10 Money Saving Marketing Tactics for Small Businesses

Here are 10 tactics to try that will save you money.

1. Become an expert. Your website should be the place where prospects and customers can find the answers they need related to your products and the industry. Give advice, post good articles and report on industry trends. By keeping people coming back, you increase the chances prospects will think of you rather than a competitor when they have a need for your offering. Best of all, you don't have to spend money to be an expert in your field. Make sure visitors can find you by using terms on your website that are relevant and important to your business and submit your sitemap to all the major search engines and online business directories. Another way to make your expertise visible is to pitch local newspaper, television and radio reporters with the topics you can handle and questions you can answer, especially if you can relate them to current events. For example, if a marathon is taking place in your town and you run an exercise studio, offer training tips for race participants.

 2. Practice content marketing. Straight advertising--whether on TV, radio, or in newspapers, magazines or websites—is expensive and often requires a commitment over time to achieve results (most people need to see and hear a message three to seven times before they will buy). A better approach for small businesses is to use content marketing: creating and sharing valuable information and insight that engages prospective customers and makes them aware of your products. This is much more effective than targeting everyone with a general message. If you had a plumbing business, one idea would be to write a series of how-to articles to fix simple home problems and promote them in emails with links to your website so those interested can download the content and you can track success. By investing a little time, you can a loyal following. 3. Focus on your target market. It is actually better to think small, rather than big with marketing campaigns. A few perfectly chosen words are more compelling than several paragraphs. And the more narrow your audience, the less you’ll spend in print, on air or online to advertise. Furthermore, niche media channels tend to cost much less. Ask yourself how the people in your target market access information and where do they hang out? It is easier to do this when you imagine them as individuals and get as detailed as possible about how they investigate and buy what you sell, so you can think about which channels will reach them. In other words, if you want to reach young professionals about the edgy fashion at your boutique, placing a print ad in the local newspaper is not likely to work when they probably get their news from their smartphones or news websites.