Marketing your business can be costly. There are so many specialised marketing services out there from social media management companies to business card printing companies. Investing in all these individual services often isn’t necessary, especially when there are so many DIY strategies available that are practically free and just as effective. Here are just a few of those money-saving methods.
Build your own website
You don’t need to hire a website programmer to build your website. There are now many tools that can allow you to build a website for free with no coding knowledge, using simple drag-and-drop web creator options. Online reviews and comparisons can help you find a good website builder. You will need to first spend a little money on a domain name, but this is often very cheap and there are many hosting sites that can guide you through the process. From here, choose your website building and start customising your website to your very own image.
Network for free
Avoid business groups, conferences and membership clubs that demand you pay. There are many free clubs and conferences up and down the country where you can just as easily network. Social media meanwhile is another great place to build relationships with other businesses for free – Linked In is especially set up for this purpose. You may also be able to get creative and do free talks at community clubs or conventions. In some cases, you may even get paid to do a talk.
Create your own video ads
It should be no surprise that TV advertising isn’t cheap. However, you can create your own cheap ads by taking to Youtube. Either find someone online to make you a cheap ad, or go raw and create a vlog of you promoting your brand straight to the camera. You can share this ad on the homepage of your website or pin it to your social media page as a way of introducing visitors, or you can create an ad and pay Youtube to play it before other related videos, hopefully bringing you more business.
Write your own press
You don’t need to pay journalists or PR firms to get your business out there. You may be able to simply start your own blog on your website and promote your services and news within your business in your own words. You may also be able to team up with other businesses and blog owners and get them to write about you on their sites – either as a promotional post or a review of your services/product.
Do your own analytics
People are now starting to pay for digital analysts to find out more about their online audience – but did you know that you can do this all yourself simply by installing the Google Analytics plug-in on your site. This plug-in gives you stats of everyone that has visited your website, where they came from, their age, their gender, their nationality and other stats that can help you to better understand who is interested in your services. This can help you to better focus your marketing and potentially attract more business.
