Marketing is a jungle, everyone will happily take your well-earned money for services that might not even work for your brand or industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So as a small business owner or a marketing manager, how are you meant to know where to invest your time and money?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don’t worry! We\u2019re here to help! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this post, we’ll explore creative marketing ideas to help you make the most out of your brand (and won’t break the bank).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Email newsletters are a great way to build trust and loyalty with your readers. They’re also a fantastic way to get in touch with your audience regularly, promoting new content, products and services. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Email newsletters are often personalized based on the reader’s interests (called segmentation). For example, you can send one email newsletter to a group of people who read your blog about writing fiction and another for those interested in health care technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ten years ago sending out hundreds of emails to customers and prospects was a resource-intensive process, especially if you’re doing it on a daily or even monthly basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today email marketing has become much more accessible and with a few hours of self-learning you can quickly set up some email marketing software, contact lists, email templates and everything else you’ll need to start marketing your brand directly in people’s inboxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve tried out a whole range of email marketing services and our personal favourites are Send In Blue<\/a> and Mailchimp<\/a>. Both of which offer free options to get you started initially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Search engine-optimised websites are the most important element of any marketing strategy. If you aren’t getting found on search engines, then no one can find your website on results pages across Google, Bing etc<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, it’s essential that you have at least a basic understanding of SEO and how to improve your website so that it can be found in search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a well-optimised website, you can get more traffic to your site, increase sales and start growing your brand as an authoritative resource online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully it’s relatively inexpensive to carry out SEO yourself, particularly with CMS like WordPress, Shopify, Wix etc<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone loves free!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can’t afford to give away the world but offering some form of value to potential and existing customers is a great way to keep people engaged and keep your brand at the forefront of people’s minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What you can give away is very case-specific but we’ve got some free value marketing ideas that should be a fit for your business:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Better yet your free value offering can work alongside your other marketing efforts. For example, you can promote your free trial to your email list or use your SEO efforts to start appearing for search terms like ‘free (insert offering)’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plantable promotional material is a great way to get people\u2019s attention, especially when they see it in their yard. There are different types of plantable promotional material including seed bombs, seed papers and seed sticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the environment is such an important issue for consumers right now, you can use environmentally-friendly materials in your marketing campaigns too! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Plantable promotional products have been around for some time now but they seem to be gaining popularity all over again. They are being used more frequently by companies and brands because they have many advantages over other types of promotional items like pens or t-shirts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can be difficult to build word-of-mouth buzz around your brand. But it’s essential for creating long-term relationships with your customers and bringing new clients in the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what do you do? PR, that’s what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PR (Public Relations) is defined as managing communication between an organisation and its stakeholders, primarily your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s look at how you can easily get some great PR yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, make sure you have a really good story to tell. You need a story that’s relevant and engaging, one that people will feel connected to and is considered ‘newsworthy’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Create a simple press release. Hubspot’s guide on how to write a press release<\/a> is packed full of helpful tips on how to organise and curate your press release and even includes a free template you can download.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now you’re all set to start distributing your Press Release, but how?<\/p>\n\n\n\nLearn about SEO and improve your website<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Offer some free value to your customers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Use some plantable promotional material<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Create a PR buzz around your brand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n