Many businesses are feeling the heat right now; this month, we discuss how you can maximise your marketing impact without breaking the bank. 

As Marketing Specialists for small businesses, we are often tasked with creating impactful marketing strategies while sticking to smaller budgets. Right now, there’s a lot of talk about business uncertainty and during these times of cutting costs and saving money, marketing is often one of the first things to go. While traditional, big-ticket marketing may seem out of reach, there are many effective ways to propel your brand to first choice, and they are often much more accessible than you may think. 

If making every dollar count while still bringing consistent business is a priority for your business, here is our go-to process for nailing your marketing and seeing results while on a shoestring. 

Who is your target audience? 

Define the ideal people or businesses you intend your services for; who are they - consider demographics like age, income, what they need, what they expect, and where are they located? Hone in on this audience so that all messaging and communication is directed to them, rather than the entire general audience. Next, decide your marketing channels based on where your target audience is likely to be looking at or visiting to find their plumbers, is it Google or web, local directories, social media, radio, email.

If you’re in large commercial projects, you might focus on positioning yourself as an industry leader on LinkedIn, sharing case studies through Archipro and your website and relationship building through industry organisations or events. Whereas a residential maintenance plumber might be looking at Google Ads and website optimisation to target the millions of people on Google each day, and engaging with their local community to be top of mind. Defining a clear market who you are selling to, allows more efficient use of your budget rather than wasting limited resources on the wrong people. 

Define your key goal 

Putting out random or reactive content without a key goal fueling it, will likely leave you with unsatisfactory results. The key behind successful marketing is to set clear goals that direct your efforts to the right people and at the right time, for example; X number of bookings for X service in May, have X number of vans by the end of 2024, or win a specific project. 

This goal should be front of mind when crafting your key messages that underlie all your marketing. Sticking to a key message in all your branding and content you’re putting out builds consistency and consistency is key in seeing results. 

Promoting your key message 

Now you have a clear target audience, goal and key messaging it is time to promote these, an effective method to do this on a budget is content marketing. Building up your content pool through website content, email, blog articles, social media posts, and Google strengthens customer trust in your brand and credibility as a business. 

Content marketing is not about selling your services directly but instead speaking to your customers' pain points and providing helpful and valuable information that shows how you can solve these for them. For example, other plumbers simply are not showing up so you can give examples of testimonials about how you show up, or customers not knowing what size hot water cylinder to go for, you can share an education post or blog articles on your recommendations. 

Convert customers into advocates of your brand

We all know how important word-of-mouth is for small businesses and brand advocates replicate this by creating greater awareness and showing your business in a positive light. People remember how they are treated, so putting your focus on providing a high-quality customer experience can have them singing from the rooftops. A happy customer is one who will advocate for you through reviews or word-of-mouth. 

Nowadays this is especially important, customers want to know about a service before investing, relying on reviews for guidance on a business's credibility. Encourage your customers to leave you a review through your post-service follow up process, providing a direction or link to make it easy for them. These reviews can be shared on your website and social media to build trust and credibility too.

Community 

With so many options in the market, customers have great power in who they choose and they don’t want to just be sold to. Connecting and engaging with your audience by building a community makes them feel recognised and appreciated, and with this deeper connection comes a bigger inclination to buy from you. Community building is a form of consistent marketing to retain your customers and reduce dependency on reactive marketing, one example is a referral program, where an incentive such as a discount is offered on their next service or off this months bill when they refer a new customer 

If you’re wanting to increase your visibility in your community, consider sponsorship whether it’s through sponsoring a local event, sports team or business or charity, hosting a fundraiser for a deserving organisation, or donating your team's time to the community. Remember to incorporate your logo, name, and contact details in these materials. Community involvement helps increase brand awareness in your area of operation and keeps your business top of mind for customers when they come to need your services. 

Monitor, learn and adjust 

Potentially the best piece of advice we can give you is; don’t disregard the results of your marketing. Look at your data, analytics and insights on social media, Google and your website and see what resonates with your audience measured as engagement or reaching new potential customers measured as reach. What content or strategies are achieving the goals you set and what needs to be altered. Use this information to guide your next marketing steps by focussing on the paths that will generate the best bang for your buck. 

We understand it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what to do and where to do it when you have a limited budget, but we firmly believe any business can reap the rewards of marketing, when the base of a strategy has been successfully executed. If you need support to get these basics right or are looking for more ideas to set your business ahead of the rest, SideKit can help, talk to us today - marketing@sidekit.nz.