by Karen Petrauskas | Sep 4, 2023
Small business owner, startup, hobby turned into business, running out of funds….
If you’re working with a tight marketing budget, we totally get it. But don’t worry, because being creative is the way to go and it could become your best friend!
Here are some of our creative and cost-effective marketing strategies to consider for your smaller budget:
10 Top Tips for a creative marketing strategy
#1 Embrace the power of social media
It’s your best friend when it comes to free or low-cost marketing. Create engaging content, interact with your audience, and leverage platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to get your message across. Regularly share valuable content, run contests, and encourage user-generated content to increase brand visibility.
#2 Content Marketing
Create high-quality blog posts, articles, and videos that provide value to your audience. This can help establish your brand as an authority in your industry and drive organic traffic to your website. It might sound a little daunting when you get started, but believe me, the more you write, the easier and better it will become. You’ll discover more about your passion and even your knowledge of your subject and when you start to research and write articles, you’ll dig deeper and gain more value for yourself too. Content marketing works both ways and is beneficial to all!
#3 Collaborate with influencers
Find influencers or micro-influencers in your industry who align with your brand and values. Offer them a mutually beneficial partnership where they promote your product or service in exchange for something valuable, like exclusive discounts or samples. It will help with exposure and allowing your brand to be discovered. Start small too, you don’t have to jump on the bigger influencer you can find – in fact, micro-influencers often have a more engaged following and will give you better results. Do a little research and find a couple of good matches and give them a bell. **if you want help with this, drop us a line and we can do it for you!
#4 Word-of-mouth marketing
Encourage your satisfied customers to spread the word about your business. Offer incentives like referral discounts, freebies, or even a small commission for every new customer they bring in. When someone is impressed by what you offer, they’ll have no trouble talking to their friends and family about you! It’s a cheaper way to market your business and one the most effective.
#5 Utilise user-generated content
Ask your customers to share their experiences with your brand on social media using a specific hashtag. Repost their content and give them a shoutout, which not only saves you time and effort but also builds a sense of community around your brand. Reposting UGC on your social media accounts can enhance authenticity and reach – make the most of every post that talks about you!
Purchase your yearly social media planner – free postage direct from Amazon!
#6 Get involved in local events
One that although is not an online marketing strategy, but one that if you have some spare time could work in your favour… participate in local fairs, exhibitions, or community events where you can showcase your products or services. It’s an excellent opportunity to connect with potential customers face-to-face and create a memorable impression.
#7 Leverage email marketing
It all starts in the list! Once you’ve got your list off the ground, offer valuable content or exclusive deals to subscribers. You can regularly send out newsletters that provide useful information, updates on new products/services, and special promotions.
#8 Explore partnerships
This is a big one and so worth it! Collaborate with complementary businesses that target a similar audience but offer different products or services. Cross-promote each other through social media shoutouts, joint giveaways, or co-hosted events. Build your audiences together and help each other to grow and scale. You’ll get the knowledge from both sides and also boost confidence, get encouragement and have someone to bounce ideas to and from.
#9 Focus on SEO
Doesn’t sound very creative but when you’re marketing on a tight budget this can be key to driving traffic to your website. Optimise your website and content for search engines by using relevant keywords, creating quality backlinks, and providing valuable information. This helps improve your organic visibility and drives more traffic to your site.
#10 Take advantage of free marketing tools
There are plenty of free or affordable online tools available to help you with graphic design, social media scheduling, email marketing, and analytics. Do some research and find the ones that best suit your needs, take advantage of free trials too which give you an idea of what something can do, whilst allowing you to use their service (for free) for a limited time.
Remember, creativity doesn’t have to cost a fortune. With a little extra effort and outside-the-box thinking, you can make a big impact on a marketing on a tight budget. Good luck – and feel free to get in touch if you’d like some 1-2-1 advice or assistance, always happy to help. Let’s talk!
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by Karen Petrauskas | Apr 4, 2023
Motivational / Inspirational
We all like a good inspirational quote to keep us going or to pluck us up in the morning. As a small business owner, especially if working solo, it can be hard to know how to motivate yourself or where to find the right advice.
Here at KJP Creative, we love motivational and inspirational quotes to give anyone a nudge, a spice of courage and the push you need to get to work, create great results and feel good about yourself.
In our latest Yearly Social Media Planners, which are a great resource to plan and create a workable social media strategy and action plan throughout the year, you’ll find one of our motivation quotes at the start of every month! Available now on Amazon for just £5.99, with free P&P!
But in the meantime, here’s 24 quotes to inspire you – that’s almost one a fortnight. Bookmark this page and come back and refer to them often. We hope you’ll enjoy reading them, feel free to use them in your social media calendars as well.
“Be confident to start afresh with a clear vision and mission. New year, new goals” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Every opportunity and moment is a chance to see business growth. Grab hold and take action.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“You are your brand. Everything comes together to form your tone, your voice, your passion.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Be joyful of the things that come across your path. Everything happens for a reason.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Give good reason for your audience to love and trust your brand.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Growth comes from consistency – keep pushing – you’ll discover breakthrough if you keep going.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Social media should be enjoyed! Find your sweet sport to grow your brand online.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Trust your instincts. When it feel right, keep going and don’t look back.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Every new day allows you to make new decisions. Follow your heart and be happy with your choices.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Step into the shoes of who you are marketing to, what do you want to see and hear?” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Stand up and stand out, don’t be afraid to be set apart in order to get noticed.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Use the gifts and talents you have to make a difference.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Every opportunity is a chance to grow your business. Allow the doors to open.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Get creative with your marketing, always be authentic, passionate and desirable.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Pursue your passions and create a brand which represents your values.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Your visions will become reality when you focus, believe and take action.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Strive for what you want. Persistence will create results.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Crazy ideas often create the u-turn to success.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Inspiration comes when you’re not looking for it.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Imagine a world where everything felt good.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Know your calling. Listen to your heart. Be there for those who need you.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Passion and drive enable you to flourish and get results. Pursue.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Work backwards. Discover your end game and find the solution to get there.” – Karen J Petrauskas
“Turn your dreams into a new year reality.” – Karen J Petrauskas
If you’ve got a motivational quote to add to the above, we’d love to hear. Perhaps we’ll include it in our next round of social media planners!
On a separate note, if you’re a small business owner who struggles with finding the inspiration they need to create engaging social media content, we’d love to have a chat. We can discuss your needs and goals and help put a strategy and plan together. Use our contact page to start a conversation.
by Karen Petrauskas | Jan 31, 2023
How do you grow a small business strategically through social media, whilst dealing with overwhelm and perhaps even a little imposter syndrome?
Do you find yourself overwhelmed by all the social media channels; knowing which ones to use, which trends to jump on, what strategies to follow, who to watch, how much content to put out, etc. etc.? So much avenues, so many questions, your mind feels like it’s going to explode?
There is A LOT going on in the world when it comes to social media and the simple fact is, as a small business owner, you cannot do it all, on your own at least.
So how do you know where to start or what path to follow?
Strategy and communication.
Start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start!
Understand what it is that you want to achieve and have goals in mind that you want to meet.
From these goals you are able to establish some ground rules and a steer your marketing in a way that will help you achieve them.
Creating a strategy holds everything in place for you to build from. This is the foundation of what you are going to achieve. It can be easy to sway or to get distraction on social media, what should take 10 minutes can easily become an hour if you’re not careful, so knowing what you’re going to do and when will help deter this from happening.
And don’t be afraid to refer back to your strategy, once it’s created, it can be adapted and grown, just as your business experiences growth – your strategy will grow with it.
Marketing Knowledge
The most important step comes in the research, and for starters, research on your ideal customer, your audience and anyone who might be remotely interested in your product or service. You may need multiple streams for your marketing to flow in order to capture each of these – speaking to all of them at once might mean that your content is not relevant or catchy enough… break it all down.
Where does your ideal customer like to hang out online? This will be where you need to focus your efforts. There’s no point spending all your time on TikTok, if your audiences lives and breathes Facebook – get the drift?
Research.
And what type of content do they respond to best? Are they engaging with funny videos, do they prefer knowledge based images or carousels?
Research.
There’s no harm in asking a few questions too while you’re getting to know them. Communication is a good tool to nurture – and this is two way – interact and engage as much as possible to understand them as best you can.
Overwhelmed by social media?
Overwhelm is common on social media, some people deep-dive in, hit every channel at a fast pace but sink very quickly or burn out after time. It’s not always sustainable to be BIG all the time. Some people take their time, test the waters, discover their path and grow slowly but steadily.
Each and every business is different and there is no ‘one size fits all’ in this – however doing the ground work well will pay off.
If you’re struggling to get ahead on social media, find it too intense or can’t keep up, take a step back and start from the beginning. Create a strategy that works for your business. And don’t be afraid to reach out and speak to those around you who are already successful and achieving.
We’d love to help you strategise and put a plan of action together in order to smash your goals this year, helping you to realise your full potential. Hit the contact button and let’s talk 🙂
In the meantime, why not download our FREE Awareness Days calendar to get your audience talking!
by Karen Petrauskas | Feb 4, 2021
Don’t you just love a motivational quote that gets you geared up and ready to start something new?
Perhaps you lack a little inspiration and find it hard to get create social media content over and over again, where does new inspiration come from?
Here at KJP Creative, we want to inspire business owners to overcome that struggle and to help you in your online marketing efforts. When it comes to creating top quality social media content, you need to be fully immersed in what you believe in.
- Do your customers know who you are or what your vision is?
- Can your audience learn from you, gain insight or knowledge and take something away when they visit your social profiles?
- Are you full of energy and passion for what it is that you are sharing?
If not, it’s time to get motivated, it’s time to relight the fire from within and learn how to become inspired from the things around you.
Every Monday morning we send out our own #MondayMotivational quotes across our social media channels. These are not only to inspire those who read them, but we’re talking from where we’re at as well, creating a buzz of motivation across our team and beyond.
So, if you’re looking for a motivational or inspirational quote to lift your spirits today, here’s 52 to keep you going. One for every week of the year… enjoy!
52 motivational and inspirational quotes
New year, new start, new goals, new challenges. A new chance to succeed. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Create a strategy that guarantees results. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Mindset and passion enables success and happiness. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Love yourself, love your business, love what you stand for. Then, you will see great results. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Joy is much deeper than happiness. Seek the joy to see you through the year. – Karen J. Petrauskas
A positive attitude will steer you; an ambitious mindset will contribute to success. – Karen J. Petrauskas
It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, as long as you get back up again. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Search deep within your soul for the passion and dreams you have for your business. Find that you’ll have motivation to go all the way. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Be persistent, keep pushing the doors and strive for the dreams you want to achieve. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Goals are set to be worked on, to overcome challenges and to enable you to achieve bigger things. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Let your personality shine through everything you create, say and do. Be the voice behind your brand. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Be kind on yourself, if you don’t success, try and try again. We learn from every experience. – Karen J. Petrauskas
When you truly find something you love doing, everyone will know about it as you won’t stop talking about it! – Karen J. Petrauskas
Passion, pride and persistence – give everything you have through your marketing. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Create a plan that will sustain your business and help with your future self. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Success and happiness are the not always the same thing. Live out your dreams. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Don’t strive to be the best – strive to be the best you. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Finding joy in what you do gives motivation to keep on going. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Practice what you preach – be the example to your audience. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Be the support and help your audience needs. Utilise your social media channels for good. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Peace, patience and smiles – be the positive influence for those you come into contact with. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Understand your audience in order to make a lasting impact on those you’re trying to reach. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Your voice, your tone, your passion make up your brand persona – how does that look to those around you? – Karen J. Petrauskas
Enthusiasm, happiness and authenticity – how creative can you get in the image you want to portray? – Karen J. Petrauskas
Embrace the now, jump on the trends that are going to help your business be visible. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Build momentum, keep going, don’t give up. When something works, run with it! – Karen J. Petrauskas
Be bold in your approach. Impact those around you. Add value at every opportunity. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Create a path where your dreams can grow and your visions will become reality. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Love doesn’t stop when you’ve found a passion. It grows and develops into something beautiful. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Who you are on the inside will show on the outside when you’re true to yourself. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Showcase your passions through every act, word and deed. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Business success when you’re on the correct path. Follow your heart, soul and dreams. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Don’t worry about what people think, be confident in what you believe in. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Take risks once in a while, it’s good for business! – Karen J. Petrauskas
Be the example, show leadership; be the help when people need you. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Take every day as it comes and seize every opportunity as it appears. – Karen J. Petrauskas
You don’t need to be perfect, just confident that you’ve done your best. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Pursue dreams. Joy comes from doing something you truly love. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Revisit your goals often and align where you’re heading to where you want to be. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Success doesn’t happen overnight – 100% dedication and hard work mixed with passion and motivation creates results. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Creative inspiration produces creative results… allow your mind to get creative. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Happiness helps your business flourish – are you happy in what you’re doing? – Karen J. Petrauskas
Are you an achiever or a dreamer? Take action to see your dreams come to fruition. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Spark a flame to ignite the passion you once had. What makes you passionate? Use that motivation to further in business. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Love. Dream. Create. Inspire. There’s always room to discover bigger results. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Goals give you something to aim for, something to hold on to, and something to achieve. Otherwise, where are you heading? – Karen J. Petrauskas
Pursue joy in everything. Your radiance will shine through your business, bringing sunshine to all those you meet. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Are you ready to take bigger steps to achieve bigger dreams? Reach for the stars and don’t look down. – Karen J. Petrauskas
We create our own happiness, we may not know it but our actions are reactions play a part in where we end up. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Take risks, keep going and step out of your comfort zone – how much more will you achieve! – Karen J. Petrauskas
Trust your instincts to take you down the right path, and then keep going. – Karen J. Petrauskas
Follow your heart in all that you set your mind to. Passion produces results.
We hope that you find comfort, discover more of yourself and are motivated within your own social media marketing efforts while reading these posts. Please use them within your own channels if you think they will help and inspire more people. Here’s your chance to make a difference, here’s your chance to find inspiration to make shifts or alignments within yourself to feel more confident or capable in what you’re striving to achieve. We’d love to hear about what you’re doing and the inspiration that you have.
And keep following our social media channels for weekly motivational content.
Enjoy!
PS if you’d like help creating inspiring content for your audience, we’d love to sit down over a (virtual) coffee and talk you through what’s possible for your social media. Get in touch today.
by Karen Petrauskas | Jan 16, 2021
It’s a new year with much to get excited about and when we think about a social media strategy and plan for a new year, or a new campaign, or whatever it may be – there is so much enthusiasm you can bring into the mix. Whether you are working on your own business marketing, or you’re helping a client reach their goals, always bring the excitement with you to the table. If it’s not there, come back when it is!
For content marketing and social media managers, coming up with fresh and new content for clients can become difficult and stagnant, especially if the client doesn’t have anything new to give. But there are ways to work around this and producing content that brings their social channels to life is part of the job… you are the creative one and it’s your job to make the magic happen!
But where do you start?
– Have you lost your enthusiasm?
– Are you having trouble sticking to, or creating a plan that works?
– Are you skipping the planning stages, hoping for the best?
The best advice we can give as an agency, is to understand your client’s (or your own) business right down to the nitty gritty detail. What customers are they trying to attract, what makes them special, what can they offer, what do they give that’s of value, and what is unique about them that will stand out from the competition?
Then it’s about putting everything into a process.
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Find inspiration
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Create a strategy
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Make an action plan
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Implement
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= Results… success
Find inspiration
I heard an interview this morning with Lola Lennox, Annie Lennox’s daughter, who was sharing about her new song that she had released, written and recorded at home during the Covid-19 lockdown. She was asked if she was a daydreamer and the answer she gave was that all songwriters are daydreamers as they have to pluck content from deep within in order to produce a song.
This struck me that we, as social media marketers, are also in that same boat. We write content for many clients at a time, often in completely different industries, but providing a (daily) flow of content for all. Where does that inspiration come from?!
To start with, you need to be creative in the first place. If you’re a business owner reading this and you’re struggling with implementing a good social media presence, don’t waste your time, find someone that can do it without struggle and that has the capacity to do a good job. It’s far better to have something done well, than half an effort that’s poor. If you are creative but are stuck for ideas, keep reading…
So, what comes first in the process of creating an awesome content calendar, and how do you come up with great both copy and graphics for each and every client, that is different and unique for each?
You need inspiration. This doesn’t come all at once or at a specific time – especially when you want it to – but often comes when you’re out and about or going about your everyday normality of life. When you’re out, always have a notebook or a phone to hand to keep a journal of the things that inspire you, otherwise by the time you get home, you’ll have forgotten everything!
Take a walk, read a book, have a chat on the phone with a friend, look out the window – all these different things can provide you with snippets of inspiration. Take photos or screenshots while you’re busy, doodle or draw pictures – whatever it is that brings out your creative streak.
Also, a great way to be inspired by the industry is to look at what content that industry is producing. Search for keywords in Instagram or Twitter to find the types of content which is gaining good engagement. Take a look at the profiles who are following these high engaging posts and see the types of posts they are enjoying too. If you can see what content works, it can inspire you to create things along the same line.
Your ideas don’t have to come all at once but collate all your material in a central place that when you come to your dedicated time to write content, you’ve got a bank of details to use.
Make a plan
A good content calendar is built on a strategy and an action plan, filled with much research and knowledge of the business and with their goals and targets at hand.
With an in depth understanding of the goals in mind, the content can be built around everything you have learned and gathered along the way. But don’t think sell, sell, sell at every opportunity – think of the bigger picture and the audience you’re speaking to. What do they want to hear or gain from having communication from the business?
Marketing strategy ideas:
- Create and understand the various personas you’ll be working with
- Research the business in depth
- Ensure branding throughout, in both copy, style and graphics
- Decide how many times to post during a week
- What type of content will match the brand
- What style of graphics will work
Implement
Pull all your plans together and work out how to fit everything in best with what’s happening within the business and the campaigns / goals that you want to meet, and you’ll have a content calendar that will run for ages, that you can come back to, adapt, amend, and recycle to keep recreating content.
Tip: Create content that is ‘evergreen’, that can be used again and again. For example, with one blog post, you could create a selection of posts to go with it and have them on a rolling cycle.
This process can be rolled out through all the various channels that you run as a social media manager. Different businesses will have different goals and focusses, but the thought basis behind it all is the same process for each.
Have you tried using a check list to help you stay on top of your social media marketing? You can download a FREE copy of our Social Media Checklist here.
See the results – discover success!
The outcome of seeing everything fall into place and working as you hoped is satisfying to say the least. Everything that you’ve done and worked hard to put together has paid off. Keep the momentum going by engaging with everyone that interacts with your social channels. Engagement is key to building the brand and growing your followers. Of course, growing the likes and followers is great, but what is the ultimate goal – to bring in leads and eventually sales? Don’t forget to build relationships with your followers, they are human! A good brand is built on trust and loyalty, create those bonds by creating a good customer experience and you’ll be set.
Also, be sure to check your analytics on each social channels to see what has worked best, what type of content is gaining the best interaction and what times of day your audience is online. Understanding what your audience is enjoying from your content is a basis to grow, put this knowledge into your strategy and keep going.
When you go through the process above, you’ll find how easy it is to access the creativity in the back of your mind. Keeping a journal of things that inspire you, and photos along the way, is the best way to keep the bank of content flowing. You’ll soon find it all becomes routine and you’ll establish a system where awesome social media content comes naturally.
What top tips do you have to ensure you’re running a smooth social media management service for your clients? We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below.
And if you’re a business looking for help in their social media, get in touch, we’d love to talk!
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Written by Karen Petrauskas, owner of KJP Creative
Grab yourself a copy of KJP Creative’s Social Media Yearly Planner and get yourself organised through this year: