These tips for online marketing on a budget are actually part of the previous article, Casino Marketing Ideas. But this strategy can apply to any business.
The World Wide Web is a tool with unlimited possibilities. Creating and maintaining a business presence on the Internet is more practical than ever.
Indeed, online businesses are popping up from the woodworking industry. However, I can vouch that running a successful online business is easier said than done.
With the immense amount of information on the internet and users largely in control of seeing exactly what they want, getting your product to market in front of potential customers can be difficult.
Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about what works (and what fails terribly) when it comes to online marketing. Times are tough today. Most companies are tight on their tight budgets when it comes to marketing.
Tips for online marketing on a budget
Here are 7 tips to follow to develop a successful online marketing strategy on your startups limited budget.
Know your market
Your marketing strategy will never succeed if you don’t have a well-defined audience. Before you spend a dime on marketing, figure out your target market first. There’s no need to pay top dollar to hire a fancy research firm. If you know your product you should be able to find out your market for yourself. For example, who will be most interested in your product? Men or women? What is your age group? What are your customers’ interests? What is your likely financial situation?
Once you have a thorough profile of your client, it is much easier to determine how and where to reach them. This step can take a while, and that’s fine. If you start marketing before you have a clear customer profile, you are likely to be wasting your dollars in places your customers will never reach. Just because Pinterest is growing fast doesn’t mean your audience is growing it.
Set and reset goals
Determine what you want to benefit from online marketing. Elevated Awareness? Increased Sales? You will likely have multiple goals, but keep track of what they are so you can measure your success. When you achieve your original goals, set yourself new goals so your business can continue to improve.
Set a budget
Now that you know who your target market is and what goals you have set, plan your budget accordingly. The good thing about online marketing is that you can be successful on a tight budget. Many platforms are available for free. However, just sticking to free forms of online marketing may not be the best strategy for your business. Carefully determine which points of sale are most necessary for your product and be prepared to spend some money to get results.
Brand yourself
Stand out from the competition. There are thousands of companies trying to sell products on the internet. This is how you have to make your brand memorable. This starts with your website. Your domain name should be your company name if possible. If there are other companies with names similar to you, you might even consider changing your name to one that is not easily confused with another product. There is a fee to purchase a domain name, but using a hosting service is very affordable for even the smallest of budgets.
The way your brand is perceived by customers is entirely up to you. But once you figure it out, be consistent and stick with it. A professional website and strong social media presence is important here, but you should also take the time to interact with and build relationships with potential customers. The main cost associated with this step is just the man hours invested in the process, which is drastically reduced once you have your brand established.
Search engine optimization
Obviously, when someone submits a query into a search engine for something relevant to your business, you want to be one of the first results they see. So how do you make that happen?
Essentially, you need to make your website more attractive to search engines. Use frequently searched keywords, link your website, adjust the heading and description, etc.
SEO can admittedly be a complicated and time consuming process, but time has to be spent here to ensure your website is found. Your best bet is usually going to spend a bit more of your budget and hire the right people to do the proper research.
We take great care not to use keywords to simply rate your website, but rather to use the terms your audience is looking for. This is what will bring you the highest conversion rates.
