Entrepreneurs are typically full of ideas, spirit and determination but lacking in funds. With so much to budget for, it is not always easy to do everything properly and not overspend. Finances are one of the biggest hurdles that entrepreneurs face, so if you can get essential services on the cheap then why not go for it?
One of the essentials for a successful startup is marketing, which is the spearhead of almost everything else. Considering that marketing is so essential for a successful business, you can’t really do it on the cheap. Can you? Well, of course you can.
Social Media is your Friend
LinkedIn and Google Plus are two of the best, free marketing tools that you are ever going to find anywhere. Both of these are extremely powerful and useful not just for reaching out to like minded groups and individuals but also for helping others find you.
Google Plus is unique in the social world, for two main reasons.
- It is directly tied in to the biggest search engine in the world, with posts treated as individual web pages that appear in search results. This on its own can make you look like an SEO expert overnight, as your properly crafted posts start appearing all over the web.
- The network is centered around passions. Discover what your target audience is passionate about first. Next join similar G+ communities and let the networking begin with people that are already interested.
Create YouTube Videos
Since 65% of the population are visual learners, and YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine it makes sense to advertise there. It doesn’t have to cost you any money either, and you could even create videos using just your smartphone if you needed/wanted to.
Content Marketing
By far the most effective, cheapest method of marketing your services is by marketing your website content. Again, this is where social channels can be very useful – especially LinkedIn if you are a B2B concern.
Having a regularly updated website, with high quality relevant content is going to do you a world of favours. This can be done for free, if you do it yourself but finding the time may not be the easiest thing in the world. Outsourcing your content creation efforts doesn’t have to be expensive though, and it always pays to shop around.
Create an eBook
If you have a series of articles on your website that can be linked together in a meaningful way, then you can repurpose them and create an eBook. This can then be published to a number of online stores for people to download for free.
Of course, you could tie it into an email capture system for your website and publish to bookstores at the same time to maximise audience and effectiveness.
There are lots more steps that you can take in order to effectively market your business, without going over your budget. The methods outlined here, though, should be enough to get you started.
