Have you ever spent money on marketing that you came to regret later?
Well, join the club. 🙂
Sure, most of us would rather forget our ‘lessons learned’ experiences – which might explain why many small businesses are so skittish when it comes to investing in marketing. According to a survey by Wasp Barcode earlier this year, 34% prefer not part with more than 3%. Yet almost half (43%) still want revenue growth through customer experience and retention improvements…and 28% crave new customers! Where can they turn? Well for just $5K you could treat yourself to some high-octane marketing fuel – enough power those dreams into reality!
1. Get started with email marketing
Cost: $500 per year
This is an ideal low-budget marketing tactic, and it works. It’s also people’’ preferred way to get marketing communications
There are dozens of email service providers who can set you up to send emails. Some of the more popular ones include:
2. Facebook and Google Ads
Cost: $1,500 per year
Advertising with Facebook and Google ads can be a great way to reach new customers and boost sales. When done correctly, it can be an effective and lucrative marketing tool.
However, if you don’t understand the system or know how to craft a successful ad campaign, it won’t do much for your business. Here are some tips on using Facebook and Google ads successfully.
First of all, you need to define your goals before creating any ads. Do you want to generate more leads? Increase website traffic? Enhance brand visibility? Understanding why you’re running the ad in the first place will help you design a more effective campaign – one that will better serve those goals.
Once you have your goals outlined, start segmenting your target audience according to demographics such as age group, location, gender etc. You should also consider lifestyle preferences or interests when crafting your ads (you may want to use Facebook’s Audience Insights feature). This level of audience segmentation lets you personalize each ad so they’re more appealing to potential buyers or customers.
When it comes to designing the actual ad content itself, make sure that it stands out from other advertisements. Use engaging visuals and catchy headlines that will grab viewers’ attention right away – people need a good reason to click on an ad after all! Your copy should be concise yet persuasive enough to convert readers into customers or leads.
Finally, tracking the effectiveness of your campaigns is essential in determining which strategies work best for your business – without this data-driven insight, there’s no way of knowing whether an ad campaign was successful or not. Use analytics tools provided by Facebook and Google AdWords so that you can continually refine your targeting tactics and optimize campaigns for maximum ROI (return on investment).
3. Start a Website
Cost:$1,500
Make sure to include details customers expect to see such as:
Creating a website with just $1,500 can be a very daunting task, but it is definitely possible. With a little bit of research, planning and creativity, you can create a beautiful and effective website that will help you reach your goals. Here are some tips to get you started:
1) Firstly, do your research. Take the time to look at other websites in your industry or related industries and take note of the features they offer. This will give you ideas on what is possible within your limited budget. It’s also important to determine what kind of website you need and who the target audience is.
2) Consider using an affordable web hosting provider. You might find some great deals on web hosting that don’t require a large upfront investment, such as shared hosting plans or WordPress-specific hosting services like WP Engine or SiteGround.
3) Create a site map which outlines all the pages that will be included on the website and how they will be linked together. This will help keep your design process consistent and organized while reducing the risk of going over budget.
4) Start designing or creating content for each page based on your research. Try to keep things simple so you can focus on making sure all content is relevant to your users’ interests/needs first before worrying about bells and whistles, like video backgrounds or 3D animations etc…
5) Test out different designs before launching by sharing with friends/family for feedback or through online user testing platforms like UserTesting.com
6) Once everything looks good, find an affordable domain name and web host if needed then launch!
By following these steps, even with just $1000 dollars it should be possible to build an effective website that meets your needs without breaking the bank! Just remember it might take some experimentation (and perhaps multiple iterations) before you settle on the perfect look & feel but it’ll all be worth it in the end!
4. PR and Other media websites Advertising
Cost: $1,000
PR articles and guest post advertising are an effective way to increase brand recognition and visibility, and improve website traffic. They involve the creation of high-quality content that is placed on third-party websites, such as industry-specific publications or partner websites.
This content ranges from info-graphics, press releases, blog posts, videos, interviews, and more. The content should be engaging and relevant to the audience of the website it is being published on.
When done correctly, PR articles and guest post advertising can help expand reach to new audiences that may not have been previously exposed to a product or brand. It also increases search engine rankings for a website when users search for related terms because the content is usually in line with target keywords. Additionally, it allows businesses to leverage existing relationships with editors, journalists and influencers who may be willing to share or link back to a website in return for quality content.
5. Other traffic channels ( YouTube, Instagram, TikTok)
Cost: $500
Generating traffic to your website through other channels, such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, can be an incredibly effective way to bring eyes to your website and grows your audience.
To start off on YouTube, firstly create a channel for your business or brand with a creative name and logo to make it more attractive for viewers. Posting unique and high-quality videos related to your website or product will help build up an audience. Include links to your site in the video’s description section so viewers can access the page directly from there.
Instagram is another great platform for growing an audience; this app alone has now surpassed 1 billion active users every month. It’s important that you curate high-quality content here as well since visuals play a huge role in driving engagement and sales.
Make sure that there is a direct link back to your website at least once in each post – either in its caption or bio section – so interested viewers can visit directly from there. Interacting with potential customers by responding quickly on their comments will increase engagement in the long run.
TikTok is another rapidly growing app among teenagers especially; boasting over 800 million monthly users worldwide recently. Here too, creating original videos with creative story lines based around products you offer on your website will attract many viewers if done right – such as funny skits involving products being used at home or showing how easy it is for them to purchase something through your website etc.
Sharing relevant hashtags can also be useful for reaching out further than just those who follow you directly on TikTok itself; tagging influencers who have a large following could also be helpful towards getting better traction here if done correctly too! Finally, remember never forget including a clickable link back to your own webpage in each post!
If You Would Have to Chose: Which Two Channels Would Work Best
Find out where your audience goes to find the product/service and where people spend time so that you can present your product in the best possible way. For one of our clients, what worked best was actually a local forum where people asked for recommendations. So, first thing we would advise is: Know Your Audience.
If you are not sure where to start, safest bet would always be Industry Giants:
1. Facebook ads : FB ads are somewhat a safe bet since their audience reach is pretty huge and according to Statista it keeps going up. Audience is from 16-65 years old.
2. Google ads: If you have a website, create a landing page and hit up G ads to drive sales your way and to see your audience profile.
More options
Top 8 Media Platforms With 400 Million Active Users in December 2024 :
- YouTube’s potential advertising reach is 2.514 billion(a)
- WhatsApp has at least 2 billion monthly active users
- Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users
- TikTok ads can potentially reach 1.051 billion adults over the age of 18 each month(a)
- Telegram has 700 million monthly active users
- Snapchat’s potential advertising reach is 635 million(a)
- Twitter’s potential advertising reach is roughly 556 million(a)
- Pinterest has 445 million monthly active users
So here’s our total cost prediction:
Website (including your own domain, design and basic SEO help): $1,500
TOTAL: $5,000
That should generate enough business to earn your money back, and give you the confidence to invest more next year.
