5 Ways to Do Better Marketing for Less

Marketing is difficult because you’ll never know whether the money you put into it will generate profit (not to mention a return on investment). But there are a few important strategies that your company can utilize to ensure that you boost your brand visibility and drive conversions while spending the least amount of money possible.

Here are five ways that you can do better marketing for less money.

1.     Focus on Engagement, Not Influencers

Social media is a great way to promote your business. Be careful, however, about over-reliance on influencers. Influencers are those people who have thousands or millions of followers, and you can pay them to promote your product on their profile. Influencers can boost your brand visibility, but they don’t necessarily drive conversions. They can also be expensive.

The best way to use social media, from Twitter to Instagram, is to try and promote engagement with customers. Post content that’s fun, enticing, or helpful and try and get people to click that “Share” button. Respond to comments on your posts, when relevant, especially those posts which are complimentary of your company.

Social media is a great venue for satisfied customers to spread positive word of mouth about your company, so you must get your business set up on all of the major social media platforms. Also consider setting your company up on review websites like Yelp, where good reviews can significantly increase your conversions.

2.     Build a Better Website

A website is the most important marketing tool for your business, whether you’re a brick-and-mortar store or eCommerce-based. Not only does a website explain your company’s core product and values, but it can also speak volumes about the legitimacy of your operation. A slow website, for instance, can make your company seem cheap or sketchy (and most people don’t wait for a website to load—they just hit the “Back” button on their browser).

Nowadays, it’s easier (and cheaper) than ever to build a website that’s fast, secure, and aesthetically pleasing—and you can do it from home. There are lots of website builders on the internet that enable you to use customizable templates to create a well-organized and visually dazzling site.

Most of these website builders will host the site for you so that the site will be fast and secure for users. You don’t have to pay high hourly premiums for professional web developers. Most of these sites charge a simple monthly fee.

Lots of people these days access websites on their smartphones. Make sure that your website is optimized for mobile use. Keep the mobile experience in mind when you’re designing the layout of your page, buttons, and font size.

3.     Incorporate SEO Practices on Your Website

SEO is arguably the most effective form of marketing because you’re able to target a massive number of consumers who may be likely to purchase your product or service. If you’re not familiar with SEO (stands for “search engine optimization”), know that it’s the practice of boosting your website’s visibility on search engine queries. You’ll get more value with SEO than if you were to buy ad space on TV or a radio station.

There are a lot of different strategies to boost your website’s SEO. One of the most overlooked strategies is “local SEO,” through which your website uses area-based keywords to target potential consumers in your community. This is an incredibly important tactic for businesses that rely on local dollars, so much so that you might even consider enlisting a local SEO consultant to guide your strategy. Don’t blow your money on broad SEO keywords when you can increase your conversions by focusing on local keywords.

4.     Make Friends in the Industry

We live in a social world, and there’s no doubt that friendships are an important way to achieve personal and business success. Seek out companies and business leaders that are well-established and who can promote your business to a wide array of people. This is also known as a “strategic partnership.” Oftentimes, strategic partners will cut each other discounts while also boosting each other’s brand visibility.

Every strategic partnership is built upon mutual gains—both of your companies should benefit by promoting each other. Thus, you should find companies that are selling their product to a similar base of customers, but who aren’t direct competitors with you. So, if you own a restaurant then you might want to make a deal with a company that sells paper straws—you’ll be able to advertise that your company is eco-friendly, while the other company will generate more sales.

You can use networking sites to reach out to business leaders, or you can use a strategic partnership website.

5.     Participate in Your Local Community

Grassroots marketing is an effective tactic for startup companies, especially those which are going to rely initially on local revenue. One of the best ways to do grassroots marketing is to participate in community events. There are plenty of cities that hold festivals or trade shows in which businesses can showcase their product.

Don’t take these events lightly—make sure that you have someone in your company who’s good at event planning. A disorganized booth presentation will make your company look bad. Your company always needs to be at its best when you’re being represented at an industry or community event.

If you follow one or more of these techniques, you’ll be able to reach a wider base of customers and boost your conversions, while also keeping your marketing budget to a minimum.