Marketing on a Shoestring Budget
Marketing on a shoestring budget isn’t as hard as it sounds. I’m going to show you three things that are essential for success.
• Attract the right people for your services or products
• Get the most from your limited marketing budget
• Increase your client/customer list of registered users.
Increasing traffic to your website is important. But attracting the visitors who are looking for your particular services or products is critical. These are the people who can benefit most from what you have to offer; they will listen to you, take your advice and come back for more. How do you attract these visitors to your site on a limited budget? Begin with the people who trust you.
Attracting the right people for your services or products
Word of Mouth and Social Media
Trust is exactly what we all look for in any product or service. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth. Your friends and family know you! They trust you! That plus your genuine enthusiasm and belief in your service is the single most influential resource you have. You’ve spent years earning that trust. Now is the time to use it, not just for you, but for your friends and their friends. It’s amazing how often this incredible resource is left untapped.
Spread the word in person and though all your social media, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram inviting them to share helpful information from your site
Ask if you can send them sample emails to help you debug the process. They will likely tell you a lot more really valuable information because we all like to share our opinions when asked
Offer free help with a service or product
Business to Business Influencers
Your clients are the next most valuable resource because their success is also your success. How often are you asked? Do you know a good acupuncturist, dentist, massage therapist, hairdresser, web developer?
Recommend your clients and customers through word of mouth, emails, social media
Ask your clients for testimonials to post on your website
Offer your clients free products and services occasionally in recognition of their loyalty. They will appreciate it and likely tell others
Exchange links from each other’s websites.
Both ways it’s free advertising from reliable sources. By helping your clients succeed you are creating advocates for your business.
The secret to success? Fail Fast - Learn Fast.
Your first 50-100 clients are your best teachers. Fail fast and learn fast from them. Get to know them by phone or in person. Ask them about their business, their interests, their favorite foods and books, what kinds of blogs and websites they visit most often, as well as how they found you in the first place. And document! When you have a profile of your typical client/customer you will know where to advertise and focus your efforts to attract the 100 or more like them. Your first 100 registered users can quickly turn to a 1000.
As you are increasing your client/customer base, make sure you monitor every marketing campaign you do very closely as well as every new tweak you make to your website. A recent study showed that even a change of color on an action button can increase response by as much as 60%. Track which free articles get the most downloads and write more of them, the same goes for free products and services and email campaigns.
Set monthly goals with realistic numbers within certain time periods and measure your progress - every month. Track what works and what doesn’t. Learn which Search Engine Optimization (CEO) works best for your business. It’s your fastest way to increasing your client/customer base. I’m almost finished my article on SEO and How it Works. It’s worth checking out and can save you time and money. I’m just waiting for a few more updates from Google before I post it and it’s yours for free.
Get the most from your limited marketing budget
Let’s assume you don’t have a client list. If you are like most entrepreneurs starting out, the first thing you are likely to think of is some kind of advertising. But which is best for you? Banner ads may be easy and inexpensive but they’re quickly losing favor as more and more people are finding ways to block them. That being said, the number of internet users has grown from millions to billions over the past twenty years. So banner ads may still have their place. But don’t rely on them. You may decide that your money is better spent hiring a writer to produce quality content for your your email campaigns, articles and promotions; content that is yours to keep, use and distribute with no cut off date. Search engines scour the internet for content with more than 500 words. Building your content can dramatically increase traffic to your site and build your reputation as a professional resource to track, recommend and share.
Email marketing is still the most effective marketing strategy- but beware!
Email marketing is still the most effective marketing strategy for selling your services or products IF your list is a list of people in your niche and IF you have permission to send them a message. If you don’t, beware, spam catchers are crawling all over the internet searching for unauthorized email messages. If you are caught, you could be put on a spam list and none of your future campaigns will reach your potential clients or customers. Licensed lists are fine, but is it a wise investment to purchase or lease a targeted list? There’s a lot to consider, especially in light of the latest algorithms using cluster technology to evaluate the intent of the inquirer to filter out location, branding, user profiles and more.
Having said that, if you have a list of your own subscribers your email message is still the most effective and least expensive marketing strategy. But there’s a lot to,consider. Your subject line and how it displays across all devices and doesn’t have too many characters, the appearance of the message has to instantly grab your readers attention. These days, HTML email is a must. Once people open your message and people click to your special offer page you have only seconds to get them to the purchase page. More than three clicks with no payoff and they’re off clicking to somewhere else. I can help you with all of your email campaigns, just send me a message.
Increase your client/customer list of registered users.
Attracting a strong and loyal customer base is a matter of life or death for your business. You have information people are looking for. Use it!
Share Your Knowledge and Experience
Your knowledge and experience is valuable. A few short articles; starting and running a small business, knowledge about a hobby, helpful hints and resources you’ve discovered can help others. Share it!
On every page have a form or link inviting your visitors to register and download your articles. Make them at least 500 words and search engines will find them. If you have several articles, include within each article, links to the others where appropriate. Don’t advertise your services or products within the article, but do include a short bio at the end of your article--and this is the most important part--a link to that page on your site. The information you gather will give you a profile of your subscribers and create a client list of registered users - one of the most valuable resources you have.
Your articles are valuable to your clients businesses as well as thousands of others. Invite as many as you can to help them build their own client/customer base as you build yours. Spread those articles far and wide through all of your social media channels. And personalize everything. Make YouTube videos to introduce yourself, share skills and learn. YouTube is one of the fastest growing untapped marketing resources on the web. Use it.
Find a web-site developer that’s a good fit for you
The bottom line for any website is to make sure that every every page on your website provides something your prospective clients or customers need now or later. But not all web developers are equal. Find a web-site developer that’s a good fit for you; one that understands how to set up your site to function the way you want. When you know the right questions to ask, you will be better equipped to find the right person for you. Take a look at my article. Questions to Ask a Web Developer . At the very least it will help you focus on what to look for in the web developer that best fits your vision and goals for your website.
And be ready for surprise opportunities; they happen when you least expect them.
