Business Growth On A Budget: 5 Low-Cost Marketing Strategies For 2021

Small businesses have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Through no fault of their own, many business owners were forced to shut their doors due to quick and dramatic government restrictions.

Amid the economic downturn, most businesses have had to make significant budget cuts, with marketing among the first to face the chopping block. But this is a huge and, in many cases, irreversible mistake.

Without marketing, your business will crumble along with the economy.

Pandemic or no pandemic, you have the power to grow your business with innovative marketing methods. Where there’s effective marketing, there’s guaranteed business growth. These five marketing ideas will help you cut costs while boosting your competitive advantage.

1. Improve your website

Lockdowns have caused a massive shift in consumer behavior.

There are now more people seeking products and services online than ever before. 

If you own a business, you’ll likely have a website already. This puts you ahead of those who don’t have one, but you’ll need to support yours if you want to effectively outrank your closest competitors in search and supercharge your business growth!

Here are some key design tips for updating your website yourself:

1. Improve navigation: visitors will be quick to leave your website if they can’t find their way around.
2. Create targeted content: use tone and language to speak to the types of customers you’re trying to attract.
3. Follow a clean, eye-catching layout: an appealing design will draw customers in and keep them on your website for longer.
4. Don’t overcrowd with words and jargon: keep webpage content concise and relevant, avoiding lengthy paragraphs.
5. Add a call-to-action on each web page: allow customers to engage with ease by adding an actionable button on each page such as “sign up”, “contact us”, or “learn more”.

2. Start a blog

Content marketing is highly effective in establishing your place as a key competitor online. Google prioritizes content that best matches commonly asked questions. If your content is useful, informative, and benefits your audience, your website will rank higher in Google.

A blog is a free and effective way to bring more visitors to your website and improve online visibility. You don’t need to be a natural wordsmith. As long as your posts showcase your expertise, you can share anything from step-by-step guides to stories about your business experiences. Keep your blog posts simple, unique, and include keywords naturally.

3. Get active on social media

Social media is a highly influential space for networking, advertising and reaching a global audience. With almost 59% of the world’s population active on social media, this is a marketing opportunity too good to pass up.

Traditional marketing methods cannot match social media’s ability to reach a wide audience. Within seconds of posting to your account, your content can reach users in all corners of the world. Through analytical tools within each platform, you can measure the success of every post and analyze the demographics of your audience.  

If you’re yet to engage with your audience on social media, you’re missing the opportunity to:

• Interact build relationships with your customers
• Grow your customer base at little to no cost
• Research your competitors
• Gain a high return on social media advertising
• Establish global brand awareness
• Promote your products or services on a budget

4. Aim for page one in Google

Google is designed to deliver the most relevant content for searchers, creating a level playing field for small businesses to compete for a spot on page one. 75% of users will not click past the first page, so it’s vital to get your business here if you’re aiming for business growth.

Tap into Google’s algorithm with two easy local SEO tactics you can do yourself:

List your business with online directories

Online directories are a great place to start signalling to Google that you’re a trusted business. Directories help to build links to your website and increase your online authority. While it’s easy to add your business to an online directory, there’s a bit of an art to creating the perfect business listing. Start with the top 10 directories for your location and make sure your details are accurate.

Create a Google My Business account

Google My Business is a free and effective way to get your business noticed in search. When customers in your proximity search for your product or service, your business’s Google My Business page will appear with a summary of relevant information such as contact details, address, opening hours, and reviews. Make sure your listing is up to date and in line with your website and other directory listings.

5. Create an email marketing campaign

Email marketing is a fast and affordable marketing tactic that allows you to reach your customers on a personal level. As one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies, email has a high return on investment, strengthening brand awareness and generating powerful leads.

To create the kind of email marketing strategy that your customers won’t send to spam takes effort. However, considering around 4 billion people worldwide use email, it’s an effort you should be willing to make.

Email is now the preferred communication medium, with 99% of users checking their email daily. To achieve business growth through email marketing, you will need:

1. An ever-growing email database: invite your audience to sign up for your email service wherever possible. Guarantee against spam, offer promotions for signing up and make it easy to subscribe to your emails.
2. An email marketing service provider: service providers use your database to send targeted emails en masse. For as little as $10 per month, you’ll have access to a range of design templates and analytical data.
3. Regular, unique and useful content: don’t be too word-heavy. Your audience is more likely to engage with concise text that gets straight to the point. Keep your design consistent and use graphics to grab your audience’s attention.
4. A consistent call-to-action: always include a call-to-action in your emails that direct your customers to your website. Remember, the more traffic you can bring to your website, the higher your chance of building your customer base and growing your business.