Whether you’re just starting your small business from scratch or you’ve been operating for a long time, marketing still needs to happen, even with a limited budget. No marketing will kill your small business, so it’s important to make the most of what you have resources for. It’s also important to leverage your time appropriately, too.
Here are three ways you can make the most of your limited budget when it comes to marketing your small business.
Outside Facing Content
Your business’ social media platforms are the billboards for your business. Things like your Instagram page and your Facebook page act as the virtual “storefront” when prospects are searching out who you are. It’s important to dedicate time to making sure there is enough content, and the right type of content, that will help prospects identify if you’re a great fit for what they’re looking for.
Your public-facing media should have vivid images with the type of people you want to work with, who are happy and smiling. It should feel inviting, but should also make the prospect think, “Hey – these people are just like me!” The type of content backing the images should read about what types of problems you solve, in emotional language that would make the prospect think, “That’s exactly how I feel!” Resonating with your ideal audience is important, so make the details count.
While a lot of small business owners spend a lot of time on their public-facing marketing (which is free, by the way), it’s not the only aspect to turn to when you have a limited budget.
Referrals
One of the most powerful types of marketing you can tap into for your small business is referral marketing, yet a lot of small business owners are scared to ask for a referral from their customers.
If you want to attract more great people into your business, sit down with your ideal customers that already exist in your business. This would look like those who you enjoy working with, but also those who spend the most money inside of your business. You want to find the people who are an overlap of those two things, and those will be your ideal clients.
Sit those people down for a coffee chat, and ask them questions like why they came to you in the first place, what problems were they looking to solve, and what kind of results have they seen. You can ask them what experiences they didn’t like about similar types of business to help you identify what not to do, or how to frame your marketing message in an opposite perspective. The most important question you can ask these people: “Is there anyone else you know who could benefit from our services?”
Referrals are important because if you’re doing a good job in delivering your service, it should be easy for your clients to head to the mountain tops and scream why they love your business. If they love working with you and they are getting the results they need, they will want their friends and family to join them. Don’t be scared to ask!
Free Events
Lastly, hosting invitation events for your business is a great way to open up your business to the general public, give your services exposure, collect new leads, and meet new people. Depending on what kind of service you offer, this could look like bring-a-friend days, events tied in with particular calendar holidays (Mother’s Day, etc.), or joining in on other events being hosted by your city or town, or even other businesses in your city.
The important thing to remember in these scenarios is to have some form of lead collection, so you can grab the contact information of all the new people you will meet, and have follow-up processes in place to take advantage of the new prospects who have now entered into your system.
You don’t always need a ton of money for marketing, especially when you’re starting off. Focusing on these other types of funnels first, and then adding paid marketing into the mix, means you will maximize all the channels available to you before you spend all of your money.
And as a bonus: Getting these three funnels functioning first means your paid marketing funnel will be more effective in the long-run.
If you need help auditing your marketing funnels, jam on a Brainstorm Session with our PDBM team, and let’s get you moving on the easiest (and cheapest) marketing opportunities in front of you.