Marketing Your Business on a Shoestring Budget

Most entrepreneurs recognize the results that can come with an effective marketing campaign. However, not every company has the impressive marketing budget of a Fortune 500 company. If you are running a small business, you might only have a shoestring budget that you can use to promote your products and services. Although marketing with a tight budget can be difficult, it is definitely not impossible – especially with recent advances in social media and online marketing. Many small businesses grow despite having limitations on their marketing. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you don’t have much money to work with.

Allocate More to Marketing

If you want to reach more customers, you need to find ways to allocate more of your resources to marketing. One way to do that is by harnessing the power of virtual phone systems. By getting a reliable office phone system, like ones provided by Broadview Networks, you’ll save money in various ways. First, virtual phone systems are actually quite inexpensive when purchased from the right provider, especially for small businesses or start-ups. Second, they can help you project a unified and professional company image that helps to enhance your marketing efforts for free. These phone systems portray to potential clients and customers that you are always available and always professional – which helps cement their belief that you are who they want to work with. Plus, when you save money on regular items like this, you’ll have more to spend on marketing and advertising!

Use Highly Targeted Methods

If you have a tight budget to work with, you cannot rely solely on media to get the job done. Instead of throwing your message out there like a blanket over the general public, you have to zero in on the people who are looking for your products or services. One good way to do this is with pay per click marketing online. With this type of setup, you only have to pay when someone clicks on your ad. The potential customer also only sees your ad if they search for something that is relevant to your products or services. This means that you’re finding people who are actively looking for what you have to offer. You only pay for people who really are in the market for your products. Paid social media advertising is quite similar, and of course the least expensive option is to simply promote your brand via social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. It’s free to create accounts and pages, and free to create content. You only pay if you choose to advertise.

Referrals

Another great way to attract new customers is to set up a referral program. Once you get some customers in your business, you can reward them for referring their friends or family members. This is usually much cheaper than using regular marketing methods and is often more effective, as word-of-mouth marketing can spread fast. Additionally, many people rely greatly on friends, family, and business associates when making decisions, so referrals are seen as trustworthy and reliable. What are some other ways you’ve marketed your business without blowing your budget?

Post By
Molly Malone is a creative based in Philadelphia, PA. She is a copywriter and creative strategist, using office phone systems to help her manage her day. She blogs on behalf of Broadview Networks.