Marketing in a small budget

Do you think you can market your products efficiently in a tight budget? I think you can!

Firstly, when we talk about ROI (Return on Investment) on our marketing spends; we should realize that Marketing is an Investment and not an Expense.

So just like you make the detailed choices while investing your money in the stock market or property deals, you need to make the right choice about investing in marketing for your company. When you’re buying a house, what do you think first?

• What is my objective of buying property?

Are you buying the house to stay in or to re-sell for a gain? Similarly, are you marketing to build your brand or promote an offer and make quick sales? Once your objectives are in place, you can sure deal with the dilemma of how much time and money to invest better. 

• Am I buying this house for myself or my parents or my children?

The expectations from the house will be different if it is for you vs your parents vs your children. You should know who you’re buying the house for. In the same manner, you should know who your target market is and what they need. Only then can you target your marketing campaign directly at them, without much spill over to the non-interested buyers.

After responding to these basic questions, which could take you months to answer, you’re set to actually kick start the marketing process. If you keep your marketing activities in line with your sales activities, there is a greater chance of you getting higher returns.

However, let’s focus on Marketing your Brand. After having identified your TG, look at the means of targeting them.

• Reach your customers via a co-op advertising:

Select a few partners / build a few partnerships which lead to a win-win marketing campaign for both you and your partner. These are called Strategic Partners in the common world. Your partner has some value to give to you and you in return have something in store for them. Both parties can cross promote each other’s products and in return, expand your market pie.

E.g.: Every ad you see of a laptop/computer has the logo of Intel. Intel gains mind-share in the public eye and in return helps their partners advertise and market. And the laptop/computer company gains value by being partnered with Intel and thus increase their sales & Intel processor usage.

• Get closer to your customers through Events:

Be a part of trade-shows or co-host an event related to your industry to get closer to the market. The closer you are to them, the better you’ll be able to market to them.

• Social Media:

Social media is a marketing tool which is absolutely free. All you’ll need to do is to invest time into it.

1. You can create your own company Facebook Page and engage your target audience with your brand by taking polls, hosting contests, giving news about your industry space. By the way, research shows if a customer likes your brand on Facebook, they are 80% more likely to buy from you than your competitor. 
2.  Your Company Twitter Handle can help you engage with a much evolved target audience from India. People on twitter are there to seek knowledge, share their opinions and recommend brands to their followers. Twitter is very challenging because you’ve to say it all in 140 characters. There are trending topics which you can be a part of or start a conversation using a hashtag (#)
3.  Youtube your product launches and events. This will help your customers understand you better. Indians love videos. Make sure what you’re putting up is engaging, entertaining and adding value to your customers. 
4.  Blog! You need to start talking to people and expressing your views through your blog post. If your posts add value to the community and customers, you’ll be seen as a ‘thought leader’ in your space. If you don’t have the money to pump into Public Relations to get your thought out, this is the most effective way. You can do a lot with your blog:

a.       Respond to industry events, comment on the new policies and regulations

b.      Put up your customer’s testimonials and their stories, with pictures

c.       Put up your company’s growth trends

d.      Post stuff about the ups and downs you face in your industry and how you deal with them

e.      Be human – show your views and personality here  

      5.   LinkedIn is a professional networking website which can not only uplift your professional image but also help you recruit the right people needed for your business and even find corporate partners. You can be a part of a lot of professional groups within your industry circle, converse with others and find solutions to your professional bottle-necks. 

Do not rush into kick-starting all the above at once. Plan your manpower and accordingly deploy people into handling the above. For instance blogging requires you to push out fresh content at least once a month. Make sure you have enough time and topics to talk about before starting out. Similarly, twitter and facebook require daily monitoring and posting.

And above all, make sure your sales processes are in line with your marketing plan to make sure you’re tapping the market without losing out to your competitors.