fbpx
Marketing On A Tight Budget

Marketing On A Tight Budget

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!

personal social media coaching for business growth | Karen Petrauskas

#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!

KJP Creative social media planner: marketing strategy

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.

Are you using social media for your freelance business?

#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!

 

DOWNLOAD NOW FOR FREE…

free Awareness Days Calendar / KJP Creative

How To Overcome Social Media Overwhelm

How To Overcome Social Media Overwhelm

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?

 

Marketing strategy basics | start at the very beginning - KJP Creative

 

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.

 

personal social media coaching for business growth | Karen Petrauskas

 

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!

 

free Awareness Days Calendar / KJP Creative

 

Is Social Media A Priority For Your Business?

Is Social Media A Priority For Your Business?

We all know that marketing is important to any business, but when it comes to social media, are you one that forgets about creating regular posts and engaging with your customers online?

Yes it can be easy to forget, we get that – you’re a busy business owner with lots of plates to spin – but it’s also a vital part of your growth strategy which will help you further down the line.

  • Putting off posting because you don’t know WHAT to post?
  • Putting off posting because you don’t have the TIME to post?
  • Putting off posting because you don’t think it’s RELEVANT?

All of these factors are important things to consider – but when you understand them, it’s a lot easier to put them into practice.

What to post on social media:

So many people have absolutely no idea what to post on their social media channels. We hear things like “I want to grow my business, but what on earth do I put on a Facebook page?”. They watch us take over for a month, and they’re like… “yes, we get it now”.

The first thing to do when you hit a brick wall like this is to get your notepad out and start to write everything down about your business. Split it up into sections, for example, if you’re running an e-commerce store:

  • What types of stock do you sell
  • Who is the stock for / age range / demographics etc
  • What are the prices
  • What’s your USP? Unique selling proposition. What makes you stand out from the rest. What makes your product better than anything else?
  • Who would benefit from your products.

… you get the idea – everything you can think of in relation to what your business is about.

This then can be thought of in terms of a Facebook or Instagram post. Creating a post that’s showcasing a particular beauty product, list it’s benefits, who it’s for and the amazing price. This of course, would be a post that is targeting for selling.

*Tip: Don’t sell, sell, sell across your channels, you’ll need to mix it up with other engaging content as well.

3 top tips to get quick results on social media and see business growth | KJP Creative

When to post on social media:

Take some time to research when and where your audience is hanging out and what times of day they are most likely going to see your content. If you’re targeting new parents, during the day probably wouldn’t be best, as they’re busy looking after their newborn. But, how about early in the morning when everyone else is still in bed and they’re up feeding the baby at stupid-o-clock? Or later in the evening when they’ve put the baby to bed and have some time to lounge on the sofa and check their Facebook feed?

Get into the mindset of the reader and consider the most likely times they will be around. This might take a few trial and errors, but you’ll soon discover what times of day gets the most engagements. Then all your content can be scheduled ahead of time, ready to reach the reader when they’re ready.

 

Is your social media content relevant?

Some people think that their content is just not that relevant to others on social media, they have a ‘boring’ niche, or it’s not your average choice of reading material. Hey, everyone’s got to have what they need at some point in time, and why not while they’re scrolling their news feeds?

We’ve worked with quite a few Accountants in the past, and this is pretty similar to how they think – who’s going to want to hear about accountancy when they’re trying to relax!

Well, let’s switch it up a bit. You’ve got your newbie mum, looking after her baby and has lots of amazing ideas for what she could do instead of going back to work. She is etching to get a new business started when she has some free time. She’s worried that she won’t have the right knowledge in order to get started. Should she be a sole trader, start as a Limited Company… she’s lost. One evening she puts the kids to bed, tidies up the toys, and makes room to stop for the last part of the evening for some ‘me’ time and heads over to her Instagram feed. The first post that pops up is an accountancy company giving their top 5 tips for starting a new business – with tips on choosing the right type of company structure. This post instantly appeals to her and she stops to read, gaining confidence in the content she’s just read and giving her more ideas for her new business venture. Where is she likely to go back to when she wants to learn more?

You’ve got to know who your content is relevant for, how to target them and how to hit their sweet spot.

Your content isn’t going to be relevant if you go and post something about home life, when you’re looking for professionalism. It’s not going to be relevant if you want to target older couples and you use images of teenagers… work out who you’re speaking to and create the content to reach them in their safe zones.

At the end of the day, your competition WILL be online and growing their business through social media, and we don’t want you to get left behind. Your social media channels are a lifeline and can create many opportunities to see bigger and better results.

So get the post-it notes out and leave reminders for yourself to post on Social – every day is possible! Create a reminder on your phone to make time to write the content. When you find something that inspires you, write it on a post-it and keep them to one side ready for when you’re able to sit down and post… just get social! ❤️

Need help getting started? Get in touch today 👆

In the meantime, we’d love to give you a copy of our Social Media Awareness Days Calendar to give you some ideas of what to post about – find the ones that are relevant, get the conversation started and jump on the engagement with lots more relevant and timely content. Have fun!

free Awareness Days Calendar / KJP Creative

 

Be Passionate In Your Marketing

Be Passionate In Your Marketing

Our social media news feeds are filled to overflowing of posts and articles that half of the time are pointless to us. There is so much content out there that it can be really hard to make an impact or float your business above everything else that is going on out there. But there is a way for you to be proud of your posts and make people more aware of you and your brand – and that’s by being passionate about your business.

Let’s be honest, it’s quite easy to put a quick Facebook post together and put it out there in the hope that someone will see it but it’s not as easy to create a post that is going to get noticed and create a reaction.

We need to stop ‘just putting posts out there’ and start being passionate about our brand, the products or services that we produce and put our enthusiasm into the content. There was a reason you started your business, there is a reason why you believe in what you’re doing, there is a reason why you want people to work with you. You have a story to tell, you have a drive and motivation that you want to get out there… and that’s the ammunition that you need to use in order to create a result.

Start with yourself and your story

This is a good place to start, from the beginning. What made you passionate about what you’re doing? How did the whole business get started and how has it built to where it is today? Take your customers / followers on a journey or getting to know the real you. Let them gain enthusiasm like you do and take them through all that you love, say, do in order to really understand everything that you’re doing. You want to create a bond, a trust with your audience and you want them to love your brand as much as you do.

Speak with relevance

As we said, anyone can create a quick Facebook post but does it have meaning, is it true to your business, will it inspire or educate someone, does it reflect your brand? All these things make up what a post should include. It needs to speak to your ideal audience, not your next door neighbour or family member. Don’t put up a post that has no meaning or relevance to your business, you can do this on your personal profiles, but stick to relevant content that your readers are going to want to hear.

Be passionate in your social media content

Create eye-catching content

We’re not all brilliant graphic designers but there are many (free) tools out there that can help. If you’ve not yet discovered Canva, we suggest you take a look! The perfect space for you to create images to the right size, with the right feel, utilising templates, colours, fonts and more to speak to your audience. There are many pre-made templates to inspire you and if you simply don’t have an eye for design, you can use these as your own. There are also many royalty free stock image sites that you can make use of too. The image you choose for your social media posts are going to be the stopping point, or not, for your readers. If they like the image, they’ll stop to read what you have to say.

Use thought-provoking copy

Just like the image, your copy should make someone have a reaction. Whether you are trying to make them smile, laugh, cry or think, touching a reader’s emotion will create an impact. By understanding your audience and knowing what they are looking for, you’ll have a better understanding of what to put in your posts. Create emotion, empathy, use real-life illustration or examples – touch hearts and minds by what you write.

Use call-to-actions

You don’t need to do this in every post but the way to create engagement is to tell your readers what you want them to do after reading your post. Do you want them to comment, to share, to click through to a website? Ask them to! In most cases you need to ask someone to go to the next step in order for them to do it. It’s not cheeky and don’t feel guilty about asking people to do things – use your social media in the best way possible to get people to know, like and trust you – if that’s by giving them something further to follow or read, that’s fine!

 

With everything you create online, be sure to keep it branded, relevant and inspirational. You want your content to stand out and you need people to engage, as that’s what social media is all about! The key to growing your business, seeing an increase in sales, building a following and creating a sustainable business is in the engagement. When you’ve established how to get people to interact and engage, you’re on the right path to seeing the rest fall into place.

If you’d like help with creating a strategy or social media marketing plan that will keep your audience coming back for more, we’d love to talk. We’re online marketing specialist who love to get social, love to get to know your business and want to help you create a successful, engaging brand online. Get in touch today!

In the meantime, why not download our social media checklist – don’t forget the basics to get you started. It’s FREE! 👇

 

social media checklist free download

 

What’s The Point Of Social Media Marketing For Business?

What’s The Point Of Social Media Marketing For Business?

We’ve all heard it said by someone; “What’s the point in social media marketing?”, you’ve probably even said it yourself at some point. But as a business owner there is absolutely point in making an effort to showcase your brand online through the power of the many social media platforms there are to hand.

Not every platform is going to be relevant or applicable to your business. Not everyone has time to spend creating fantastic eye-catching content to spread across social media. But the point of the matter is, it is a necessity in today’s digital world that a business needs to be online in order to be heard.

  • But where do you start when it comes to online marketing?
  • How do you create great posts, especially if design or creativity is not your strong point?
  • When and where do you post and how do you manage it all?
  • Why should you bother?

Lots of questions and all that have some great answers which we’ll cover in this post.

Here at KJP Creative we believe that you must have a passion and drive for your business in order to believe in it. There’s absolutely no point pursing a business venture if you don’t believe in it. And this is the same for your social media content, your online presence along with everything else that you do and say when you meet others. Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, many people turned to online resources to stay afloat and to keep their business going. And things are not going to stop here as the world heads back to normality – this has changed the way of business, this has created such an impact on the online world that you need to be in it and with it to be noticed.

We’ve said it before, but those who are visible and adding value through everything that has happened, will be the ones who are remembered when it stops. This is applicable to any pandemic, not just Coronavirus, it’s about standing out, creating a safe place for people to find out about you and providing value to every person that you come into contact with – both online and offline.

Is there point to social media marketing for business owners?

Where do you start?

You need to start with your audience. Our coaching courses dig deeper into this but we fully believe that in order to know where to start, what to say and who to say it to, you need to understand your audience and be confident that the content you produce is what is needed in a very noisy and busy advertising world.

Get to know and understand your audience. Research everything you can about their likes and dislikes, their needs and problems. What they want to hear or see. What would make them buy from a business? Put yourself in their shoes and think as they would – what would make you buy from you?

Along with this, there’s probably other brands that are doing exactly what you’re trying to do too – so use this, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. As well as researching your audience, research your competitors. What works for them? What type of content do they produce? What are they saying, who are they reaching, what are they giving or providing? What works for them may work for you too, so take note and use what you can.

How do you create great social media content?

Not everyone is artistic or creative, we get that, so how can you produce great content if (you think) you’re not good at it?

There are a few ways to look at this question. First off, you can learn! There are plenty of free tools out there to help and that are great resources to help you get started. We absolutely love Canva and wouldn’t be without it. There’s a free version so you don’t need to pay out to get started and you can experiment and play with the variations in order to create some images and content that goes with your branding.

 

What's the point of social media as a business? Should you bother - YES! KJP Creative

The most important tip we can give you in this is stay true to what your brand is about and use the inspirations inside of you to think of ideas.

What is your brand about? What’s your story? What are your beliefs or values?

These are the types of things you can be thinking of when you want to put a (for example) Facebook post together. Find an image that says what you’re thinking of, something that says exactly what you’d like to say if you didn’t have words. Then think about the wording that would go with your post, for the text on your chosen social platform. Your image and text should go hand in hand, not contradict each other and be inspirational or educational to your audience.

Even if you think you don’t have a creative bone in your body, you know what you like, you know your business better than anyone and you can use this to create content that is unique to you and your brand.

The second answer to this question is that you can outsource. We all have our strong and weak points and you may find after a few attempts of creating content that it really isn’t for you – that’s ok! You don’t have to be good at everything. And this is something that as a small business owner you can get het up about and struggle with. Stick to what you’re good at and let an expert take over this section of your business for you. You’ll see a much better return of investment by doing so, and you’ll be less stressed and relieved at the whole process.

Example: Talking to a hairdresser who was in a similar situation, who really wanted to be online and creating a fantastic social media presence – but she simply didn’t have the time or the energy to do it well and make it successful. She worked out that if she did one extra set of highlights (or whatever service it was!) a week – and for her it was doing what she loved and using her own skills – she could outsource her online marketing for the month. Result.
How much better is your business going to be if you’re filling the holes with the right sized pegs?

 

scheduling social media for business owners - be productive and effective

 

How do you manage it all?

This is a good question and social media or online marketing needs to have a strategy and a plan of action. This is fundamental to making it successful and doing your best to make it work well. Many people post content for the sake of it, or rush it at the end of the day when they realise that nothing has been posted that day. But what good is that to your audience if you’re not a) consistent or b) putting thought or value into what you’re providing?

Planning is key. Organisation is key. And that’s why we love our Social Media and Marketing Strategy Planner – it’s a wonderful resource to ensure you’re heading in the right direction, you’re making notes and building up a plan of action and you can see ahead to what’s coming and what needs to be done. Yes it takes time and dedication but as with anything, if you’re going to do something, you should do it well.

There are scheduling tools that you can use to manage your posts and to make it easier to create content ahead of time, the last think you want to do is be on your social media channels all day every day, you’d never get anything else done! That’s where a planner comes in which works with your business plan and marketing strategy. Everything comes together to form a smooth social media presence that will help your business be noticed, become loved and trusted and in turn, successful.

 

So why should you bother with social media marketing?

We hope that you want your business to grow, to flourish and to be loved. If you’re a small independent business, do you want people in your local community to hear about you and to use your products or services?

Did you start your business with the mindset that you’d like to see it bigger than just the little startup that you began with, or do you see it stagnate and fizzle out and die? Probably not!

You have a passion to see results. You have drive to be successful in your ventures. You want a successful business, something that you can be proud of, something that will pay the bills (and more) and something that you will get you known within your industry / sector and allow you to become an expert in your field – right?

Your social media presence will help you get there and achieve these things. Raising brand awareness is not always an easy task but with the help of social media, it’s lot easier than it used to be!

Are you using social media for your freelance business?

We hope that you have that passion and desire to want to succeed and realise that online marketing should be part of your business growth strategy in order to make that a possibility. If you’d like to find out more or talk to us about strategy and planning, we’d love to help. Get in touch and let’s have a conversation. Speak soon!

In the meantime why not download our “Social Media Checklist – don’t forget the basics” which hopefully will help you think about the basics of what social media entails and provide you with a checklist of what you can do. If you want to talk through anything, feel free to contact us, we’re here to help at the click of a button.

 

social media checklist free download

 

 

Pin It on Pinterest