Marketing is an essential part of running a business. Whether it’s already established or just starting out, a business needs to be marketed to attract customers and retain old ones who sustain its growth.
Most start-ups, however, don’t have the budget to spend on expensive marketing campaigns. Fortunately, the internet has created many platforms and opportunities for new businesses to reach their target audience and market themselves without spending too much.
If you’re the owner of a start-up company, you may want to consider these low-cost marketing ideas to put your business out there and attract customers.
Publish Great Content
As a business, you want to establish your authority in the field to raise awareness of your brand and attract people. Nothing is more effective in doing that than creating and publishing great content.
As “the most effective digital marketing technique” in 2018 for good reasons, content marketing is 62 percent more affordable than other digital marketing strategies are while generating thrice as many leads.
Content marketing creates avenues for businesses to reach and interact with customers, establish their reputation in their fields, and generate traffic to their websites. Content also comes in many forms, from blog articles and infographics to photos and videos. As such is the case, you’ll never run out of things to do.
Build Social Media Presence
Social media is an inseparable part of daily life. Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes a day on social media. With this knowledge, how can companies pass up the chance to leverage social media platforms to market themselves?
While some marketing services on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter are paid, using the platforms themselves is free. Plus, these platforms also offer affordable advertising services to businesses.
If you’re running an online store, social media can help you reach millions of people with a few clicks and posts and propel your business to the limelight. Going viral on one of these platforms at least once can also open a door of opportunities for your company.
Getting into social media marketing? Check out these social media marketing tools you can use for free.
Create User-Generated Content (UGC)
As you know, creating content is vital to raise awareness of your brand, but this doesn’t mean that content has to come from you all the time. User-generated content is any material (e.g., photos, videos, reviews, and social media posts) created by customers, and it’s tremendously effective at reeling in people.
The best thing about user-generated content is that it shows actual people using these products or services, enticing others to try them too. UGC also puts the focus on the customers and brings people together. Unlike the content created by marketers, people see UGCs as authentic and unfiltered, which means they are more likely to believe in them.
That said, here are some strategies you can use to create UGCs:
- Start a customer poll or survey.
- Use hashtags for your products.
- Organize social media contests.
- Delve into customer stories.
- Interview experts in your field.
- Ask influencers to try your products.
According to a recent study, 92 percent of consumers will believe a recommendation from other people over a piece of content made by a marketer. Many people simply don’t have trust in marketers, but they trust fellow customers.
Invest in Customized Packaging
Packaging creates consumers’ first impression of a product, which means businesses should put more thought into designing their product packaging. This also means that packaging is a valuable tool for marketing and increasing sales.
According to the findings of the 2013 study published in Psychology & Marketing, attractive packages “activated regions associated with reward, whereas unattractive packages activated regions associated with negative emotions.”
This shows how important it is to choose the right design for your product packaging and to invest in customized packaging. Using Customized Packaging also helps businesses cut down on shipping, return, and damage costs.
Improve Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing is used by businesses for many years because it’s affordable and effective. Although old email marketing strategies don’t work as well now as they used to, there are new ones that just as effective at collecting leads and turning them into sales.
If you want to get more positive results, invest in improving your email marketing campaigns. Entice customers to create an account on your website and subscribe to your email newsletter. Incentivize customers by giving them exclusive promo codes, discounts, gifts, and notifications about deals and sales via email.
Provide relevant content that includes helpful information about your field and your products to engage customers.
Solicit reviews and feedback on your products or services, and offer rewards to customers to do so. Build stronger relationships with your loyal customers by sending personalized thank-you emails.
