Carlyn Kelly | Budget Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses

According to Carlyn Kelly the famous brand strategist Marketing doesn't just apply to large companies and organisations but includes small businesses as well. But small businesses are often put off by the cost. However, there are ways of marketing your products or services and without breaking the bank.

The importance of a marketing plan

But first of all you need a marketing plan. If you already have one then that's fine but if you don't then this is something you need to address as how else will you attract customers and turn these into sales. Plus it is important to promote your goods or services to your target audience because a failure to do mean that your business will not survive. And customers are the lifeblood of any business.
So develop a marketing plan. This is something you can do or if preferred, you can engage the services of an internet marketing company. A marketing plan includes several methods for communicating with your customers as a way of increasing sales, building your brand and establishing trust and credibility. This will help to develop your reputation over time.

Whatever plan you use it is important to measure the results or return on investment (ROI) against a set of predetermined objectives in order to assess its effectiveness.

A typical marketing plan will include:
• Market research
• SWOT analysis
• Branding
• Pricing structure
• Advertising
• Measuring/Analysis

This will vary according to the type of business. If you have a website then this is a useful tool for reaching new customers as well as maintaining relationships with existing customers. But bear in mind that website visitors have a short attention span so your site needs to grab their attention and once it has done so, keep them there.

Budget marketing suggestions
Decide on a budget for marketing and advertising and stick to this. Cost is always a factor with marketing plans but there are a few tools which you can use that will give you the results you need.

These include:
• Email marketing
• Social media, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Mailshots
• Cold calling
• Networking
• Affiliate marketing

Have a mix of online and offline methods and measure both of these. There are a range of marketing tools available to you but choose the ones which suit your business and budget. Continually review your marketing plan as things change and your business needs to respond to these changes. So tweak or replace aspects of your marketing plan as where necessary but always keep in mind that this is a long term arrangement.

If you want a budget friendly and effective marketing plan then contact with Carlyn Kelly.