Three Low-Cost Marketing Strategies Small Businesses Often Overlook

All small businesses are only really as good as the strength of their marketing. And every entrepreneur understands the power of branding and communicating your unique vision and values to your audience. It’s the proven route to profitability and growing your business.

You’ve already mastered the basics of a great business website, and you’re highly likely to have at least dabbled in social media as a cost-effective way of getting your message across. Perhaps you’ve even tried some digital ads, or above-the-line physical advertising or trade show events.

But it may be the case that there are some marketing strategies that your small business is overlooking. Could you add any of the following to your marketing plan to improve your reach this year?

Going Greener

Environmental responsibility is something that consumers are actively seeking out more and more, and they are using their spending power to promote brands that are committed to the planet. Implementing further green measures in your business - and marketing what you do on the strength of it - is something that really resonates with potential customers. You boost your reputation, usually get to save on costs, and look after the future of our planet as well - it's a win-win situation. Implement some green marketing ideas into your strategy and feature your eco-credentials prominently to access a whole new segment of people.

Get Social With Video

You’re more than likely already using social channels to connect with customers and speak about your business, but there are a few new tricks you can use to get the most out of your social media marketing. Try introducing more video content - not only do people respond really positively to a behind-the-scenes peek at what you do, but video is also a huge medium for getting great SEO results. And once you have video content, you can do so much with it. From embedding it into your email campaigns to working with a Facebook advertising agency to use video snippets in your paid-for social posts, there is a lot you can do with it. Video has a really good return on investment rate, and you just might be able to create something that goes viral!

Recruit Some Customer Ambassadors

Who are the customers that really love you? Most small brands have a solid base of early-adopters, who feel like they ‘discovered’ the company first and want to spread the word. Using these customers as brand ambassadors is a brilliant strategy - incentivise these customers and they really can be a huge asset to your business. Creating a referral scheme can be a quick win, and encourage your best customers to share your social media posts, complete reviews of your business on third-party sites, provide quotes that you can use as testimonials in your marketing and more. It doesn’t take much budget, but making these customers feel valued with a few perks can be a really important type of promotion for your business.

There are lots of other small business marketing strategies to go at once you get started, but try to think outside the box and you may be surprised at the results.