Creative and affordable marketing strategy ideas
If you’re looking to build your marketing strategy, but have a limited budget, here are some creative and affordable ideas to help you.
Because, let’s face it: to be successful in business, it’s not enough to have a great concept. You can work for hours and hours, have the best product and the most advanced expertise, but if your potential customers don’t know about your business, your chances of success will be slim.
To maximize your outreach and reach your target audience, you need a solid plan. Here you’ll discover how to create a marketing strategy that delivers results and growth without spending your entire budget on it.
1. Set marketing objectives
First of all, you need to define your short-, medium- and long-term marketing objectives. This may seem like a simple step, but it’s one that needs to be carefully thought through, in line with the direction you want your company to take.
Perhaps you want to increase your sales, boost your profit margin on a particular product or win over your target clientele… These are good starting points, but to develop an effective marketing strategy, you need to be more specific. Your objectives must respect the following SMART principles.
S – SPECIFIC
Your objective must be clearly defined. It should be simple and focused on a single goal. Example: Increase traffic to your website.
M – MEASURABLE
Your objective must be measurable, i.e. it can be quantified. This is an important step, as it enables you to set the threshold to be reached and validate the success or otherwise of the exercise. E.g. Increase traffic to your website by 30%.
Note that the performance indicator can correspond to a quantity, as in the previous example, or to a quality. E.g. Achieve a 90% customer satisfaction rate.
A – AMBITIOUS
Your objective must be ambitious, i.e. challenging and demanding, yet within your reach. In fact, in the SMART acronym, the letter A stands for both “ambitious” and “achievable”. There’s no point in setting yourself an unattainable goal.
R – REALISTIC
Do you have the resources, time and money to achieve your goal? Be honest with yourself and take a step back to assess the competition and the market in which you operate. At this stage, you need to assess whether your objective is achievable and relevant to your situation.
On the other hand, by using your website and social networks, you can inexpensively get closer to your goal by improving your online presence.
T – TIME
It’s so important and yet so simple… Set yourself a target date. Your objective must be defined in time. Using the example given above: Increase traffic to your website by 30% over the next 12 months.
2. Conduct market research
You’ve probably already carried out a market study as part of your business plan. Now that your last study has gathered dust, it’s time for an update. It’s affordable and essential to implement a successful marketing strategy. It will help you understand the socio-demographic environment in which your business operates, and assess the competition to better identify your potential customers.
3. Identify your target audience
Now that you know who your target audience is, what their needs and motivations are, and more about their buying behavior (where they buy, what they buy and for what reasons), you now need to determine who exactly you’re addressing. Who is your target audience (or persona)? This will enable you to better target your marketing efforts by adjusting your message according to each profile.
4. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses… and those of your competitors
The market study enabled you to analyze your competitors, to see the products they offer, their prices, to gauge their strengths and weaknesses, and also to study the marketing tools they use to reach their customers.
Do the same for your own company. This differentiation strategy will highlight your unique proposition. What are your strengths and competitive advantage? What do you need to work on? Do you need to improve your product or service? This kind of introspection can be carried out right at the start of the process, to get to know you better and steer your marketing strategy towards effective action.
5. Define your corporate image
This is a point often neglected by companies, but it’s very important, because your brand image has an impact on how your customers and the public will perceive you. This includes your visual identity (logo, colors, website design) as well as your company’s slogan and communication formulas.
To design your brand image and make sure it’s positive, strong and impactful, don’t hesitate to call on professionals in the field. Consider it a worthwhile investment, as your brand image will be at the heart of your marketing strategy.
6. Time for action: draw up a marketing plan
Your marketing actions will depend on your target audience. You need to make sure you’re using the right channels, but also the right approaches and techniques to reach them. To help you see things more clearly, take a look at different types of marketing strategy. You can search for examples of online marketing strategies for inspiration.
TRADITIONAL MARKETING
Traditional marketing is still one of the most important promotional levers for companies. It encompasses print campaigns (advertising campaigns and communications in newspapers, magazines and other print media), radio and TV campaigns (advertisements and messages broadcast on radio or TV) and direct marketing campaigns (flyers, brochures, mailings and catalogs sent directly to customers).
DIGITAL MARKETING
Clearly a must. It encompasses all aspects of your web presence, and can take a variety of forms: website, blog, social networks, newsletters, online advertising, and so on. Your actions must correspond to the desired objective, and your message must be well adapted to your persona. There’s no need to be everywhere. The important thing is to publish quality content, where it really counts.
Good news: asking for opinions on Google, your site or your social networks, creating content, making live videos – it only costs a little of your time, and can pay off in terms of brand awareness and visibility!
NETWORKING
Other ideas within everyone’s reach: business events, social gatherings, cocktail parties, volunteer activities… These are all opportunities to forge links and create a network of contacts! We all know the impact of word-of-mouth. Networking enables you to go a step further in your search for potential customers, yes, but also by promoting referrals and mutual assistance between businesses.
This is a major advantage of Mon Espace Atelier’s concept. Our various projects bring together entrepreneurs from all generations and backgrounds, creating fruitful synergies and developing new partnerships.
7. Establish a marketing budget
It’s important to define the overall budget for your marketing strategy and stick to it. Start by calculating how much you currently spend on marketing (advertising, sponsorships, trade shows, internal or external marketing staff, etc.). This will help you determine how much to allocate to each of the objectives in your marketing plan.
To give you an idea, the BDC indicates that the average marketing budget in B2B is between 2% and 5% of your revenues, while it varies between 5% and 10% for B2C companies.
That said, some actions can be easily and inexpensively implemented (e.g., creating a newsletter, setting up a Facebook page). The key is to be creative and relevant!
8. Measure results
There are a number of online evaluation tools you can use to track the performance of your digital marketing campaign, such as interaction and conversion indicators. If this isn’t your area of expertise, don’t hesitate to call on Web specialists to maximize your results.
Another important element: listen to your customers. How did they find out about you? Where did they hear about you? Did they like their experience or your products? This will help you better target your efforts. The important thing is that you can determine whether or not your marketing actions are bearing fruit, and that you can readjust your aim accordingly, whatever approach you choose.
Take the opportunity to gather their opinions and ask them to post them online – it’s totally free advertising!
9. Building customer loyalty
Here’s why: it’s easier to convince a customer who’s already familiar with your products, services and company to come back and visit you than it is to attract a new one. A satisfied customer is a valuable ambassador. So you have everything to gain by improving your customer loyalty strategy, and including actions to this end in your marketing plan.
10. Be on the lookout
A marketing strategy is a tool that evolves over time. Keep an eye on your market, notice changes in your customers’ habits, see what your competitors are doing and follow marketing trends. Get ahead. Innovate. Make sure your marketing objectives are always in line with your aspirations!
With these ideas and tools, you can put in place a marketing strategy that will propel your business to success. Other factors to consider for the success of your project include the all-important question of location.
Your premises must be visible and easily accessible – conditions that are met in every Mon Espace Atelier project. To find out more, contact our team. We are present in Joliette, Saint-Jerome, Sainte-Therese, Vaudreuil, Mascouche, Drummondville and soon throughout Quebec!