Nowadays, a Digital Marketing Strategy is at the center of every marketing department in almost all the firms.
Digital marketing is a powerful thing—one can use it to target your audience in the best way possible. In addition to increasing conversion rates, it can assist in increasing revenue as well.
But we all know that digital marketing can also get expensive. You pay for Google AdWords; you pay for Facebook ads; you might retarget your website visitors. All of these things cost money.
So, what if you don’t have a marketing budget? What if you’re trying to start a business or organization on a shoestring budget?
We’ve put together this article to showcase twelve zero-budget digital marketing strategies that will work for any size business or organization, whether it’s just starting or has been around for years.
No matter how much money they have available to spend on their digital marketing campaigns, these are strategies that anyone can use.
1. Optimize website for conversions
By default, every business today has a website that informs visitors about the company’s products and services. However, few businesses take the time to optimize their website to turn visitors into consumers. As a first step, every digital marketer must optimize the website adequately.
If done properly, website optimization can provide several quantifiable economic benefits. Optimizing a website increases its conversion rate of visitor traffic to email subscribers, readers, or paying customers. As a result of increased efficiency, client acquisition and traffic-generating efforts such as web searches, Google Ads, social media promotions, and email marketing generate a higher return on investment.
When optimizing a website, major ranking elements to consider include:
- Adjusting page titles.
- Decreasing page load times.
- Minimizing poor user experience.
- Utilizing the appropriate keywords.
- Providing well-written content.
2. Start blogging
When your marketing budget is limited, blogging is a great way to promote your brand.
Blogging is an excellent way to generate word-of-mouth marketing for your business or brand, which is invaluable to increasing interest in what you do. You can provide tips and techniques and lessons, share your thoughts and predictions, or personalize your blogging to the specific needs of your business. You may supply your audience with essential insights and information by blogging, developing authority as an industry leader, and potentially collecting leads.
Long-form content, such as articles or blog posts, helps draw visitors to your website. By giving them valuable content, regardless of whether they are at the top of the funnel or looking for more detailed information, you can provide value to the audience while increasing their likelihood of converting into leads. By utilizing the right keywords and following basic SEO tactics, you can improve your SERP exposure and bring more traffic to your websites.
Additionally, you may choose to consider guest posting. Guest blogging will introduce you to a new audience and help you increase the number of backlinks to your blog.
3. Social Media Marketing
Social networking is one of the most straightforward and accessible methods of introducing your brand to potential clients. It’s simple to publish information about your business on various social media platforms, whether news about new products or services, corporate updates, or information about promotions and events.
You may open a free account on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and instantly begin building a network for your business. As these networks expand in tandem with your business, the more probable it is that your posts will be seen and action taken.
With the introduction of reels and IGTVs on Instagram and other social media platforms such as Clubhouse, Snapchat, and others, engagement may be increased without spending money; all that is required is regularity in publishing material.
Also, do not forget to use the current social media trends to generate content that resonates with your audience.
4. Search engine optimization & Local search
SEO, or “search engine optimization,” is a technique for assisting your website in achieving a higher ranking in search engine results. Generally, it entails using precise, detailed language and properly positioned content.
Not many startup firms emphasize SEO, which is a huge mistake. Most individuals continue to use Google to search for their requirements, and whichever brand appears at the top of the SERPs wins both their lead and business.
One of the most typical difficulties that startups encounter is establishing a sufficient level of visibility to attract clients. Increased visibility and search ranks compared to a possible competition might significantly impact your end goal. As the leading source of digital traffic to your website,’ search’ is critical to your digital marketing plan. Even though it may not produce fast results, all organizations should make developing, implementing, and growing an SEO plan a key priority.
Optimize your website for Local search
Before engaging in any marketing strategy, you should optimize your website for local search. Local search marketing is one of the most effective methods of attracting new customers.
Accurate company and customer information are critical for local search marketing. Local SEO can assist you in ranking on the first page of search engine results pages and bringing more relevant visitors to your website. Additionally, including your address, phone number, and location enables folks to contact you. This allows the appropriate group of individuals to locate you readily.
Local search optimization is an excellent, cost-effective digital marketing method for reaching the relevant audience for your organization.
5. Post content on YouTube
If you wonder, “How do I promote my business without spending any money?” the answer is right on your computer: videos!
Video content is more shareable than ever these days, and the best part is – It’s free! Produce an eye-catching video that showcases your products or services in action and post it on YouTube. With the right strategy, you can create excellent brand awareness and build a loyal audience on YouTube without spending money or hiring an expert.
Make sure to include your name, website address, and contact information at the end of the video so that viewers can find out more about you or connect with you on social media.
Several additional strategies to leverage YouTube for free promotion include the following:
- Respond to customer questions/complaints with a video answering their question/complaining about their complaint
- Publish employee testimonials from satisfied customers
- Publish product tutorials
- Publish reviews of similar products or services from similar businesses
- Publish funny or unusual videos (i.e., someone getting hit in the face with a pie) that become viral hits.
6. Set up Email Campaigns and Newsletters
Email marketing is an excellent strategy to increase conversions, and it requires no money or technological expertise. You do not even need to have a website!
Establishing a mailing list for your business is one of the most critical tasks you can undertake, and it’s completely free! A few email marketing service providers, such as Mailchimp, offer a restricted value package that is free for life.
Along with reminding them of your existence, email campaigns effectively promote special deals or discounts. You can also use email to notify clients about new products or services or share information about things you believe they should read.
Send out weekly or monthly newsletters with educational content that serves as both content marketing and also as an opportunity to direct traffic back to your site, where they can learn more about your products and services. Newsletters are also an excellent approach to engaging with your audience and informing them about a new product or service launch. Don’t send emails too often, or the customer will tune out.
7. Conduct webinars with experts
Educating consumers through webinars is one of the most effective ways to grow your business.
Webinars with an industry expert are an excellent way to increase your brand’s awareness and generate leads. The trick is to choose an industry expert willing to speak on your company’s behalf.
Webinars have numerous benefits: they are instructive, entertaining, and enable specialists to communicate with those seeking assistance. Most people show great interest in learning how to get started in specific industries like Digital Marketing, Data Science, etc.
There is no reason why you cannot host a free webinar to engage with potential clients or partners using platforms like Google Hangouts, Zoom, or Skype. The benefit of conducting one of these sessions is that no travel expenses are incurred, no printed materials are required, and no gifts for attendance are required. To pull it off, you’ll need the following:
- A topic that people are interested in learning.
- A platform for streaming the event.
- A co-host or two who are comfortable speaking in public.
- An audience!
Do not forget to research the most effective methods for increasing audience participation and driving traffic to your webinar.
8. Give away free content
Free content may be a powerful tool for acquiring new customers and increasing brand awareness. Generating free content—ebooks, white papers, tutorials, and how-to manuals—is one of the most cost-effective strategies for growing your audience and increasing sales. This is referred to as “content marketing.”
Content marketing is more than simply words. Content marketing includes:
- Producing a series of how-to videos.
- Posting advertisements on social media.
- Structuring your information into an infographic.
- Writing articles about your products and sharing.
These are all critical components of increasing brand recognition for your product.
When you attempt to educate your clients with content marketing activities, you generate goodwill for your business and boost customer loyalty.
While content marketing is completely free, it does require a significant amount of time, work, and strategy to achieve the desired outcomes.
9. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing costs money, you may wonder. But not always!
When you choose a micro-influencer in their growth stage and provide value in exchange for the association, they may promote your business for free.
Micro-influencers could be established bloggers or well-known Twitter celebrities. These individuals already have an audience and are trusted by their followers for being transparent and posting helpful content.
How to gain free brand promotion via micro-influencers:
- Find the right micro-influencers
- Get them to tell you what they want
- Provide them with something valuable in exchange
Make an effort to devise strategies that mutually benefit you and your micro-influencer. Several methods include
- Cross-promotion of each other’s social media profiles,
- Gifting your products to them in exchange for promotional postings
- Lending your physical product to them for personal use on special occasions and leveraging their images as promotional material for your brand.
The future of branding is personal. People place a higher premium on influencers than on brands, which means that the identical promotional post will perform better if it is shared on the influencer’s social media account rather than the company’s.
10. Customer referral programs
A customer referral program is an incentive program in which businesses compensate existing customers for suggesting their friends. These programs are an excellent approach to increasing business via word of mouth. If you are not currently utilizing one, now is the time to begin!
There are various ways to accomplish this, but the underlying concept is always the same: reward your consumers for bringing you new business.
A common type of referral program rewards individuals who refer new customers with free or heavily discounted products or services. If you want individuals to be passionate about referring new clients, provide them with a valuable incentive.
The statistics demonstrate the effectiveness of word-of-mouth and recommendations. Referrals are an excellent approach to building your relationship with current clients while acquiring new ones.
11. Cross-promotions
“Cross-promotion” has been a straightforward concept for as long as businesses have existed. It occurs when two or more firms collaborate to promote one another and their products or services, with the common goal of increasing sales for all parties.
McDonald’s is a typical example of this since they give away complimentary glasses with their logo at Coca-Cola vending machines. Both businesses benefit from increased value—the client receives a delightful gift, Coca-Cola sells more soda and McDonald’s gains more customers.
This is a win-win scenario. You will promote another business on your platforms in exchange for them promoting yours on theirs.
This method must include both parties willing to participate and be mutually beneficial for this method to be effective.
It’s also necessary for the businesses involved in cross-promotion campaigns to appeal to the same audience.
12. Customer Reviews
An intelligent method to improve the information on your website is to leverage your customers’ expertise. User-generated content—reviews, personal experiences, and even images—provides a steady flow of new ideas, information, and critical insights that you may not find elsewhere.
The advantage of user-generated content is that, when done correctly, it can be pretty effective in closing a transaction, as it comes from a trustworthy source: a satisfied client who tells others how fantastic you are. Additionally, it can aid in the development of consumer loyalty and retention.
It can also assist you in getting into your consumers’ heads and understanding what they want from you and provide you with a clearer image of how you can better serve them.
The most effective method of utilizing user-generated content is to encourage customers to submit photographs and tales directly to your brand’s social media sites.
User-generated content is an excellent source of material for your business’s blog, YouTube channel, and social media channels.
Conclusion
The approaches outlined above are proven and effective. However, there are additional strategies to launch a digital marketing campaign on a shoestring budget, such as starting a podcast, viral marketing efforts, and public relations activities.
While digital marketing is critical for success in today’s competitive company environment, you do not have to spend a fortune on PPC or social media ads to get clients. Instead, you may be creative in developing zero-cost digital marketing strategies to promote your brand.