If your business is just starting out, or if you’re looking to expand your marketing efforts, you may be looking for low cost marketing ideas. While it is important to do the work to understand your audience so you can tailor your marketing efforts, there are some things you can do in the meantime to expand your reach and build more awareness.
I’ve compiled a detailed list of ideas below, but keep in mind that not all of these items will apply to every business. For example, some businesses such as those without a brick-and-mortar location may not benefit from local-specific marketing.
1. Google Business Profile Optimization
Your Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) is your business’ listing on search results and map pages, and it contains a variety of features to help customers find your business and interact with it on the go. Ensure your listing is completely filled in with all relevant information such as business contact information, short description of what you do, photos of your business and products, and any common FAQs.
Optimizing your profile not only makes it easy for prospects to find info about your business quickly and easily, but it helps with your website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as well.
Click here to learn how to claim and optimize your Google Business Profile.
2. Leverage Google Reviews
Today’s consumers typically seek out reviews of a business before they decide to invest in their products or services, and Google Reviews are a free, quick, and easy way to start. By collecting reviews through Google, you’re not only helping new customers understand what to expect from your business, but you’ll be improving the strength of your overall SEO. Reviews tell search engines that your business is legitimate and understands its buyers, yielding more impressions for your website within search results.
3. Email Marketing
Collecting subscribers to an email list is a high-value marketing tactic because it’s just about the only asset you fully own. Social media followers, for example, are technically owned by the platform, so if that platform goes away so do your followers. Email lists are something you can collect and save offline, becoming a reliable prospect database for your business.
Email marketing can be performed in a few ways.
Probably the most simple is to start with a regular general communication email (some still do newsletters) where you send out the latest updates about your business on a regular schedule. This email could include new products, ideas on how to best use your product or service, or a compilation of your latest blogs or resources.
Email marketing can also be tied to behavioral triggers within your prospects’ buying journey. Create a string of emails that are automated from a specific trigger to help your prospect along their path to purchase. For example, if you have a downloadable asset on your website that’s hidden behind a lead form, your follow-up emails to them could contain further information expanding on the asset they’ve downloaded. Add any lead form submissions to an automated workflow to execute this passively.
A mini email course with 3-5 lessons delivered automatically on a schedule is a great way to add value to your prospects’ experience with your business. If you have a product or service that has common questions from potential buyers, consider answering them in a mini email course complete with links to other helpful resources.
Email marketing can be highly valuable for any type of business and can be implemented in a variety of ways. The value is that it keeps your business top-of-mind and treats your subscribers like VIPs, so be sure to keep some content exclusive to your subscribers.
If you’re just starting out, my recommendation is to use MailChimp to manage your campaigns. It’s easy to use and cost effective.
4. Publish Articles on Medium, LinkedIn, or SubStack
Save some of your blog-style content for third-party platforms. Platforms such as Medium, LinkedIn, and SubStack are great places to build your reputation for knowledge in your industry, as well as contributing to your SEO success through valuable backlinks to your website.
This type of content can also be repurposed into a series of social media posts to amplify your voice and diversify your content.
In addition to publishing fresh content, set some time aside to contribute via comments on others’ content as well. Along with the above-noted platforms, you can also find plenty of discussions on sites like Reddit and Quora.
5. Demonstration & Expertise Videos
If you have a product or service that your customers could benefit from even more after purchase, or if prospects encounter barriers to buying, consider creating videos for social media or YouTube to help improve their experience with your business.
For example, if you’re a home builder, create videos to help homeowners understand basic maintenance like draining their hot water tank or cleaning an HRV. Or, if you want to remove barriers to purchase, create a video on how to qualify for a mortgage or list allowable sources of down payment funds.
As another example, if your customers or prospects have common questions about your product or service, consider making an FAQ video with visual demonstrations where needed.
Step-by-step instructions on how to use a product or put it together are also valuable pieces of content.
This type of content helps with both your buyer journey and customer journey mapping, providing a more efficient path to purchase and customer satisfaction.
6. Lead Magnet Content
Generating quality leads can be more challenging today as consumers want less and less to be sold to. However, prospects will still provide their contact information if they receive super high-value content in exchange.
Content such as checklists, e-books/whitepapers, and how-to guides are examples of high-value content you can use to generate new leads for your business.
With the sheer volume of content available on the Internet today, the content you create for lead magnets needs to be unique and impactful. The best way to approach it is to understand the pain points your prospects and customers face, and provide highly detailed solutions. It needs to be worthy of them providing their contact information to obtain it.
But don’t stop there. Once your prospect has filled out your lead form and obtained the download you’ve promised, take your efforts one step further with lead nurturing. Give the prospect more of what they need, and set your business up for success by handling the lead properly in your internal systems.
7. Analyze Your Website
This one might seem super obvious, but it never hurts to take a deep dive into your website structure, content, and lead generating opportunities. I recommend doing this at least every three years, sooner if your growth is shifting (either slowing or speeding up).
Here is a list of things you can do to analyze your website:
- Consider asking staff and past customers their opinions on how your website functions and if they are able to find information quickly and easily.
- Test all forms, links, and downloadables.
- Look for opportunities to internally link pages where content references other content within your website (helps with SEO and usability).
- Assess if any important information is missing, such as new products or services, or change in staff on About pages.
- Consider your ideal buyer’s pain points and assess if your content provides the information they need to make a decision. Add content accordingly.
- Test the site on various devices to ensure it is easy to use (and works) everywhere. Put emphasis on smartphone devices.
- Look for opportunities to add high-value content such as lead magnets, online tools, or video content to help your buyers along their journey.
- Assess if the navigational structure is at its most efficient. The easier it is to access content the better. Stick to less than 3 clicks to get to any target page within the site.
- Use a free tool such as GTMetrix or Google PageSpeed to test your website’s performance. Slow pages can negatively affect conversions and SEO.
- Ensure you have impactful calls-to-action throughout the site where appropriate. Don’t overload the site with buttons, make sure they make sense.
- Look through your Google Analytics and Google Search Console reports for traffic anomalies or keyword opportunities. Check your traffic sources to see if there are opportunities to improve where your visitors are coming from.
- Consider hiring out professional copywriting for your website to ensure your content is highly targeted.
This list isn’t exhaustive by any means, but gives you some immediate actions you can take to improve your website today.
8. Step Up Your Social Media
If you’re already posting regularly on social media, fantastic! There are things you can do to elevate your online presence even if you’re already posting on a schedule. Of course, your time is valuable and social media can be a time consuming task, so do what you can.
Here are some ideas to improve your connection and engagement with your audience on social media:
- If you find your engagement is status quo and your followers aren’t growing, increase your posting frequency by 20%, or look into your analytics to see if you need to adjust the day/time you’re posting.
- Improve the diversity of post types. If you mainly post images, start creating a few videos or carousel posts. Add to your stories & reels.
- Start adding live streams to showcase how-tos for your products, behind the scenes in your business, host live Q&A sessions, or fun ways to show who you are as a business.
- Repurpose existing content such as blogs and videos, breaking down larger topics into smaller sections to make multiple posts.
- Add polls or AMAs (Ask Me Anything) to increase engagement.
- Plan and host a major social media campaign that concentrates engagement into a specific time period. This could be a contest, a themed challenge, a poll bracket*, or a giveaway**.
Most importantly, be sure to go back and engage with your audience by replying to their comments, answering their messages, and generally being present. There is nothing worse than trying to engage with a brand on their socials only to be ghosted.
*A poll bracket consists of daily voting leading to a final “winner”.
**I’m not particularly fond of giveaways because they generate followers who just want free things and won’t be invested in your business long-term. However, they work for some businesses so assess if this is right for you.
9. Host a Workshop or Webinar
Educational events are still hugely popular, especially when they’re held online. If you have valuable information to share about your products or services, hosting a webinar or an in-person workshop is a great way to engage with your ideal buyers and earn trust with your audience.
These events are also valuable to your audience through mutual connection. When they meet other potential buyers with similar questions that you can answer for everyone, they feel supported as well. A positive experience with your business breaks the barriers to purchase.
The bonus to hosting an event such as this is it is also a lead magnet. You’ll capture leads that will definitely be warmer after your event than before.
10. Enhance Your Existing Customer Experience
Your buyer has gone through with a purchase, but that shouldn’t mean your relationship with them is over. The cost per acquisition for a brand new lead is typically five times higher than that of an existing customer. If your business sells a product or service that can be purchased more than once by the same buyer, it is worth investing in a post-purchase experience for your customers.
There are several ways you can accomplish this. Here are some ideas:
- Step-by-step instructions/checklist to use your product or service better.
- Series of videos that expand on how to best use what they’ve purchased. Include warranty information if applicable.
- Offer loyalty programs or discounts for future purchases.
- Track important data in your internal systems so customer service already knows what they bought and when. This makes future communication more positive and helps with service requests.
- Offer unexpected upgrades. Reserve this one for your top buyers.
- Personalized email follow-ups with helpful information pertinent to their purchase. If applicable, include recommendations for next steps based on their purchase.
- Send unexpected gifts on milestone dates*.
Making your existing buyers feel like VIPs is more likely to bring them back.
*A great example of this is how Chewy (an online pet supply shop) sends personalized birthday cards to your pets, along with a QR code with a discount for their birthday shop.
11. Publish Press Releases
If your business has anything newsworthy, such as a company expansion, a new product launch, events related to a cause, receiving an award, or a unique manufacturing process, publishing a press release can yield free publicity. Press releases are typically one-pagers that contain a catchy headline, the dateline information, a few paragraphs with the details, your contact information, and most importantly, some quick quotes that journalists can use in their stories.
12. Host a Low-Cost Community Event
Hosting an event for your local community doesn’t have to be expensive, but it’s a great way to connect with your audience and have fun doing it.
A great example of this was done by a coffee shop I used to frequent. Every summer they’d host a treasure hunt of sorts, asking participants to look in the area around their shop for a specific item (in one case it was a painted rock). The prize was free coffee for a month, but it brought out a sizable crowd and their families, and it was a fun, positive experience with the business. It cost them nearly nothing outside of a little paint, a sandwich board outside their door, and time to post about it on social media. But it kept their business top-of-mind for their audience, and sold a lot of coffee since their customers were already there.
13. Create a Targeted Content Strategy
This one takes some research and a strong understanding of your target audience. A content strategy that is tailored to each one of your buyer personas is a highly valuable way to connect and engage with your audience, build trust and loyalty, and turn prospects into buyers.
Content doesn’t need to be perfectly produced to be effective. Raw, real videos can be more powerful than professionally produced ones because they can be more relatable to your audience. Impromptu posts about a topic that addresses pain points in your audience will land well if you’re being helpful and non-committal.
Having a defined content strategy, however, ensures all your content, raw and otherwise, sends the same consistent message to the type of personas you’re targeting. Diversifying the type of content, from social media posts to high-value downloadables, also helps keep prospects engaged and your business top-of-mind.
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These are just some ideas to get you started with low-cost, high-value marketing for your business. Finding ways to connect with your prospects, earn trust, and provide helpful information about your products or services will lead to reliable, ongoing growth for your business.
