4 cost-effective marketing strategies for your small business budget

Marketing yourself like a big business doesn’t necessarily have to take a big business budget. With the rapid innovations happening in digital marketing, digital marketing tools offer everyone from solopreneurs to multi-location franchises a number of cutting-edge, cost-effective approaches to getting the word out and reaching your goals.

1. Get in the inbox

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to communicate with your audience and drive conversions. According to our Small Business Now report, it is also commonly cited as the most cost-effective digital marketing approach for small businesses to employ. While many other strategies have joined the mix (and we’ll cover those momentarily), email remains one of the most dependable ways to reach and engage your audience directly. 

Tips for effective email marketing

• Your contact list is the cornerstone of your marketing: Encourage site visitors, social followers, and in-person visitors to sign up for your newsletter. Offering incentives like free resources or discounts can help to attract subscribers, and providing valuable content can help keep them. And our biggest tip? DO NOT buy contact lists—this can actually violate the law and make it harder for you to reach your audience.
• Segment your list and personalize your emails: Divide your email list into segments based on demographics, behavior, or preferences. This allows you to send more targeted and relevant content, which helps increase subscriber engagement.
• Have a clear call to action: Make it clear what you want your subscribers to do based on your emails—like Buy Now, Donate Today, or Book an Appointment. Limit these actions to as few as possible in order to drive direct impact through your emails.
• Test and optimize: Regularly test different elements of your emails, such as subject lines, content, and call-to-actions. Monitor and track the results so you know what’s working and what’s not to get the most bang for your buck. 

2. Build your base on social media

Social media platforms are powerful tools for reaching new, broad audiences at a minimal cost. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn offer a variety of features that can help you engage with your audience, promote your brand, and drive to your site or newsletter.

Tips for effective social media marketing

• Consistency is key: Regularly post content to keep your audience engaged and on top of the algorithm. Create a content calendar to plan your posts in advance, and work to strike a balance between promotional content and engagement content.
• Use engaging methods to convert your followers: Building your follower base is valuable, but ultimately, you want those followers to take action, like subscribing to your newsletter, visiting your location, or donating to your cause. Utilizing methods like sweepstakes and polls can help to bridge those gaps and gather valuable customer information.
• Get visual: Images and videos can significantly boost engagement. Consider using tools like Canva to create professional-looking graphics (that you can also use in your emails!) and recording quick videos sharing tips, product sneak peeks, or other features of your business.
• Boost your posts strategically: While organic reach is valuable, paid advertising can help you reach a larger audience. Even a small budget can help to boost individual posts to a defined, targeted audience that matches your best customers and supporters.

3. Reach your most valuable audience in the moment

SMS text marketing may not immediately jump to the forefront of your mind as an easy, cost-effective strategy, but this surprisingly affordable tool is perfect for reaching your VIPs—the customers or donors who have already shown interest and just need a timely nudge. And even better, it’s rapidly growing as the channel consumers prefer most for messages from small businesses.

Tips for effective SMS marketing

• Collect phone numbers as part of your contact list efforts: Remember when we said your contact list is the cornerstone of your marketing? While you are gathering email addresses, give your subscribers the opportunity to share their phone number, as well. You can choose to leave this optional so you only gather your most valuable, engaged contacts, turning SMS into an exclusive channel for your biggest fans.
• Stick to the “now”: SMS is perfect for urgent, timely messages, like event reminders, last-minute calls for donation, and newly released products. Because texts are more likely to be looked at immediately than other channels, this is the perfect channel to use the “now” to add “wow” to your marketing. 
• Know the rules: Text message marketing has different rules from other forms of marketing—familiarizing yourself with quiet hours, unsubscribe requirements, and other regulations is key. Using an established platform like Constant Contact can also help you to remain compliant with these rules. 

4. Maximize your content

It can seem time- and budget-intensive to create enough content to populate your website, email, social media, and more. But one piece of content can be turned into many in order to get the most out of your efforts, saving time and money. 

Tips for effective content creation

• Start with where you’re strongest: Are you a social guru who’s most at home creating incredible graphics and videos? These, along with the comments and insights you gain on social, can make a great foundation for a newsletter or infographic. Similarly, if you’re an excellent emailer, pull engaging snippets of content out to share with your social audience.
• Use the tools at hand: As an example, Constant Contact’s Content Generator can take your ideas and goals and turn them into social posts, emails, SMS messages instantly. Plus, you can connect tools like Canva and your social profiles directly to Constant Contact in order to streamline content creation. 
• Be true to yourself: The best content is your expertise and authentic self. While it can be tempting to chase trends or try to sound like popular brands you admire, your customers and supporters are there for you and your brand. When creating content and utilizing content generators, always center your brand, your voice, and the things your customers love about you.

By using realistic, cost-effective digital marketing strategies, you can engage your audience and achieve your business goals without breaking the bank. Using the right tools can help you put your focus on one of these areas, or maximize your impact by tying them all together. With the right tools and approaches, you can drive big results on a small business budget.

Constant Contact makes digital marketing easy and effective for small businesses and nonprofits around the world. Whether just starting out, or managing complex multi-channel campaigns, SMEs benefit from our powerful SaaS platform that delivers a simplified marketing experience with less time spent and better results. With cutting-edge technology, best-in-class deliverability, and award-winning customer support, we help the small stand tall.