For a small business to thrive, it must be visible to target customers online and offline. One effective way to drive visibility and gain new customers is through creative advertising.
Small business owners looking for innovative marketing strategies to attract more customers can leverage the power of low-cost creative advertising. In the growing stage of your business, you have more freedom and flexibility in using available marketing tools at your disposal to reach your target audience.
This article will discuss some creative ways that your business can make a big impact on a small budget.
The Power of Creative Advertising
One of the best ways you can communicate with potential customers is through advertising. Creativity in advertising is the flavor you add to your adverts to pass your message in a more meaningful and attractive way.
To get the attention of prospective customers, you don't need to run a costly advertisement. A unique, well-planned and structured ad will go a long way in ensuring you get the desired response from your target market.
Creative advertising helps you create brand awareness and lets customers know that your products or services are available and how valuable they are. The best part is that it's very cost-efficient.
The benefits are two-fold. Firstly, it grants you access to a broader target audience. Additionally, it allows you to channel the money and resources you would have spent on advertising your products or services into other aspects of the business. By doing so, it encourages the growth and sustainability of your business.
10 Creative Low-Cost Ways to Advertise a Small Business
As a small business owner hoping to expose your business to a broader audience and gain more customers, you don't have to break your bank. Here are 10 practical and low-cost means you can leverage to advertise your small business while staying on budget.
Engage Customers on Social Media
With more than half of the world's population connected to at least one platform, social media is an efficient online marketing tool for keeping in touch with customers while targeting new ones.
To effectively drive engagement, you need to define your target demographic because different social media platforms have different audiences. One way to determine your target demographic is by identifying who needs the products or services your small business is offering. Identifying your target customers will significantly influence your choice of the appropriate platform. For instance:
- According to the Pew Research Center, 69% of U.S adults use Facebook, making it the top social media platform after YouTube at 81%. Facebook is your best bet to target a wide demographic and sell directly to them.
- Instagram and Snapchat users are most likely to be between 18 and 29 years old. They are the best platforms if you are targeting younger audiences.
- Pinterest is a potential gold mine if your small business is targeting more educated and higher-income women.
- If you are hoping to market your small business to a big company, LinkedIn is the appropriate platform for you.
You can create a business profile and run cost-efficient ads on these platforms irrespective of your budget. Facebook Ads, for instance, are a highly effective and low-cost means of advertising your small business. You can target your audience by demographic, interest and location.
You also need to update your business page or profile regularly with high-quality content related to your business. The idea is to create the appropriate brand awareness and ensure that your existing customers remain with you while targeting new ones.
Email Marketing
Although email marketing may not be as fast and efficient as social media, it remains an important marketing tool you can leverage to advertise your local business. The reason is that with email marketing, you can easily reach the target audience within your niche. One way to effectively leverage email marketing is to build an email list for the selected people you need your messages to get to.
You can use less expensive email tools like GetResponse or MailChimp to send promotional broadcasts, press releases and email newsletters to customers. That way, you keep your products or services top of the minds of prospective customers while maintaining your relationship with old ones.
Create Stickers
The use of stickers can be a viable and low-cost advertising strategy to create brand awareness and advertise your small business.
Stickers stand out, inspire creativity, promote brand endorsement and add fun. Printing your business information on the stickers is one way to go about it. You can also use them for upcoming sales and put them in high-traffic places to reach more people.
Work on Your Local SEO
Optimizing your business website to make it more visible to search engines should be an essential part of your advertising strategies. Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about ensuring that your business website ranks high on search engines. To achieve this, you need to understand the specific term or keyword people use to search for your product or service and ensure those queries are satisfied by your website. A well-executed local SEO will not only improve your online visibility but will also generate more leads.
Google My Business is a great marketing tool that makes it easier to find your business online with a simple Google search. Additionally, you can use Google My Business to attract online reviews, just like Yelp, which is very important for your credibility.
Write Cool Blog Content
To write unique blog content that will interest your customers, you must understand the core needs of your customers. You can then write compelling and high-quality content on how your business will help meet those needs. Optimize your blog content to make it rank well on popular search engines.
Also, you need to regularly update your blog with content relevant to the services you provide. And if you don't have a blog, you can write for popular blogging sites in your niche with a link directing the target audience to your social media page.
Create a Helpful Video
Many people prefer watching short video clips to reading and can sometimes draw their conclusion based on what they watch. To this end, create helpful videos to increase engagement with your customers. Such videos can be uploaded on your business YouTube, Facebook or Instagram page.
Your videos should be very informative and focused on connecting with your customers. Examples of videos you can create include product demos, tutorial videos on how to use your products, promotional videos and valuable messages.
Host a Class
One sure way to strengthen your relationship with local customers and promote your small business is by hosting a class in your local community. You can offer to teach people for free.
This will create trust between you and your customers. In the long run, your free class can be compensated by free reviews or referrals. Remember that referrals are crucial to business growth, considering that you can't reach everyone independently in a small business marketing campaign.
Attend Networking Events
Attending local networking events is a sure way to increase your visibility both online and offline. You get to meet experts in your niche and potential customers at local events.
Getting to meet people with different business experiences will positively impact your small business. The reason is that, through such events, you have access to new marketing ideas, marketing tips and tactics, and advertising ideas. Also, by sharing success stories with your network group, you can get highly inspired and motivated to tackle the challenges of running a small business. Sharing your business card can also yield dividends. Your business name on the card should reflect what you do, and your business contact information, especially your phone number, should be visible.
Examples of networking events you can attend include seminars, webinars, lectures, symposiums and digital marketing training.
Gather Brand Ambassadors
Brand ambassadors or influencers can help your small business gain more credibility and reach a wider audience or customers. In addition, your brand gets a popular human figure that people can quickly identify with. Brand ambassadors are usually passionate about the products they promote. They can present your brand to the public in a way that makes your products or services look cool.
You can set up a brand ambassador program to select from loyal customers. These ambassadors can use word of mouth to promote your local business to reach different demographics that you may not be able to on your own.
Guerilla Marketing
Guerilla marketing is another marketing tactic open to small business owners looking for a creative and inexpensive way to advertise. It involves the use of unconventional or surprise interactions to create awareness for your brand.
With this marketing strategy, you can reach out to hundreds of potential customers, especially if you develop creative ideas that spark curiosity. You can also create an eye-catching window display or chalk on the sidewalks to promote your brand.
Keep Your Small Business Finances Under Control With Skynova
In addition to finding cost-effective ways to advertise your small business, your ability to keep your business finances in check is part of what determines your success in the long run.
One effective way to track and manage your income, expenses and keep proper financial records is by using Skynova's accounting software. Among its numerous benefits, our software solution enables you to generate your financial statement quickly.
While Skynova takes care of your business finances, you can focus on spreading the word about your business.
Notice to the Reader
The content within this article is meant to be viewed as suggested low-cost approaches to advertising for small businesses and may not apply to your specific situation. Although these low-cost creative approaches to advertising are known to work if well-executed and managed, you should always seek expert opinions.