Learn how to get more out of your marketing budget with less
Are you a small business owner looking for ways to make your marketing budget go further? If so, you’re not alone.
As a small business, it’s essential to get the most out of every penny you spend on marketing. With rising costs and inflation, it can be tempting to cut your marketing budget—but doing so without understanding the consequences could spell disaster for your business.
But don’t worry—there are plenty of ways to make your small business marketing budget go further.
In this blog post, we'll explore seven different tactics that you can use to leverage more bang for your hard-earned buck when it comes time to market your business.
Here are some general ways you can save costs across your business:
1. Cancel subscriptions and downgrade to free marketing subscriptions
With hundreds of marketing apps available at our disposal, this is a hugely competitive market where trials and subscriptions are always available. Review your paid subscriptions for marketing activities and see if there are free services that can provide the same value. You might be able to get away with one or two free options instead of paying for all of them.
2. Tap into government grants
There are many government grants available that help small businesses cover their marketing expenses. Look into what grants might be available in your area and apply for them to give yourself a financial boost when it comes to funding your marketing efforts. Clients of mine have had research, website development, and marketing consultancy part funded. There are numerous schemes available at a local level as well as on a national level. Some popular ones include Help To Grow Digital, Business Boost Competition, South East Business Boost
3. Identify new revenue sources
Consider new and creative ways to generate revenue that also supports your overall sales goals. For instance, if you're selling products online, look into other channels like Amazon or eBay where you can increase sales volume while lowering total costs associated with traditional retail outlets. You could also explore adding affiliate links to your blog or website or creating and selling resources if you have a high-traffic generating website.
If relevant to your business, consider developing new profitable products through earning passive income. This may involve writing a book, creating an app, an online course, or producing merchandise.
Before you leap into any of these ideas, it is important to look at the costs involved and develop a full plan of how you will promote these and what your sales projections could be. Be aware, all of these options will require investment as far as time and money.
4. Seek sponsorship
Approach local and relevant businesses and ask if they would be willing to sponsor one of your campaigns or events in exchange for promotional opportunities or discounts from you in return. This is an excellent way to get more exposure for less money.
5. Seek partner collaborations
Collaborate with other companies who specialise in related products or services and promote each other's products through joint efforts such as co-branded campaigns, cross-promotions, etc. This helps spread the cost between both parties while allowing both sides to benefit from additional exposure and promotion opportunities at a fraction of the cost had they gone solo.
6. Cut traditional advertising and PPC and leverage referrals, word of mouth, social media, and SEO
Although I'm an advocate of advertising if you need to watch your pennies at the moment, pool your marketing efforts into social media and SEO as well as leverage more traditional methods like word of mouth and referrals. All of these will require work though. You may also need to retrain and upskill staff so they have the right skills to manage this. Hubspot offers some excellent free webinars on SEO as does Google Garage.
7. Use marketing automation
Investing in a marketing automation platform eliminates manual processes associated with customer segmentation, email list management, and customer onboarding tasks; ultimately freeing up time that could be spent on higher-value projects. According to Nucleus Research, on average businesses recover the cost of their initial investment in marketing automation in under six months. Marketing automation is proven to lead to increased sales productivity, increased campaign efficiency, better prospect engagement, and cost savings. So there is no question the business case is there.
Ensure you achieve big results for less
By following these tips, you can make the most out of every pound spent on your small business's marketing efforts while still achieving big results.
Ultimately, the most important thing is that your business gets the results it needs to remain profitable and grow. You don't have to fork out expensive marketing campaigns or reach a massive customer base to be successful, but budgeting effectively will ensure you maximize ROI.
With the right approach and strategy, you can get the most out of your budget and stay on track for success.
If you have any questions about how to revamp your small business's marketing budget and prioritise projects, please contact natsharp@sharpthinkingmarketing.co.uk now.
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