Our Top 3 Cost Effective Marketing Tools
Marketing your business can be expensive. But it doesn’t have to be, especially if you take advantage of these three cost-effective marketing tools.
1. Website
If there is one marketing tool your business can’t afford to do without, it’s a website. When you want more information on a company, product or service, where do you turn? Odds are, you let your fingers do the investigating and look to your most trusted search engine. The results you find, or don’t find, have the power to shape your buying decisions.
But simply having a website is not enough to win over potential customers. Your website should clearly relay everything you want to be known about your business. Who do you serve, what’s your purpose, how long have you been an expert in your field, where are you located, why do you do what you do? Aside from content, your website should be professional, easy to read and clearly communicate your brand and culture.
A nice website doesn’t have to be expensive. Many website creation platforms (our favorites for ease of use and affordability are Wix and Weebly) offer customizable templates that are oftentimes free. Since your website is an integral component to your business’s visibility, we recommend investing a good portion of your marketing budget in this area.
2. Social Media
Maybe your website is in good shape. But how do you engage with potential customers once they leave your site? Coming in at number two in our countdown is social media, a great tool to create buzz for your business, interact with customers, quickly share information with your followers and stay on top of industry trends. Make sure your social media content is concise and reflects the tone of your business. Regardless of the platform, always include a high-quality image along with your posts.
At a minimum, your business should have a Facebook business account, as it is the most widely used social networking platform. Most businesses take advantage of more than one platform, but that decision is based on your marketing objectives, target audience and the content you plan on sharing.
As you may know, social media is free to use. However, your business may benefit from allocating a social media advertising budget. Whether you’re looking to increase your number of followers, sell tickets to an event or promote your lunch special, advertising on social media can help you reach your marketing goals at an affordable price.
3. Newsletters
Sending out regular newsletters is a great strategy to keep customers informed of business news, events, promotions, holiday specials and employee spotlights. Keep your newsletter content short and concise and use high-quality images throughout, only including information that your audience will benefit from.
With recipients reading an email for only 15 to 20 seconds (according to Marketing Sherpa) more important than ever to be strategic and purposeful with your messaging. If an article is lengthy, only include the first 100-150 words, end on an intriguing note, and provide a link to read the full article on your website.
Most email marketing platforms (our favorite is Constant Contact) are affordable and offer a variety of free and inexpensive templates to pick from. You can also create your own templates for free. Additional discounts are often available for nonprofit organizations.