Many people go into business just so they have something doing. A large majority don't know what it takes to start a business. To some, it is a passion to own an establishment; to others, it is a means to make a profit.
Regardless of your reason to own a business one thing is important - Cash Flow. Cash flow is a statement of a transaction; the sum of cash revenues and expenditure over a certain period. This article aims to help business owners in planning, maximizing, and cutting down costs to maximize the flexibility of cash flow for business owners.
Marketing Strategy Definition
One of the ways in which business owners cut down on monthly expenses is to market their business on a budget. What is a marketing strategy? It is the practice or plan of action to put your product or service to the public for sale. This article is to mainly introduce low-cost marketing strategies, including displaying ads, SEO, social media marketing, email marketing, and so on, in comparison with high-cost strategies, such as influencer marketing, contests, giveaways, promotions, etc.
Avoid Over-Spending on These High-Cost Marketing Strategies
Currently, sales have slowed down as a result of the disorder in the production and manufacturing of goods. Thanks to the COVID-19, businesses are doing everything possible to reduce expenses and increase cash flow.
Fortunately, seasoned entrepreneurs have found a solution to avoiding high-cost marketing strategies. High-cost marketing strategies require intense market research and the high cost of advertisement may lead to an increment in the price of a product. Some engaged groups that have got to do with B2B marketing strategies may include:
Marketing scales: These are the measurement scales in surveys or experiment that is used as a tool to study the thoughts and feelings of some group of people.
Costs: This is the monetary value that has been used to produce, purchase, or deliver goods and services and is no more available for use.
Conversion rate: Conversation rate is the metric representing a visitor performing an estimated worth of something; value. It is the percentage of an action performed by a person.
To handle your small business effectively during COVID-19, the following high-cost marketing strategies should be avoided:
1. Influencer Marketing
This is a form of the social media marketing that involves the quality of endorsing and advertisement of products from influencers who are experts in their field. Influencers are usually well paid and for a small business, this is not helpful, to begin with.
2. Contests
This is a struggle for superiority; it is more like a business controversy. Being a small business owner, the struggle for superiority, by all means, tends to cost more and eventually lose focus on other important things.
3. Giveaways
These are products that are given away for free. This is an effective marketing strategy that can attract customers to a business. Although practicing this isn't a bad idea for small business owners, yet, it must be strictly controlled. Besides, giveaways are mostly done by big business owners. Practicing this as a small business owner may cause you to run at loss at some point.
4. Promotions
In marketing, promotion involves the advertising of a product, a firm, or taking a daring risk to increase sales or public awareness. Promotion involves a lot of risks which small businesses must avoid to lower cost.
The above mentioned are expensive methods of marketing which should be avoided else your business risks running at loss anytime.
Low-Cost Marketing Strategies That Work Great for Small Businesses
Small businesses are private establishments that have only a few employees. Small businesses range from fifteen employees under the Australian Fair Work Act 2009, fifty according to the definition used by the European Union and fewer than five hundred employees to qualify for the US Small Business Administration Program.
Small businesses are usually attributed to low budgets; this makes it critical for them to market their business at a lower cost. Engaged groups like marketing scales, costs, and conversion rates are needful in the promotion of your small business. Not all b2b marketing strategies are expensive. Below we will highlight some low-cost strategies for small businesses.
1. Displaying Ads
Displaying ads is a process of advertising your products in different forms online (apps, social media, websites, etc.) via audio, texts, graphics, etc. This strategy helps to create awareness to the public about your product or service at a low cost. It is an ideal method of marketing that will benefit small businesses.
2. SEO (On-Page SEO & Off-Page SEO)
SEO – Search Engine Optimization is a common inexpensive marketing strategy that optimizes individual web pages to help rank higher with search engines. Both On-page SEO and Off-page SEO are crucial to attracting visitors to your site. While On-site SEO happens within the site, Off-page SEO done outside your website. Using this strategy is a cost-effective way to promote small, medium, and large businesses.
3. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is one of the cheapest forms of marketing. Through social media, a business can connect to any part of the world, linking you and millions of audiences in the quest to promote your brand, build clientele, and increase sales. It is a low-cost method of marketing that small businesses should adopt. Social media is particularly effective during the pandemic as millions of people all over the world use social websites to ward off boredom.
4. Email Marketing
Email marketing strategy helps to solidify the relationship with influential customers at a low cost. Sending emails has been in existence for donkey years and it's still as effective. The pandemic has given a lot of people the time to read through their emails. Using email marketing will benefit small businesses in the long run; it will connect with your audience for brand promotions and sales increments and also maintain a relationship between you and them. Note that your content must be creative and catchy.
10 Ways to Market Your Small Business
Although there are so many ways to market your small business, this article has the best ways listed below:
1. Create a brand slogan
2. Create an Email Marketing Technique
3. Master the SEO basis
4. Create a blog
5. Create videos to display your brand
6. Set your targets
7. Engage in online contests
8. Forum posting and commenting
9. Nurse your faithful clients
10. Supervise and review
Conclusion
A growing business is a function of increasing your revenue and reducing expenses. To be successful in your small business, learn to cut down on your marketing costs. Follow these tips and see how much you'll save during the pandemic and beyond. Remember, it doesn't cost much to reach out to people.
