Businesses need to be fueled by funding, whether that funding comes from a lender, an investor or a customer (i.e., sales). “Low cost marketing” is not “no cost marketing”. This post, which focuses on Facebook marketing, is the first in a series on finding low cost marketing solutions.
Businesses need money to survive.
I have had discussions with several individuals who want to start businesses or grow a business with little or no money. As a marketer, the first question they ask me is: How do I market my business without spending any money?
Businesses need to be fueled by funding, whether that funding comes from a lender, an investor or a customer (i.e., sales). Click To TweetIt is possible to hustle and build a business, but even that takes an investment. And, the investment is your time—which is valuable. If you are working with only “blood, sweat and tears”, you are looking for customers to fund your business. Your hustle, then, needs to focus on what will drive customers to purchase from you.
Through a series of posts, I will outline marketing tools that you can use to get started without much cash outlay. Let’s start with the ever popular social media space.
Engagement on Social Media
Social media is NOT free marketing. It never has been and it never will be. There are many abandoned business social media accounts that belonged to entrepreneurs who thought that they would easily build a customer base on social. That said, let’s explore what can be done with sweat equity.
Facebook First
Let’s tackle Facebook first. If you are in the B2C space, it is the behemoth to understand. The first thing to do is decide what type of content you will post. Think about your target customer. What is she concerned about in relation to the product or service you provide? While it’s acceptable to post content unrelated to you brand occasionally, you will be more successful in finding potential customers if you post relevant content.
Get to Posting
Once you’ve decided upon what to post, get to posting and do it regularly. If you are not a publisher, the rule of thumb is to post at least daily. Facebook allows you to schedule posts which will save you from having to log in daily to add a post.
Monitor Your Page
While you won’t have to log in to your account daily if you are scheduling posts, you probably should if you aren’t spending much money on advertising elsewhere. You will want to monitor your account regularly to respond to any messages or reply to comments on your posts. Do not feel obligated to reply to every post but use the platform to engage and be social. After all, that’s what it’s for!
Engage with Others
You also should decide which pages to follow and follow them as you page (not as your personal account). This will allow you to view your page feed and interact with those you follow. You may like, comment or share the content of those pages you follow. Sharing also counts as posting content.
Boost Your Posts
At the time of this post, you can advertise on Facebook for as little as $1 per day. At that level, you can boost your posts. Boosting is a promotion for your Facebook posts. It will allow you to send traffic to your website or drive interaction with posts. You are able to select geographic, demographic and behavioral targets for the audience you want to reach. Don’t waste your money boosting to a broad audience. Instead focus on the individual who will respond to your post.
Advertise
Facebook offers other advertising opportunities that start at just $5 per day. These include driving traffic to your website, promoting you Facebook page to garner likes, getting more app installations, finding leads for your business and more.
Facebook is a good place to start if your target audience uses the platform. And, chances are, they do! In future posts, I will explore other social media, public relations, blogging and other low cost marketing ideas.