Marketing is a huge part of any business. It is just as important for small businesses as it is for big multinational corporations. In fact, small businesses may rely on marketing even more as they cannot depend on a well-known brand name to get them by.

There are many ways to allocate marketing funds. I’m going to do a two part piece on the best ways for a small business to approach their marketing strategy and therefore reach their goals.

Social Media

Marketing can be expensive but if you are on a budget just stick to social media, its free! Social media allows a brand to be more accessible than it would be if it lacked a digital element. The Digital media serves as effective word-of-mouth advertising in its sharing capacity. Promotions, customer services and general brand awareness can spread to many more customers through social media sites. Customers are connected to so many different audiences-their family, friends, work colleagues. One simply has to scroll down a Facebook homepage to see the abilities of the ‘like’ and share’ campaigns to spread rapidly and impressively. No one can argue with free effective marketing. If you can stretch your marketing budget a bit further consider hiring a social media agent.

Promotional Products

The cost of promotional products can vary. Promotional items can be anything from mugs, to bags, to pens, to stickers. There is a huge array of products available which can help to promote your business and get your brand out there. After all who doesn’t like free stuff? In order for this to be an effective marketing tool, you must be very aware of who your target audience is and what your goals are. It is a way of amplifying your brand and the marketing benefits are huge. Simply giving out promotional pens puts your brand in the mind of the person using it. Whether your budget can stretch to luxury promotional items or simply some branded key rings, promotional giveaways are a must.

Website

Having a digital element to your company allows it to reach a global and local audience. The business may be small but that doesn’t mean it’s pool of consumers needs to be small. Having a website is essential. If consumers cannot find you online then you are setting your business up to fail. A website is worth the money you spend on it, generally between $2,000 and $15,000. Not only does it create a global awareness of your business but it also allows customers to take further action towards purchasing.

Visual Content

This can cost any where between $0 and $20,000. Visual content includes videos, photographs and graphics. A picture is worth a thousand words. Never before has this statement been more true. They allow businesses to engage with their consumers. They add value and increase engagement rates. Tweets with images receive more clicks, retweets and favourites. We’ve all seen how videos go viral. Therefore we all know that the visual element to a marketing campaign is one of the most effective ways to get your brand out there.

First seen on http://lmhinzmarketing.com/business-sense/11-things-you-should-be-doing-with-your-marketing-budget/