9 low-cost marketing ideas to help businesses grow like fire

Marketing can be expensive. It is expensive. Nobody knows this better than you, a small-business owner who has passion, hard work and a limited budget.

You’ve probably asked yourself this question many times: Is it really necessary for me to spend so much money marketing my business?

Marketing is essential to bring your business to the forefront and connect with your target market.

Marketing and promotion of your business should account for a significant portion of your revenue.

What do you do if your business isn’t able to find its feet, and you don’t have the same amount of money as the big players in your industry?

Play it smart and incorporate the best marketing ideas for business into your strategy.

Many small businesses use various marketing tools to save their time and automate their marketing processes. Strategic planning and execution are key to saving money.

Continue reading to find out about marketing strategies for businesses that will bring you a great Return on Investment (ROI), without burning a hole through your pocket.

Let’s get started.

1. Create and promote your content smartly

Content that is well researched, well written, and has high quality can drive traffic, leads and sales.

The first step in crafting such content is to identify the appropriate keywords.

To find out which keywords are being ranked for your competitors, you can use tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs and UberSuggest or Moz. You must then outdo your competitors with better content once you have identified these keywords.

The best thing about these tools is that you can get a free trial. You only need to invest in a content writer.

Next, share the content on all of your social media accounts.

Cross-promotion is a great option if you find it difficult to reach your target audience via social media. Collaborate with other businesses and promote them through your content.

If you’re marketing software as a service (SaaS), you might consider partnering with another SaaS company to promote your product. Promoting a remote team using cloud PBX and team communications tools is one example.

This content can be repurposed later. You can create a video of it and share it.

You can also publish content on guest-posting sites if you have a high DA score for your niche. This is a free service that will give you more exposure and quality leads.

2. Use visuals to make the content easy-to-understand

In the early days of SEO, one could easily have risen to the top of search engines with just textual content. It doesn’t work today.

Words are no longer enough. According to a Brightcove Survey ” the Video gives a 157% organic growth from search engine result pages.”

Brainrules research also shows that incorporating visuals to your content can increase the likelihood of information being remembered after 3 days by 65% compared to 10%. If you want to make a lasting impression on your audience, your content should have great visuals.

Create a video to inform your readers about your topic.

When you send an email about Christmas sales, create an eye-catching image and place it at the top. Visuals are essential if you want to launch a social media campaign. This is a comprehensive guide to social media images.

The bottom line is that you should make your work memorable, no matter what it may be. Canva is a free tool that allows you to create stunning visuals such as blog graphics, banners and ebook covers.

Oreo is the name I immediately think of when I think about great visual marketing strategies. Their profile is worth looking at because of the beautiful images and videos they have.

Disney and Starbucks are two other brands that have adopted this strategy.

3. Infographics can help you harness the power of infographics

Addition to the above, if you have any interesting data, share it visually in the form an infographic.

Infographics attract not only backlinks, but also interest. Infographics can be a great way to improve your search rankings and get you organic traffic.

You will need to hire a designer for this strategy. If you don’t have the budget, your team can use tools such as Infogram, Venngage and again Canva, to convert data into visually appealing infographics and drive traffic and engagement.

Yours truly, SocialPilot is a good example of a company that uses infographics. Infographics are used to tell data stories through our research.

4. Participate in Social Media Groups

Join social media groups on various online platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Quora and Reddit to make connections with potential customers. These groups were created to help people share similar interests.

To be able to effectively market your business, you need to identify the right groups.

An inconsistency or lack of interaction is a sign that the group is not useful. A group that has regular interaction and is consistent in their postings would be great.

These group members are a blessing. They share their ideas, tools, and deals with each other, and create a community in the group “Social Media Marketers By SocialPilot”.

Use the 80/20 rule. Don’t be pushy. Engage in conversation. Talking to people is the best way to increase awareness and build credibility.

While many of you may be familiar with Edgerank Algorithm, did you know it also works for group posts? Your post will be automatically shown to more members of your group if it attracts more comments and reactions.

Tip: Don’t join groups to promote your product or services. There are people there to learn and share their knowledge. You can win by sharing your domain expertise.

5. Smartly build your social presence

It is important to manage your budget well when you have a limited budget. You should now have identified your target audience, and which social media platforms they use.

Why spend so much effort maintaining your presence on all platforms? Instead of trying to be everywhere, you should focus on mastering a few platforms.

Select the top 2 to 3 social media platforms where your target users are most active.

If your target audience is young people or college students, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok will work well for you. If you are trying to reach millennials, however, you should focus on Youtube and Twitter.

If your target audience is B2B organizations (CEOs, CEOs, CFOs), then LinkedIn would be the perfect platform for you. LinkedIn is the ideal platform to concentrate your efforts.

It can be difficult to be present on all social media platforms. We have a budget-friendly option!

SocialPilot allows you to manage all your social media posts on all major platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, GoogleMyBusiness. Instagram, TikTok. Youtube, Youtube, Pinterest, and Twitter. SocialPilot allows you to plan, create, and schedule posts, stories, and reels, and SocialPilot will automatically post when it is time. You can also analyze performance to increase engagement and convert more customers.

Start your 14-day trial

6. Your brand can be a SME

A Subject Matter Expert (SME), is someone who has extensive knowledge of the details involved in a job or completing a task.

This means that you won’t be promoting your products or services. As a brand, you will be marketing yourself.

Your clients and customers will trust your brand as an SME if you establish it. They will turn to you for guidance, advice, and expertise.

Imagine that you own a restaurant. Writing columns, articles or reviews for lifestyle magazines is one way to get started. You can also hold workshops at universities and colleges that are relevant to web design and development.

LinkedIn is the best way to build your business. Linkedin has evolved over the years to become a platform that allows people from all walks of life to share their professional insights and offer their perspectives.

Your brand will be more noticed if you share your knowledge and experience. This builds trust.

This strategy can be used in conjunction with your inbound marketing campaign to increase conversions.

What’s more?

You’ll eventually become an authority and an influencer within your niche.

7. Make Exclusive Offers on Social Media

It is only half the battle to build a loyal following on social media.

You must know how to convert your followers into customers in order to win the other half. One way to do this is by creating specific offers for your followers on social media.

Flash sales can be offered – this encourages followers to take immediate action. Also, you can create offers to encourage customers to purchase more products or yearly subscriptions.

These offers can be promoted via posts, Stories (for Facebook or Instagram), and ads.

Dominos is one of these brands that shares exclusive offers to its social followers. They know how to capitalize on people’s desire for pizza and save money.

If done correctly, social media marketing can drive continuous traffic to your site.

It is important to post relevant content regularly to win with it. Small businesses often avoid professional tools because they have a lower budget. Although you may have heard of Sendible and Hootsuite when it comes to managing social media, they are very expensive.

You can instead look into Sendible alternatives, which are more cost-effective and easier to use. While this may be a cost-saving move for them, it can also slow down growth by making employees less efficient.

Remember…

Your focus as a small business should be to grow quickly and provide creative solutions for your customers.

8. Organize Social Media Contests

A contest is another great way to market your social media. Your followers will have to take part in a contest, which for you means more engagement. These followers may recommend to their friends and coworkers to take part in the contest.

Make sure to use a catchy hashtag. Hashtags have a high recall value. Next, consider the type of contest you want to host. You can ask people to share their stories, contribute content, or even come up with funny answers.

It doesn’t matter what type of contest you have, the incentive that you provide your followers is crucial. This is why they will participate in your contest. You can offer discounts, coupons, or a chance for them to win your product/service.

Their giveaway contest is a great way to show your support for Kopari beauty, a coconut beauty brand. They held a contest to guess the product they would be releasing next.

9. Quora – Get your business on the platform

Quora is where people go to find solutions and suggestions. You might also find potential customers there. This platform can be used to not only identify the pain points of your customers but also to offer valuable solutions.

This will help you to build your personal brand and drive traffic towards your website.

Quora is used by many SMB owners to conduct industry research. Quora can also be used by you to find answers to questions such as:

• What are your target audiences looking for?
• Which problems might your customers be facing?

These questions should be answered authentically by your brand, while explaining the benefits of your product/service.

Watch the Drag App mentor answer relevant and popular questions on Quora to drive traffic to his blog.

Wrap it up!

Digital marketing is crucial for any business regardless of its size.

You don’t have to worry about how much money you have to spend on marketing campaigns featuring celebrity ads. These small-budget business marketing ideas will work for you.

It is important to make the most of your limited resources to implement the budget marketing strategies for small businesses.

Track which platform is most effective for your business as you try out these marketing strategies. When you have found the right place for your business’s marketing strategy, increase your budget.

SocialPilot’s first post, 9 Low-Budget Marketing Ideas to Help Businesses Grow Like Fire appeared on SocialPilot.