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How to Market Your Small Businesson a Budget
Growing a business on a limited marketing budget may seem like a herculean task. The cost of advertising on Google has skyrocketed and getting a coveted position at the top of page one will cost you a pretty penny. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible for small businesses to market themselves. In fact, there is a wide array of marketing channels that you can use to promote your business, even if your advertising budget is small.
Cost-Effective Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses
Below you’ll find various cost-efficient marketing tools that you can use to promote your small business regardless of whether it’s a micro business that you are trying to get off the ground or a decades-old family business that you want to grow. The cost associated with each of these tools varies greatly based on many different factors and each tool has its own pros and cons such as cost and audience reach.
As a small business owner, it’s crucial that you consider not only the cost of each tool but also how you’re able to track how effective each of the tools are. You also need to develop clear goals as to what you want to achieve. Is it to increase awareness of your brand, build loyalty, reach new target audiences, or simply sell more products or services? Keep in mind that there may be a big difference in your marketing strategy if you are starting a business, growing a business, or trying to figure out how to scale your business. The goals that you set for yourself are very likely to change as your business continues to develop and you may need to adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
Google My Business
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, the first thing you should do is create a Google My Business (GMB) account if you haven’t done so already. GMB has become a key player in local SEO. This free tool allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google Search and Google Maps. You can update your business hours, website link, and contact details. Perhaps most importantly, you can also use it to collect customer reviews.
Businesses with up-to-date content and high review scores have a significant advantage over their competitors. You can get started by creating your Google My Business profile. This is something that you should do as soon as possible if you haven’t done so already, especially if you are a leader in your field. There have been instances of businesses “hijacking” the Google My Business profile of their competitors so make sure to set your profile up before someone else does!
Search Engine Optimization
One of the first things you should do as a small business owner is ensure that your website is optimized for search engines. This includes both the front end and back end of your website and encompasses everything from checking how quickly your website loads to including specific keywords within your website content. This step is really important as it allows search engines to see exactly what your website is about and increases the likelihood that your website is going to be shown to the right people at the right time.
This may sound a little bit intimidating at first, but, trust us, it’s easier than it sounds. There are many different keyword research tools that you can use, most of which offer “free plans” to users. While these plans only allow for limited usage, when you are just starting out you can generally get the information that you need without having to pay for an upgraded plan. Some of the best keyword tools include Moz Keyword Explorer, SEMRush, and Ahrefs Keyword Generator. Once you do a few different searches, you will have a good idea as to what keywords have the highest search volume and any long tail keywords people are searching for. You can then incorporate these into your public-facing content as well as your meta tags and descriptions. If possible, try to include both high-volume and long-tail keywords (a good rule of thumb is that these are usually more than three or four words). This will help you cover your bases in terms of SEO and can help you prepare for future changes that Google makes to the SERP.
Social Media
Love it or hate it, social media has become a fantastic tool to promote small businesses over the past decade. Posting useful content that your target audience wants can help you start gaining followers and increase loyalty among the followers you already have.
The first step is creating business accounts on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter). Once you have the account set up, you can begin posting content. Business accounts will allow you to track how effective your posts were and how your target audience engaged with your content. You can then fine-tune your social media strategy to help create more brand awareness, build engagement, and showcase your products and services.
From there, you can begin to test paid ads. The great thing about advertising on social media platforms is that you can choose very specific parameters on who sees your ad to ensure that your advertising dollars are spent wisely. You can set up a maximum spend on your account so that you don’t consume too much of your budget too quickly.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is another great, low-cost marketing tool. This generally encompasses things like blog posts, email newsletters, white papers, YouTube videos, etc. Content marketing is a fantastic way to establish your small business as a thought leader. It can also help direct people back to your website and increase your ranking on Google!
The key to having a successful content marketing strategy is to make sure that you’re providing quality content that answers the needs of your target audience. For example, if you provide home renovation services, you should create content that helps your audience deal with their pain points such as choosing a contractor, dealing with construction delays, choosing the right materials, etc. Be genuine rather than sale-sy and make sure that your content serves a purpose. If you aren’t sure where to start, do a few Google searches pertaining to your product or industry and see what the top-ranked websites are. Many search results include AI-generated results along with a “People Also Ask” section which can help you easily see who your biggest competitors are in terms of visibility.
Partnerships
Depending on what types of products or services you offer, partnerships can provide a cost-effective way to get your business in front of potential customers. Broadly speaking, partnerships are considered to be mutually beneficial marketing relationships between two entities. Partnerships have been an important marketing tool for large businesses and corporations for decades and thanks to the rise of social media influencers, they can now be effectively used by entrepreneurs and small business owners at a very small cost. This type of marketing is often seen in the lifestyle and travel industries.
If you are interested in developing partnerships with other small businesses (influencers fall under this category!), the first thing you should do is identify what types of businesses you want to be associated with and how these businesses can help you reach your target market. You can then reach out to these businesses to start negotiating the terms of a potential agreement. With social media influencers, this could include things such as the number of posts promoting your product or service. With other businesses, you may want to consider a profit-sharing strategy or commission-based incentive. Together, you’ll want to build a co-marketing plan that allows both parties to achieve their goals.
Closing Thoughts
As you can see, there are a number of different marketing channels that you can try that will help your small business get a lot of bang for its buck! Don’t forget that your membership with the National Association of the Self-Employed (NASE) also gives you access to a library of resources to help you through your marketing journey.