Cheap marketing strategies for small business that really work. Times are tough and labor is short so use low-cost easy ways to new customers
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Table of contents
- What marketing is best for small business?
- Find a balance between cost and effort
- #1 The newsletter approach
- #2 Updating your website
- #3 Use SMS messaging and have a fixed inbound number
- #4 In-house trade meetings
- #5 Social media however only one
- #6 Trades journal listing
- #7 Nurture your top 20% of customers
- #8 The 1% rule of increase
- Conclusion
- #9 Bonus suggestion
What marketing is best for small business?
Of course, this will vary between industries so you need to pick five methods and see what works the best.
This is based on the old marketing rule that people will only buy if they see you at least 5 times. Therefore give them no excuses.
Find a balance between cost and effort
Let's face it all marketing is good however some of it takes a heck of an amount of time to keep it functioning.
However, if you are not consistent you will gradually fall foul to your followers.
#1 The newsletter approach
When this is done regularly and consists of good material it is an ideal touch approach that brings regular long-term business.
Writing a Newsletter may take an hour however it can be passed off to others to do.
Simply write 25 headlines about interesting things around your business and you are set up for a year of writing.
Always have a small call to action for those that want to contact you now.
Your background stats will give you an idea of acceptance so that you can make changes as you go.
#2 Updating your website
This simple operation is ignored by most businesses because it works so why make changes?
The answer is that Google likes change and they favor you with better page positions if they see regular attention. Your Website could contribute up to 50% of your business daily, so it can not be ignored.
While Keywords are not everything they stand well above everything else and should be splattered throughout your site.
Blogging is one of the best ways to build new traffic however it has a high time component. Outsourcing with cheap sites like Fivver can help this or using internal staff who love to write.
It is a trade-off between business and cost, an ongoing decision process.
Mobile responsive
Check that your website works as well on a mobile device as it does on a desk computer.
A good percentage of all searches are now mobile-originated so if you don't show up well you will be losing business. You can check this at any time by going to a site set up by Google for this purpose. Mobile checker
Site speed
Google rankings are very dependent on site opening speeds. Slow sites are being penalized so make sure you check yours and make changes when necessary.
Page speed insights
Cheap marketing strategies for small business that really work. SMS
#3 Use SMS messaging and have a fixed inbound number
SMS is used by everyone multiple times a day yet most businesses ignore the benefits it can deliver. Modern society would sooner send a message than make a phone call so give them the chance.
Most providers can give you a fixed Mobile number that goes to your email address. Furthermore, your email can respond to the message. This means that control is all in one place and not relegated to a mobile laying on a desk somewhere.
SMS marketing provides instant returns. Most people either react to the message or delete it.
Therefore your results are clear and changes can be made.
At about $0.12 a message you can get a good return. 1000 messages cost $112 a very small amount when you get a result.
#4 In-house trade meetings
You can run them for breakfast, for drinks, or even a night shift depending on when most customers are available.
When you are promoting a product be prepared for really good results.
You may be able to get the product manufacturer to foot some of the cost of running the meeting and even have a trade representative attend the show.
One great money saver is to use SMS for your invites. Give a week or so notice and then the day before to remind them works exceedingly well.
#5 Social media however only one
Every industry has a Social demographic and choosing the most appropriate media is essential. Again we reiterate that consistency is the key to success so concentrating on just one outlet and doing it every day will work wonders for you.
We all have a favorite, it might be Facebook or even TikTok as long as your customers are in that group it will work for you.
The important thing is consistency and if you can not maintain that keep it out of the water.
Facebook is probably the easiest because you can pre-load your posts well ahead of time. Everyone looks at Facebook and some more regularly than others.
If you are getting no return from the media over several months then you may wish to change, and try something different.
#6 Trades journal listing
Often ignored however the trade Journals often take place on the first page of a search term.
This will include Yellow pages and Google search as well. Spend some time updating your listings in as many places as you can. The individual traffic may not be great but with them, all combined it could be sizeable.
#7 Nurture your top 20% of customers
It is very common that a relatively few of your customers will supply a large percentage of your business. This is the old 80/20 rule applied across many aspects of the business.
Your best customers are a big asset and losing one of them can be detrimental to your whole business. A great way to do just that is to ignore them and rank them alongside the low spenders.
We all love to be appreciated so treat them well and try and grow their spending along the way. One top customer could be equally to 20 minor ones so court them consistently with whatever is available.
#8 The 1% rule of increase
Above are 7 ideas to increase your business. If you managed just a 1% increase in each that equals a 7% gain in business. This can be repeated monthly if you work hard at the tasks.
Knowing where you stand at this time will provide a starting point that you can gauge along the way. Remember a humble 1% across these factors can double your business in just 10 months. That is a worthwhile goal in anyone's books.
Conclusion
I have only looked at free or low-cost ways to boost your business. You can also spend a bundle of money to achieve similar results however they are usually one-off hits and not consistent growth tools.
#9 Bonus suggestion
In many cases, YouTube videos may help explain products that a few words on a website will fail to do.
YouTube is used as a search engine nearly as often as Google so it is a lot of business.
however, you need to get an easy approach to this and start dishing out great videos.
