Budget-friendly marketing is a hot topic on the minds of small business owners. With all the talk about how to market products and services effectively, we couldn’t help but wonder, “What if you are working on a tight budget or don’t have an in-house marketing team?”
Here are a few tips that won’t break the bank.

1. Identify your target market

The first step is to identify your target audience. If you already know who your target audience are, then good! Otherwise, you’ll have to take some time learning who you want to market your product/service towards.

2. Analyse their behaviours and experiences

Once you’ve identified your target market, it’s time to analyse what they want and how they go about getting it. Find out what websites do they visit? What kind of TV shows do they watch? Who are their favourite celebrities or social media personalities? You’ll need this information to begin connecting with them through marketing tactics.

3. Develop a persona

Once you have the basic details of your target market, it’s time to create a “persona”. A persona is an avatar representing your target market based on who you’re targeting. Spend a few days (or even weeks) getting to know who you are marketing to.

4. Write a blog

Blogs are one of the best ways to get people talking about you and your business – completely free. If you’re selling a product, writing about why it’s good for the consumer is essential.

5. Connect with your target market

So now that you’ve identified your audience, what exactly do you do? It’s time to reach out and connect with them! How do you go about doing this? There are many ways, but here are a few of our favourite budget-friendly ways to connect with your target market.

6. Connect with your customers online

Remember those personalities we talked about earlier? Chances are that they are all over social media sites linked to their interests and have followers that do the same. Now think, if they like and share content from you, then their followers will too! Look into connecting with them by leaving comments on their posts, tweeting at them, or even sending them a message.

7. Invest in a newsletter

Depending on the type of business you have, newsletters can be effective for gaining more customers and followers. The best part is that they’re pretty affordable, and there are plenty of online resources to help you get started.

8. Provide great content consistently

The number one rule of marketing is to provide value to your customers – this doesn’t mean you have to sell a product or service, it can be as simple as providing an entertaining blog post or even answering questions in your niche on Quora. Most people don’t like being sold things – they would much rather gain value for free.

9. Use email marketing

Email marketing can be one of the most cost-effective ways to promote your products and services – and it’s easy too! 

10. Give your customers a reason to share

People love to talk about themselves – and why not give them a reason too? Highlight their opinion of your company by posting surveys, asking for customer feedback, or testimonials. You can even offer a small prize like 10% off their next order or give them free shipping on their first purchase. 

11. Offer rewards

People love getting things for free – and if you use rewards correctly, they’ll be more likely to purchase from you again. Offer things like loyalty points, free shipping or a small discount on their next purchase.

12. Create an exclusive club

Are you offering super-premium products? If so, try creating an exclusive club that is only open to people who buy your high priced items. A major benefit of this is that it creates a sense of exclusivity and trust.