Marketing is a complex and ever-changing field, which is why most businesses choose to outsource it to an agency or hire a full-time marketing team. However, if you're on a tight budget or you simply want more control over your marketing strategy, you might choose to manage your small business marketing yourself.
Becoming your own marketing department is a big undertaking, but it's not impossible. With the right tools and strategies in place, you can successfully promote your business without throwing away money. The Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau explains how below.
Online DIY Marketing Tools
There are a number of online tools that can help you with your DIY marketing efforts. From designing professional-looking graphics to scheduling social media posts, these tools will help you save time and money while still achieving great results. Some of our favorites include:
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Canva: Canva is a user-friendly graphic design tool that's perfect for creating professional-looking images for your website, social media channels, and marketing materials. Best of all, it's free to use!
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Hootsuite: Hootsuite is a social media management platform that lets you schedule and publish posts across all of your social media channels from one easy-to-use dashboard. It also provides valuable insights into your social media performance so you can adjust your strategy as needed.
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Google Analytics: Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that provides insights into your website traffic and helps you track your marketing ROI.
Crafting a Clear Marketing Message
Before you can start promoting your business, you need to clarify your marketing message. What are you trying to say? Who are you saying it to? And why should they care? Answering these questions will help you create targeted content that resonates with your audience and drives results.
Finding The Ideal Marketing Channels
Once you know who you're targeting and what you want to say, it's time to start thinking about where to say it. Smart Insights reports that there are dozens of different marketing channels available, so it's important to choose the ones that will work best for your business. Some factors to consider include:
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Your target audience: Where do they spend their time online?
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Your budget: How much are you willing to spend on marketing?
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Your goals: What are you hoping to achieve with your marketing efforts?
Spruce Up Your Marketing Strategy
Even if you've been managing your own small business marketing for awhile now, it's important to periodically revisit and adjust your strategy as needed. Fixyr explains that the same tactics probably won't work year-to-year (and sometimes even month-to-month), so don't be afraid to experiment with new ideas and tactics. And if something isn't working, don't be afraid to ditch it and try something else. The key is to always be learning and growing so that you can continue achieving great results.
Always Closely Monitor Your Marketing Results
One of the most important aspects of DIY marketing is monitoring your results. This means tracking your website traffic, social media followers, and other key metrics so you can see how well your campaigns are performing. By tracking your results, you can adjust your strategy as needed to continue achieving success.
You may find during this review process that some of your marketing efforts didn’t quite hit the mark. Don’t worry, and don’t toss out the old materials. Instead, pull quality content from your “missed list” and modify it using the new information you’ve gathered. You can quickly convert PDF to Word files to make it easier to edit the original content. Then, you can convert it back for easy posting.
Hiring Extra Freelance Help
Working with a freelance marketing specialist can be a great way to save time and money while still achieving great results. They can help you with everything from designing marketing materials to developing a marketing strategy to tracking your results. And since they're freelancers, they're often more affordable than hiring a full-time marketing team.
Plan, Revise and Promote
If you're on a tight budget or simply want more control over your marketing strategy, managing your own small business marketing efforts is possible with the right tools and strategies in place. By clarifying your message, finding the ideal marketing channels for your business, and regularly revising your strategy as needed, you can successfully promote your business without excessive spending — or pulling all of your hair out in the process!
Join the Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau to connect with local entrepreneurs and resources that can help your business grow.
