Budget-friendly digital marketing: A wide range of distinct channels and activities together referred to as “digital marketing” aim to increase brand recognition, direct traffic to websites, and motivate customers to take positive business actions like lead generation or online purchases.
But for businesses with limited resources, it makes strategic sense to concentrate on a small number of techniques at once in order to learn what works and what doesn’t, as well as to cut initial costs and avoid spreading the existing funds too thinly.
As a result, if you’re just beginning to evaluate what your digital marketing plan should be but don’t have any untapped resources at your disposal, here are some preliminary ideas to help you get going.
sources of “free” traffic
Working on ‘free’ digital platforms is the best location to start off in every situation. Email, organic social, and organic search (SEO) are the main components of this.
These channels need to be worked on, and money will need to be spent as well. In order to obtain connections that will help your domain’s SEO, you may need to invest in blogger relationships or the top directories. Social media relies significantly on excellent creativity, which you could need to outsource. You might also need to make an investment to start from scratch creating an email marketing list.
However, altogether, these channels are a terrific place to start without much of an initial outlay.
Sources of ‘cheap’ traffic
Look to the less expensive channels if you want to try out sponsored marketing. Facebook advertising has long been regarded as one of the most economical ways to ‘pay’ for clicks onto your site, particularly if your targeting is spot-on.
But there are also alternative options. PPC advertising that takes the form of YouTube commercials or display ads can also be very cost-effective, just like native advertising, which starts at just 2 pence per click.
But keep in mind that the lower the cost of the traffic acquisition channel, the less probable it is that the traffic will convert, particularly towards the bottom of the funnel. So while it might be less expensive to obtain traffic, it might cost a lot to produce enough of it so that some of it starts to turn into paying clients.
more expensive sources of traffic
The last option is to consider some more costly, but highly focused, traffic sources.
Many brands start this kind of activity with paid search marketing, such Google AdWords. You must account for the fact that clicks can cost anywhere between 30p and £10 depending on the vertical.
The likes of LinkedIn are other, more “premium” digital platforms where you can easily target directors and heads of departments with your messaging, but clicks can cost upwards of £4 apiece. It’s also important to keep in mind that B2B social selling usually works best when advertising a specific piece of content as opposed to your complete service, so you will need to consider additional nurture journeys and selling to convert soft leads into paying customers.
Agency vs. in-house
The final decision is whether you handle this work internally or hire an agency to handle it for you.
You might perform a lot of this initial testing and setup work yourself as the founder of many new online start-ups may already be a marketing guru.
In-house vs. agency is a question that will be on your mind if you are a start-up that is a little larger, a SME, and you have some money to play with.
Each has advantages and disadvantages. For instance, working with a specialized performance marketing agency should yield the desired results more quickly and at a lower cost than hiring your own staff.
However, recruiting internally gives you access to more potential man-hours for labor. Unless you agree to increase the retainer, an agency will bill by the day after the allowed time has been consumed. A full-time employee can complete more work… However, when working on your brand, they won’t have the range of expertise and experience that a full marketing firm would.
