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How to make a big impact with a small marketing budget

Posted by Perceptive Insights Team - 17 October, 2016

If you're a marketer or owner of small to medium business, it's likely you've had to manage a small marketing budget at some point in the business's lifetime. Perhaps you're navigating this right now. While you might not have the kind of budget like others in your category, there are ways to run effective marketing campaigns that are smart in their use of money and deliver ROI that grows your business.

SME marketing challenges to overcome

A big challenge for small and medium-sized businesses today is using the budget and resources of a small company to achieve the impact and presence of a large brand. Knowing where to place limited resources for maximum effectiveness is a common conundrum for SMEs.

SMEs often have to choose between search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, blogger outreach, social advertising, and a whole host of other options and combinations. Knowing which channel(s) will be effective is the key to success but is often out of reach for most SMEs.

This is where market segmentation can become a key tactic in defining your targeting—and it's not an effective process to attempt on your own.

 

Market segmentation on a budget

Market segmentation is about understanding who your key customers are in your market—who are they and what are their needs, believes, attitudes and behaviours? While research agencies can do this work in-depth for larger companies, this is something SMEs can do too—just on a smaller scale.

Starting is easy: simply talk to your customers. Conduct some interviews or run a survey. The key aim of the exercise is to get a better idea of who your customers are and how they are using your product or service. 

It is important to go into this research with an open mind. Sometimes who you think your customers are  not that same as who they actually are. With these insights to guide you, you can more effectively tailor your marketing and message to speak to the type of people your key customers are. As time goes on and your business grows, you can seek out an agency to delve more deeply into your customer understanding—from who you most profitable segments are to untapped opportunities—but for now, this is a great starting point. 

 

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Read more: Building Your SaaS Brand—while this content is geared towards SaaS providers, it's information is highly relevant to start ups and SMEs. 

 

SME marketing pitfalls to avoid

SMEs or new start-ups often make the mistake of trying to do it all themselves, which can land them in hot water when their efforts are not successful.

Companies make the mistake of paying for expensive marketing agencies that aren’t able to use cost-effective, low-budget marketing. It requires a highly efficient, specific frame of mind and previous experience to understand how to get the most out of a smaller amount of capital.

Similarly, if your marketing efforts are taking a mass market approach (i.e. target everyone), this may not be the more effective use of your budget. While mass market advertising has its place in the advertising and marketing world, it can burn through a small budget quickly. Instead, use your market segmentation and customer understanding to narrow your advertising to the most relevant audiences.

 

Read more: The difference between market segmentation, customer segmentation, target audience and personas

 

Small budget marketing strategies

1. Clever budgeting

Creating an intelligent budget is the most important thing you can do for your business, especially when it comes to marketing. It's probably more important to create a sensible budget than knowing how to spend it. Figure out what works for you by looking at focusing your resources towards channels that align with business objectives, your specific target segments, growth probabilities and ROI potential.

2. Leverage digital marketing

If you haven't already. Leveraging your digital marketing is not only cost effective these days (if you do it correctly), but it's also highly measurable. You can measure exactly what part of your budget is working and what part isn't, and then adjust the numbers accordingly.
 
Also try to invest in narrowly-focused, low-cost pay per click search terms.
 

3. Harness social media

Shares useful tips and content related to your business, from insider knowledge to advice and how-tos of on your social media channels. From video, to a mix of photos and accompanying text, or articles, there are a range for options to choose from. Again, market segmentation can help you understand what kind of content your target audience is looking for. 
 
When choosing where and what format of content to go with, first consider which platforms your audience is using. If your audience is primarily on TikTok, you'll probably need to lean more towards video content. Meanwhile, if they are on LinkedIn, the platform lends itself well to creating and sharing knowledge articles on its platform.
 
To begin with, focus on only a couple to better concentrate your attention and be more credible. Talk about subjects that are relevant but stand out by having a unique point of view and create some noise. If you are targeting a B2B audience, become a trusted advisor and choose a niche where you can become an expert.
 

4. Leverage interns 

To get around the challenge of not having enough resources to implement the budget, consider hiring interns, especially for areas such as administration and social media. Even so, make sure they have enough maturity, street smarts and linguistic skills to be able to write about your brand intelligently. Remember to have a very clear brief with detailed outcomes so that you can use their input efficiently and productively.

5. Website

Make your website is user-friendly, and only include the important elements of your business. The key here is to build your website for your customers (not designers), so knowing your customers well is crucial. Having solid marketing segmentation is a huge help here. 
 
For many customers, your website will be their first impression of your business, so make it count.
 
Important: If your business relies heavily on digital channels for marketing leads and sales, focus on getting the SEO basics right for your website. A website with sub-par SEO is going to struggle to be found on search engines.
 

 
Want to learn more about how to drive ROI for your business and how to measure marketing efficiencies? Download our free guide: Master Your Marketing ROI.
 
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Topics: Brand Health


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