5 Low-Cost Marketing Strategies For Your Business

There’s never been a better time to ensure you are implementing and measuring low-cost marketing strategies.

To help guide you with what will work for your business, I have put together 5 low-cost marketing strategies that you can implement today!

5 low-cost marketing strategies to attract customers right now.

Let’s dive in to see if you can add these 5 low-cost marketing strategies as additional marketing weapons for your business.

1. Customer Reviews

If you haven’t already, it’s time to embrace reviews. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re here to stay and they can have a huge impact on the success of your business.   

As a business owner, it is wise and worth the time to get a robust customer service experience in place so that you are confident in the delivery of your product/service and that you have effective processes in place to manage customer complaints & compliments.

I recently put one into place for a client who had both a low number of reviews and also a low score. We reviewed what was causing the customer complaints and went about fixing these up.  Fortunately, it was some process issues and not the product itself that was disappointing to customers.  We streamlined the process, making the experience much better for customers and we are now seeing much better reviews from happy customers.

There is absolute value in those star ratings for your business so make sure you set up a system & process to ensure your business shines!

TOP TIP:

Send out an email (try to automate it if you can) asking customers for a testimonial including a link directly to review page.  I think its extremely valuable to also include examples of what other customers have written.  A lot of times people are more than willing to write a review however they may not be sure what to write so by giving them examples, it may be just enough to give them the confidence to click through and write the review.

Click here to learn more about how to benefit from Customer Reviews.

2. Win-Back Campaign

Go through your past customer records and send out a communication (email, SMS or post) with a win-back offer or message. It could be:

• a discount to be applied within X days
• update on new products/services you now have
• book for a 1-to-1 consult with you
• free quote/no obligation quote

3. Partner Up

One of my favourites is forming strategic partnerships with complementary and like-minded businesses.

The idea here is that you both get to extend your audiences as you’ll be promoting each others services/products to your respective databases which in turn will grow your audience base.

Here’s some examples that may assist you with ideas for your business:

Real estate agent partners with a local cafe to promote their services and the local cafe is promoted within the Real Estate agency and a free coffee card is included in all new rentals and owner buyer packs.

A plumber partners up with typical home maintenance services to form somewhat of an unofficial co-op to help customers out.  The plumber provides a service to one of their customers and that customer is informed about the co-op and given a discount on the services of the others within the co-op.  This could be presented on each of the businesses websites, social accounts and by distributing a flyer at each job.

A celebrant works with a select group of venues to recommend their locations for suitable wedding couples and in turn the venue’s recommend the celebrant as their preferred celebrant for all on-site weddings.

You may have seen Rebel Sports local sporting club rebate program whereby they offer the local sporting club a rebate on any purchases. For example, a child plays soccer at Burleigh Heads Football Club and shops at Rebel Sport Pacific Fair.  For every dollar spent by any children of that club, the soccer club will receive a 5% rebate. Simple and all parties win!

4. Outbound Calling

We’re kicking it old school with this one.  I remember the days when I worked as a travel consultant at Traveland Toombul Shopping Centre where I would issue quotes to potential clients, I’d diarise to follow them up and diarise again until I had an outcome.  

In today’s digital world, it is easy to automate these follow-ups or just go with sending an email or text to follow up.  If you have the time, I personally don’t think there is a better way to re-engage with past customers. There's even opportunities with those people who you may have quoted for in the past but didn't convert at that time - it might be that they're ready for your services/product now!

And at the same time, it’s almost like a bit of market research as your conversation can include questions that will give you insights to their current state of mind, what they need right now (or in the future), and may lead to a brilliant new idea for your business. 

It also gives you the perfect opportunity to ask them if you can call them back in the future (if they aren’t quite ready to use your services at the time) removing any awkwardness as they’ve agreed to you making contact again.

5. Host an Event

You can host a relatively low-cost event by having it in your workplace, and if thats not an option, talk to local halls or surf clubs or even sporting clubs who offer low hire rates. They may even be open to some sort of contra arrangement.

You could also look to co-host an event with one of your Partners or Suppliers to share the costs and double your audience size!

TOP TIP – be sure you are 100% clear on what value your event will bring to your ideal customer.

As an example, a client  in Brisbane runs a VIP night each quarter where she works with one of her suppliers to be able to offer an exclusive offer and share the costs of the evening. These events are extremely popular, provide great social media content and make clients feel important & valued.  It’s also the perfect opportunity to showcase new products or services and further enhance your positioning as an authority in the subject of what your business offers.

Use one, two, three or all of the five low-cost marketing strategies to give your business a boost.