Is advertising that important for the success of a business?
Look at it this way: you can make a gallon of lemonade, but if you don’t go out into a place crowded with people and yell “Fresh and cold lemonade!”, it’s most likely that no one will buy it.
A good marketing campaign should make your audience and potential customers aware of your brand and the products/services that you offer.
It can help your business stand out from the sea of competitors and provide exposure for what you offer.
However, small businesses find that costs of a continuous advertising campaign are simply too high because of their limited budget. However, the elements of the advertising equation should be controlled by you.
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There are ways to cut the costs of advertising and improve the results and effectiveness at the same time.
Traditional marketing tactics, which can be major cost-drivers in your marketing budget, can be replaced with more cost-efficient tactics to reduce your advertising spend.
Great Ways to Reduce the Costs of Your Business Promotion
#1 Take Advantage of the Internet
Everything is turning digital, so why should you miss the opportunity to leverage the power of digital advertising that’s ubiquitous and easily accessible?
Take a portion of your marketing budget and redirect it by investing in:
- Social Media Advertising
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
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Thus improving your website and increasing online presence. Internet marketing efforts usually start with SEO; so, if your website is not ranked among the top search result positions, start optimizing.
#2 Repurpose Content
Why should creating content cost you a fortune when you can develop it once, and use it 10 times but in different formats?
For example, create a white paper. Then? Well, post an abstract of it (and require registration from users in order to download), announce it with a social post and PR release, create a corresponding video, develop a survey about the topic, create a website landing page, host a webcast, and create an infographic.
#3 Customer Insight
Marketing mistakes can cost you, but they can be avoided with a good insight into customer needs, and market segments.
Use marketing automation software that can easily be updated or create a robust database to store all your customer intelligence, and use it to make smart marketing decisions.
Continuously gather customer information, do research, and conduct surveys to direct your marketing efforts.
#4 Leverage Publicity
PR should be integral to your marketing strategy, because it is free by definition. It includes:
- Article writing and publishing, and related
- Distribute news to internet PR directories
Gaining exposure through local (or national) media outlets can generate a much better response for your startup than any typical ad campaign.
Appearing on a local TV show or having an article about your business published in a paper (relevant to your audience) can bring credibility to your business and save you some advertising money.
#5 Reduce Frequency
Frequency and reach are two ways to measure advertising.
Reach is the number of people that view your ad, while frequency is the estimated number of times that people see your ad.
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This means that a small group of potential customers will hear your message in case of a high frequency, low reach campaign.
If you’re in a situation to choose, opt for frequency over reach, target your audience carefully, and make sure they hear from you during the marketing campaign period.
#6 Reduce the Cost of Ads
Don’t try to tell your customers your entire story in an advertisement, but simply attract them.
Eliminate non-essential details from an ad and downsize it from a half-page to a quarter-page ad. Also, make it a one-color instead of a full-color ad.
This is called piggyback marketing. For example, if you regularly send out mailers or flyers to the local market, you can share the cost with a partner.
Split the page of the weekly community paper that you buy for your ads, find a reputable partner, and allow them to piggyback on your ad.
It will cut your costs in half, but you should make sure not to piggyback with a competitor or a business you wouldn’t like to be associated with.
#7 Targeted Advertising Opportunities
Try reaching many potential customers by visiting venues related to your business niche.
For instance, participate in your city’s gaming festival if you’re a gaming or software developer. Create brochures, business cards, flyers, and pay for a booth (which includes an ad in the event program).
#8 Traditional Advertising
Advertising costs can obviously be reduced through the use of digital advertising options.
However, you can also save costs in marketing if traditional advertising is important to your business.
For example, by using indigo printing, your marketing booklet, invite or portfolio will look way better. Also, promotional products are affordable, tangible, and useful. Recipients can use them, hand them over to friends or family members, or keep them for a longer period of time.
Promotional efforts don’t have to be so costly and eat up a large part of your funds, without generating the right results.
Take some of these tips into consideration and try to reduce the costs of your marketing campaigns.
You’re running a startup, so every dollar you can save counts.
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Author Bio – Emma Miller is a Sydney based writer with a degree in marketing. Interested in digital marketing, social media, start-ups and latest trends. She’s a contributor at Bizzmark blog.
