No matter how much passion you have for your startup, money will always be one of the most important factors in your success. To properly pay your employees, cover rent, market your business and more, you’ll need a steady cash flow.
Unfortunately, sales can fluctuate—and when budgets are tight, marketing efforts are often among the first expenses to be cut. To ensure you don’t neglect your promotional efforts because of monetary concerns, follow these budget-friendly marketing methods from the experts of Forbes Agency Council.
Members of Forbes Agency Council discuss budget-friendly marketing methods for small businesses.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Try Paid Search
If you’re entering an established industry, you’re going to have opportunities that are lower-funnel. Be smarter and more proficient at paid search than your competitors, and then build your way back up the funnel from there once you have established revenues. But absolutely maximize all of the low-hanging fruit via a strong paid search campaign. – Michael Hubbard, Media Two Interactive
2. Incorporate Instagram
An engaged Instagram following kills several birds with one stone. It attracts new clients, can help gain the attention of media outlets, creates brand awareness and builds trust with consumers. Invest in ads, influencer partnerships and a competent social media manager. – Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR
3. Develop Your Brand
It’s obvious for startups to use their precious capital toward their new product and then set aside a portion for new customer marketing, but you should also invest in your brand story, identity and messaging. Starting with good branding supports both product design and new customer acquisition. A small initial investment to get the brand right from the start will keep you from having to redo it all later. – Kris Flint, Citizen Best
4. Start With Your Website
Often, when we start a business, we waste loads of money on things that aren’t directly used to generate revenue. If you’re an agency, you will need a website for sure. Beyond that you might want to invest in a few outreach tools, but not too much else. Focus on getting into the black and staying there! – JC Hite, Hite Digital
5. Use Strategic Email Marketing
I’m a big proponent of email marketing, and at OMI, it’s central to our business model. The reason it makes sense for businesses with a tight budget is simple: The return on investment is incredibly high relative to other marketing channels, at 4400% and $44 for every dollar spent. Additionally, if you take a strategic approach to your email data over time, the return on investment (ROI) will increase even further. – Paula Chiocchi, Outward Media, Inc.
6. Generate Thought Leadership
Often, in business-to-business markets, companies look to individuals to help guide them in a product- or services-based industry. I can tell you firsthand that the best leads for most of my companies are generated through my thought leadership. While this shouldn’t be the sole focus of our marketing, I often encourage business leaders to invest in themselves as a way to market their business. – Kristopher Jones, LSEO
7. Leverage User-Generated Content
If your brand is working with a tight budget, it’s more important than ever to leverage your consumers as an extension of your marketing team. This is the answer to never having to choose between time, quality and cost. Not only is user-generated content easier to scale and optimized for social, but it’s also produced at a fraction of the cost that traditional channels are capable of. – David Shadpour, Social Native
8. Connect On LinkedIn
With Sales Navigator and some strategic targeting, you can build meaningful connections on LinkedIn with your target audience. First, develop the connection, then wait about a month and begin a friendly followup conversation. Don’t hard pitch—be conversational and take a legitimate interest in what the other person is focusing on. Repeat this several times, and you’ll build new business. – Raoul Davis, The Ascendant Group
9. Invest In Paid Social Media
A paid social media program, focused on the right channels, will deliver the best traction and short-term growth for most startup businesses. The other major benefit is that paid social media serves as a platform for real-time testing of messaging, creative and targeting. You can quickly see certain messages resonate with certain subsegments, allowing you to adjust and focus budget to drive ROI. – Elissa Liu, Influential Executive
10. Study SEO
Always start with the foundation of your brand. Your website and search engine optimization are those foundations. These are long-term investments that will bring a large return if done right but that do, in fact, take time to develop and grow. A good friend once told me, “Cheap is expensive.” – Chuck Kim, Executive Digital
11. Create Informative Content
Whoever is starting the business has knowledge. They need to make that knowledge into checklists, guides, how-to articles or general informative pieces. These can then be marketed on their website, on social and for search engine purposes. It does take time to write, but it is free if you do it yourself. – Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design
12. Market On YouTube And Facebook
For small marketing budgets, there are two methods I would suggest considering: YouTube Marketing and Facebook Marketing. Both offer a better bang for your buck and are scalable. You can also leverage remarketing on both platforms, which will serve you better in the long run. – Bernard May, National Positions
13. Optimize Programs That Help You Reach Your Lowest-Hanging Fruit
Often, a startup’s biggest marketing challenge is top-of-funnel education as they are launching a new solution or product no one has heard of before. Take time to look back at what marketing programs are having the most success in driving leads for you, and consider that your lowest-hanging fruit. Focus on optimizing those programs before launching new ones. – Lori Paikin, NaviStone®
14. Go Wherever Your Target Market Is
The best growth channels for marketing a business with a tight budget tend to be the least utilized. Search for the places online that your target market frequents and test ways of conveying your value proposition to them. When Airbnb first started, for example, they grew rapidly by building technology to post all of their new listings to the CraigsList housing section for free. – Adam Guild, Placepull
15. Craft A Campaign That Will Get The Most Impact For Your Product
The method of marketing you pick will depend on what you’re selling and who you’re selling it to. Social is great if your product drives loyalty and engagement but falls short when people only seek you out when they have a problem. If your product has a low barrier to purchase, conversion-driven pay-per-click is the way to go. If your company is newsworthy, develop a public relations campaign that drives press mentions. – Benjamin Collins, Laughing Samurai