How to maximise marketing efforts on a shoe-string budget

Growth marketing is a fundamental requirement of any organisation, whether big or small, a startup or a well-established company. Acquiring new customers, retaining them, and growing business into new arenas ensure that a company is on a roll, tapping into a new customer base while maintaining existing customers.

A robust growth strategy ensures that revenue is prioritised with every marketing dollar spent, and a data-driven decision is taken over guesswork to assess the effort behind every marketing strategy adopted. A customised plan is implemented to acquire, retain and engage customers at various sales cycle stages. 

A practical growth strategy is not just a theoretical concept but a roadmap that guides you through the entire customer journey, providing a clear direction. It ensures a seamless user experience across all touchpoints, from creating top-of-mind awareness to customer acquisition and retention, giving you the confidence that you’re on the right track. 

While investing marketing dollars in media is one of the easiest ways, albeit expensive, to gather new leads, I believe that building a user base organically and sustainably is crucial for any early-stage startup.

Content marketing

Content marketing should be the top priority because creating high-quality and relevant content is essential before starting any marketing efforts. Whether you are a B2B or B2C, SME or a large enterprise, content serves as the basis for beginning the marketing strategy, storytelling, and branding. Marketers dedicate a significant amount of time to creating, gathering, and organising relevant content and narratives, including whitepapers, videos, infographics, blog posts, podcasts, eBooks, case studies, social media posts, copywriting, and website content. 

Without getting anxious about creating content, start by developing content pillars, identifying the channels, and building or repurposing existing content to fit the platform. Diversifying content with slight alterations, changes in tone, and key messaging for each piece of content tailored to different platforms is a much smarter way to deliver the message.

Leverage the power of AI to iterate, change tonality, highlight key topics, and summarise key narratives from long-form content to adapt for diverse media platforms. Save yourself valuable time without reinventing the wheel. I know a jewellery brand that writes significantly different content for her brand on LinkedIn versus IG. While her IG page is full of lighthearted, engaging, fun, and behind-the-scenes content, her LinkedIn posts inspire her followers with her entrepreneurial journey, professional hurdles, and business triumphs. Get the drift?

Content serves as a way of disseminating information and acts as a lead magnet. Simply exchange some thought-provoking, action-oriented, handy tools for an email address or a phone number.

Social media

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands have effectively utilised social media tools due to the direct conversational ability of social media platforms. This has proven to be one of the most cost-efficient channels for finding new customers. While social media can sometimes create a love-hate relationship for businesses, especially with B2B companies, growing the audience base organically through marketing channels not only creates awareness about the business but also provides valuable insights into the ideal customer type. This, in turn, helps in refining the business strategy.

Also Read: Know thy customer: The only rule for startups looking to build trust on social media

To make a brand presence on social media, it’s essential to creatively showcase your business. Content development plays a crucial role in this. It helps in organising the type of content to develop around your business. This could include generating stories about your company and team, providing detailed information about the products or services you are selling, sharing customer service stories, or creating educational content related to your industry.

SEO

The desire to rank at the top of Google search results and the belief in the power of content authority is still strong among companies. With the right content and keyword strategy, brands can become more discoverable to discerning customers. This also helps to establish a direct connection between the brand and specific search terms.

Videos

The popularity of videos on social media platforms, including LinkedIn, has grown significantly. Platforms have adjusted their algorithms to prioritise video content because it tends to be more engaging for users with short attention spans. With the rise of podcasting, affordable podcast studios have emerged, making it easy to create video content for your product.

You don’t necessarily need a professional videographer; you can use your office space creatively and make use of mobile devices and free video editing software. These tools can help you create effective, engaging, and authentic short or long-form video content as part of your video marketing strategy.

Email marketing

Email has traditionally been seen as a one-sided communication channel, but it can help companies build continuous engagement. By creatively using email content, there is an opportunity to interact with consumers, such as offering gift vouchers and discount coupons, which have traditionally been very effective in prompting action through emails. Additionally, there are other creative ways to engage, such as asking them to participate in ABM.

Also Read: All you need to know about the basics of email marketing

Networking and partnerships

Networking and partnerships are highly cost-effective methods for increasing brand awareness and generating leads. By participating in local events and shows, as well as collaborating with complementary businesses, or becoming a member of professional associations and online communities, you can expand your presence within your industry.

Affiliate marketing

I help you, and you help me. This age-old marketing tactic is still valuable for expanding reach in today’s context. The transactional relationship with affiliate partners is a cost-effective way to achieve immediate marketing goals.. 

Chat groups

Creating high-quality content consistently can be tiring. Sometimes, short, informal communications can help build lasting relationships with your community. Using WhatsApp groups and creating broadcasts has become a popular way to engage with audiences. Short, interactive messages can add a friendly tone to your communication, encourage interaction, and gather feedback from your audience.

In implementing these marketing strategies, focusing on nurturing and building relationships is essential. Being authentic about your business, offerings, and values is crucial to targeting the right customers. First-party leads are precious as customers willingly provide them. It’s essential to make the best use of the first-party leads collected. They have proven to offer the highest return on investment. Additionally, don’t overlook your existing customers, as repeat purchases indicate the value of your product in the industry.

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