No matter the type of business you are, one of the most important things is landing new customers and clients. One of the best ways to do this is to market your products and services. This gets them in front of your potential customers, and shows them why they are a good choice.
Unfortunately, marketing can be an expensive endeavor at times. In fact, companies often spend around 7 to 8% of their revenues on marketing. Naturally, this can vary from company to company and industry to industry.
However, would you believe us if we told you there are ways to attract customers and clients without spending a penny and various inexpensive ways to market your small business? Well, it’s true, and this article is going to take a closer look at some creative ways to land clients and customers without a massive marketing budget.
Utilize Social Media
Used by billions of people across the planet, social media is one of the best ways to reach out to an unbelievably large audience without spending a thing. While there are certainly social media marketing strategies that can cost money, you are perfectly capable of implementing a strategy that won’t cost you a cent.
Social media is the perfect place for videos, photos, infographics and links to blog posts or content. It is also very easy to do research on social media to monitor what people are saying about your brand or industry. You can also learn what their interests are to better suit your product, service or messaging.
However, refrain from being too salesy. You want to make sure you still engage with your audience and answer questions instead of simply blasting out marketing materials. Whatever type of posting you do on social media, make sure that it always has your brand in mind. The more consistent your brand messaging and posting style is, the better.
Consider Working With Influencers
Influencer marketing is currently one of the hottest trends in the industry. People often make their purchasing decisions based on the words or writings of these influencers. If you can find some quality (and industry-relevant) influencers to share their thoughts on your product, it could be a gold mine. While some won’t work for free products, there is a good chance you will be able to find some influencers who will gladly accept your product for free and then write a review or film a video on it.
There are several examples of companies who have used this approach to influencer marketing and achieved success. Of course, make sure the blogger or Youtuber actually tries out the product. Providing freebies for false reviews will only hurt you in the end once actual customers get their hands on the products.
Guest Post and Build Backlinks
Getting backlinks and making guest posts is another great way to attract new customers. A backlink is essentially when a website (preferably one with a lot of authority in your space) provides a link on their site back to yours.
Of course, these companies won’t do it for free. These links are valuable and they know that. If you don’t have the money to pay them, consider making a guest post. This is essentially providing a piece of content that they will post on their site. These will normally come complete with a link back to your site or content, which could lead to an influx of new customers.
It helps both sides as they get content for your site, and you get to reach new potential customers in your industry. Make sure that any guest post that you make provides value to the readers of the site you are posting on. No good authority in your industry will post a piece that won’t educate, entertain or inform their readers.
Give Customers a Reason to Share Your Product or Service
Having customers share your products with their friends or family members is a great way to organically reach more people. While some customers will simply share your product or service if they like it, this will generally be a fairly small amount.
If you want to bump up those numbers, give customers a reason to share. Offering some sort of a discount of incentive to customers who share will certainly lead to more people learning about what your company has to offer.
A good example of this is how Dropbox offers additional storage space to those who invite their friends. This marketing strategy can work for companies big and small, and can make your customers feel more involved in the overall process, as well.
In conclusion, the information in this article should help you discover some creative ways to land clients with a limited or non-existent marketing budget.
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