Over 90% of small businesses are run by a small team of 5 employees, and many of the CEOs serve as the primary marketer. If you’re in the same boat, know that DIY marketing offers many perks.
First, the do-it-yourself route can give you better insight into your target customers. For a DIY campaign to succeed, one needs to research and interact with the intended audience. And the information you may find can prove helpful to other aspects of your business.
And let’s not forget: Doing the marketing yourself saves you money!
However, putting in the hours and producing good results can prove challenging. More than 60% of CEOs want to ramp up their efforts, but many find investing 2 hours in online marketing near-impossible. But don’t worry! If getting your products in front of the right people feels uphill, the ideas from this guide will help you get a better grip on DIY marketing for small businesses.
Ignore This Key Point About DIY Marketing And You’ll Waste A Lot Of Time
Knowing what you can do matters. But knowing what you can’t do and being honest about it is critical to DIY success.
Let’s say: You have a knack for writing content and email outreach. On the other hand, you’ve read about Facebook advertising but have zero practical experience.
Sure, you can learn more about FB advertising. One can find a ton of free and paid resources to book up and practice. However, the learning curve and the inevitable mistakes along the way means you’re likely to waste time and money. Instead of FB ads, focus on writing top quality content and promotion via email. Knowing how to write and email people may not sound much. But you can make good progress with such a skillset.
You can build long-form content to target good keywords and encourage other websites to link with a solid email promotion plan. Widen your network by reaching out and building relationships with industry experts. Or, even grow your list. A great way to grow and enhance your email list is to use email appending services
Compare that scenario to starting from scratch and losing valuable cash because your FB ads’ targeting was off!
Managing Expectations And Caveats To Consider
DIY marketing can deliver good results. But a professional, with years of experience, almost always does a better and faster job.
Take SEO, for example.
Maybe you have a solid on-page SEO game, landed a few guest posts, ranked some of your pages and even generated leads or sales from the organic traffic. However, a legit agency with decades of combined experience, the latest tools, and the right network will be far more effective.
Next, you need to be ready to spend on 3rd-party tools and services.
You don’t want tedious tasks sucking your energy and time, and the right tools can help speed up your output. Try Buzzstream for generating blog post ideas, Canva for graphics design, Buffer for social media management, and the list of examples goes on.
And last but not least: Stick to what is proven to work.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners have a knack for innovating and some love walking the path less taken. But remember, you’re running on a budget so you want the best bang you can get from every buck and ounce of effort.
Fortunately, the marketing industry is a well-studied field. And in the following sections, we’ll look at 3 DIY strategies that have been proven effective by research.
Generate More Leads And Boost Traffic Business Blogging
Consistent blogging can only be good for a business – whether within the B2B or B2C space. B2B companies that publish more than 11 posts/month enjoyed 3 times more traffic than those who blogged once a month. For B2C companies, blogging 11 times per month generate 400% as many leads than companies who post only 4 to 5 times per month.
And take note: About 47% of buyers view 3 to 5 pieces of content before they speak to a sales rep. So you better start and keep blogging! But what should you blog about?
Good news: You have a few resources for topics and ideas at your disposal.
Buzzstream mentioned earlier, is an excellent tool for finding popular posts within a niche. Now, it’s a paid tool but they do have a trial offer and a limited free plan, which is enough to get you started. Web 2.0 sites like Reddit and Quora are good places to search, too. If you sell handcrafted furniture, you can check r/HomeImprovement or Quora’s Q&A page to see what potential customers are talking about. Or better yet, drop by at the popular forums in your industry.
Going back to our home improvement example, a quick search for “handcrafted furniture” at Bosch’s BeThePro forum yielded a recent thread about a member’s refinishing project. The thread got a lot of replies from other members, meaning people are interested about it. Who knows? Maybe a guide on refinishing wooden furniture may help enhance awareness and even drive traffic to your company!
Get $38 ROI For Every $1 With Email Marketing
Get this: An email is 6 times more likely to get a click than a tweet, and it’s 40 times more effective at acquiring customers than Facebook or Twitter. And as far as ROI is concerned, email marketing tops the list, delivering $38 in return for every marketing buck!
To get started with email marketing, you need a solid platform that’s as easy on the budget as possible. MailChimp fits both requirements. It integrates well with WordPress, delivers a superior user experience, and it’s free for up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 monthly emails! What more can a DIY marketer ask for!?
MailChimp even has a field guide for first-time email marketers. So if you need more know-how or want to review the basics, give it a look. Beyond reading guides, a handful of best practices can go a long way, too.
First of all: Personalize your emails! Nobody wants to be called “subscriber” or “customer.” Plus, tailored marketing can also increase your conversions. For the luxury brand BMW, personalization led to a 30% conversion rate and $500,000 in revenue.
Also, build a house list, your own email subscribers, and don’t even think about renting or buying! For starters, reputable email marketing vendors insist on using your own list. And worse, the list won’t respond to your emails because they may have never even heard of your business!
