Thursday, March 28, 2024

Four online marketing ideas for businesses on a shoestring budget

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Unfortunately setting up a new internet business is not as easy as it sounds. You can’t just build a website and expect people to know all about you. If you want to spread the word about your business and make people aware of your products, you will need to create a good internet marketing strategy.

One of the main problems new and small businesses face when it comes to internet marketing is a lack of finance. However all is not lost! There are many different ways you can market your business online on a shoestring budget and below we have outlined four of them.

Advertise your products and engage with potential customers for free by starting a blog.

Image source: https://www.aivanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/14045819341_6651d70343.jpg

 

  • Start a blog
  • Whilst it will cost you time to write and publish content, it will not cost you anything to set up and maintain a business blog. Believe it or not, blogging is one of the best ways to engage with customers, promote your products and increase your search engine rankings. Providing the blog content you produce is fresh, unique and relevant to your industry, it will go a long way in improving your internet marketing efforts, without costing you an arm and leg!

     

  • Collaborate with other brands and bloggers
  • Another great way to promote your products or services without spending a fortune is to collaborate with other brands and bloggers. This works particularly well if you are a small or new brand looking to gain exposure. Often bigger brands and bloggers host giveaways and competitions. By donating a prize in the form of one of your products or a voucher for your store, you will not be spending actual money and can benefit from the exposure provided by the brand or blogger you are working with. Often giveaway rules require participants to ‘like’ your Facebook page, follow you on Twitter or follow your blog, so they are a great for marketing your business and generating a following.

     

  • Leverage free social media tools
  • Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and LinkedIn are free to use, so why not use them to your advantage? Building up a following on social media will help to spread the word about your business and direct traffic through to your website. It is important to keep in mind that your followers will not want to be constantly bombarded with links to your products though.

    Instead, take the time to produce unique and interesting content that will be of value to them. This sort of content will increase engagement levels and is more likely to be shared by your followers, leading to further exposure for your brand and products, without any money being spent!

     

    Create videos for YouTube and Vine.

    Image source: https://www.aivanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/12088752723_bb35ca8731_o.png

     

  • Make useful videos
  • Believe it or not you do not need a marketing budget of hundreds or thousands of pounds to create useful and effective video content. Thanks to apps like Instagram and Vine, consumers are used to viewing low-production video content and are actually very receptive to it.  If you cannot afford to create high production marketing videos for your company, think about the content you can create. A simple sit down Q&A video or a product demonstration video will only cost you time to make, butcould go a long way in improving customers’ confidence in your business and generating sales. 

    Conclusion

    Although internet marketing is essential if you want to grow your business and generate profit, it does not necessarily have to cost you a fortune. There are plenty of ways you can use online marketing techniques to promote your business on a shoestring budget. It’s just about thinking out of the box and identifying key opportunities.

    Image credits:manoftaste.de&@NonprofitOrgs

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