Small business is bracing for a tough 2023. Economic decline, with rising business costs has meant a tightening of the belt, particularly with marketing expenditure.
But it’s a catch-22 because without marketing, your business suffers.
Marketing campaigns have a proven track record for capturing attention, building brands and driving sales. But campaigns have always been thought of as expensive.
The good news? They don’t need to be.
I’m a campaign strategist with over 21 years of experience. I’ve created campaigns for leading brands like Vegemite, BIC and Maybelline.
Now, I’m a small-business owner with a team of three, marketing my business on a limited budget.
Last week we launched a marketing campaign. It cost less than $10K. The centrepiece of the campaign was a 70-second film. So far, its had 150K views in one week. Our website traffic is up 400 per cent and I’ve been invited as a guest on three podcasts. And these are just the initial results.
If you want to create a budget-friendly campaign that gets results, here are my top tips:
Forgo the agency
I’m a big fan of the creative work that comes out of leading agencies, but let’s be honest, not everyone can afford a $20K+ campaign concept.
Nothing is stopping you from coming up with your own campaign idea.
Creativity is divergent thinking, the ability to think in many different directions. The fact you started a business means you think divergently; you already have the potential to look at one thing and see multiple possibilities and connect dots others can’t see.
Collaborate for mutual benefit
There is a currency other than cash. My budget didn’t stretch to cover an acting coach for my campaign, and it certainly wasn’t going to cover hiring paid actors. Even though I’m a marketer, not an actress, I needed to star in my own show.
I found a voice and acting coach who was happy to coach me in exchange for marketing consulting, a win-win.
To save on media costs, I contacted other businesses with overlapping audiences and struck up an agreement to cross-promote one another in our newsletters.
Your email list, social media following, podcast, blog, physical premises, expertise and time can all be leveraged.
Use a mix of paid, earned, owned and borrowed channels
When you integrate your campaign across all your media channels, there is a multiplier effect. Aristotle’s quote, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” applies to your campaigns.
We used paid social media advertising as well as organic social media channels, our email list (owned) and a dedicated landing page on our website (owned).
We reached out to customers and our community and called on them to share (earned) our campaign. I will soon appear on those podcasts I mentioned before (earned.) Plus, what you’re reading now is earned media.
The devil is in the detail
We were able to save money by doing a lot of the heavy lifting ourselves. By delivering a crystal-clear brief, knowing our requirements for tech and other equipment and being super organised, we filmed in half a day, saving big dollars.
Big productions are out, and scrappy is in.
When you have a creative idea and a compelling message, you don’t need bells and whistles. You can deliver a budget-friendly campaign that resonates with your audience and gets results.
It takes a big idea, leveraging your network, grit and organisation. But it’s worth its weight in gold for your business. And the satisfaction? Unbeatable.
