpful and kind. Showing that you have a knowledge of the source and use of your products is also important. Be the business owner that you would love to chat to - every time you interact with a customer.
Remember, once your sales start coming, start investing that money into paid-for ads. This is not a plan to follow for your first business year, more the first couple of months while you get on your feet. Maintain this DIY attitude once you start paying out money and you will start to see what you need to pay for and what you can continue to do yourself.