7 Outside the Box Ways To Market Your Small Business

When you are cash-strapped, or you have a limited budget to fund your marketing ideas, you need to think outside the box. It's time to explore new ways to promote your business, products and services to your target audience. Here are some innovative, out of the box ideas that will get the job done at a low price.

1. Use customer customisation

Most customers will cherish a personalized product. More than half of the participants in a survey said that they would consider a brand if they got a personalized incentive. Many brands have already started putting their customer's names on drinks, T-shirts and other items. So be ready to try this out and observe the response from your customers. Look for ways to put your client or customer's name on any product they buy. If you sell clothing or bags, you can provide free monogramming for your buyers.

2. Show deeper appreciation

If you have shown appreciation to your customers before, it's time to do it more often or in a new way. And if you've not formed the habit of appreciating existing customers, you need to develop the habit of saying a heartfelt "thank you". Most customers will respond with repeat business when you show appreciation for the products they buy.

You can do this by printing their names on gift items or customizing your products with monogram printing. For instance, if you run a restaurant, you can appreciate your customers by hosting a special event and inviting them to have a taste of newly introduced menu items. If you sell apparel, you can attract customers to a fashion show and showcase new arrivals.

You can even publicize the event through an event website and make it known to both old and new customers.

3. Start a loyalty program

There are different ways to solicit for repeat business from existing customers. Developing a loyalty program is one of the most effective. Most customers will gladly sign up for loyalty cards and get discounts and rewards for participating in your loyalty program. Since most businesses use P.O.S terminals and online portals, you can easily print out loyalty points for the customer each time they buy an item from your e-commerce website or physical store.

4. Conduct a customer survey

When you've tried various marketing strategies, and you are not satisfied with the results, it's time to take a customer survey. A survey can provide more in-depth insight into what you need to do to attract more customers and sell more products. To encourage your audience to participate, you can add a raffle prize like a gift voucher or special discount of $100 or more for the lucky winner.

5. Encourage sharing of your content

This works well when you are giving out digital content like an e-book as a special offer to capture leads. When the prospect gets to your Thank You page, you can encourage them to share it to receive another type of content or free offer. Of course, the second piece of content must be of higher value.

This strategy will not cost you much except for the time you need to use to create the offer and the cost of the email distribution service. With this method, you can put your content before a broad audience in a short time.

6. Connect with an influencer

Find an influencer that can complement the type of products or services you offer. You can ask them to answer some interview questions if you feel they will be too busy to write a new guest post or article for your website or social media page. Make sure your audience is engaged in the type of content that the chosen influencer shares. If you sell to B2B buyers, they will be attracted by content provided by industry thought leaders.

7. Create a marketing mastermind group

You won't get better results from your marketing if you keep using the same tactics. This means you must be open to fresh ideas. You need to be ready to apply different strategies that will make your business grow. You can enjoy a continuous stream of new marketing ideas by creating brainstorming or mastermind group in your company. Encourage your key employees to put forward new marketing ideas and reward them for this.

Building a business on a budget

When you have a tight budget, you can use these ideas to market your business and get reasonably good results. Evaluate what you've been doing and if you are not satisfied with the returns you are getting, apply these tips to get better results.

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Tags: Marketing , SME , Small Business, Startup, Guest Post