Selling products and services online is much easier when you have an established connection with your target audience. Without that connection, generating leads can be a real slog which is why cost-effective branding and marketing strategies will be more important for businesses of all sizes in 2024.
Establishing effective branding and marketing strategies allows you to connect with new customers in a meaningful way, making it much easier for you to generate leads and conversions. Fortunately there are many low-cost and even free ways to create these strategies like the free Adobe Express app. In this guide, we will outline seven ways you can supercharge your digital branding and marketing efforts without breaking the bank.
Leverage User-Generated Content
The premise of leveraging user-generated content for branding and marketing is simple on the surface, you can create content at a low cost by letting your customers do the heavy lifting.
But user-generated content (USG) unlocks so many more benefits on top of that. For example, research has shown that brands that use USG content will likely gain the trust of 65 percent of consumers. On top of that, 79 percent of consumers say user-generated content highly impacts purchasing decisions.
Unlocking USG content is simple, leveraging the numerous influencers and content creators that already exist online. Partner with them to become brand loyalists and generate content like unboxing videos, product reviews and other USG content that is going to improve your online reputation at a very small price point.
Focus on SEO and Organic Traffic
Paid advertising can deliver immediate results, but it can put a strain on your marketing budget. For real return on investment, search engine optimisation (SEO) is the long game you need to be playing.
While paid advertising requires constant investment of cash, SEO simply requires your time and due diligence. It is the most viable and cost-effective way to both understand and reach customers during every stage of their purchasing journey without having to fork out large sums of cash to do so.
By carefully monitoring and managing your SEO efforts your brand will appear higher in more organic Google search results pages, your visitors will enjoy a much better user experience when they visit your site and you will enjoy improved authority, credibility and trust.
Don’t Forget Email Marketing
There can be a school of thought that email marketing is yesterday’s strategy and has been usurped by modern marketing tactics. However, ignore email marketing at your peril.
According to a HubSpot survey, 94 percent of marketers find email campaigns effective for reaching their business goals and it remains one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to directly reach your target audience.
Some key strategies include segmenting your audience to personalise your email marketing efforts and to offer exclusive rewards and discounts to make your subscribers feel valued.
Collaborate with Micro-Influencers
Like email marketing, the thought of using influencers can be on the nose for some companies. But despite what you read on social media threads, influencers do generate leads and conversions and they are extremely cost effective as well.
The best strategy is to partner with micro influencers, who have a larger social media audience than your average person, but not the same large audience of the big influencers. That means they will not come with the high price tag of the big influencers while still delivering real results.
Invest in Educational Content Marketing
Straight advertising is not as effective today, with younger consumers especially resistant to the hard sell. A more effective way to reach this younger audience is through educational content that delivers them value, making them feel a sense of trust and loyalty toward your brand. Formats like longer video explainers and podcasts/vodcasts are especially effective.
Maximise Social Media Engagement
Your social media accounts are like crops on a farm, tend to them carefully and plant the right seeds and the end results will be obvious.
Take the time to post consistently and at times when your audience is most active to get the best engagement. Instead of trying to speak at your audience, or sell to them, start conversations and involve them with question posts, polls and interactive stories.
Stay on top of replying to all comments and messages, positive and negative, to show that you value your audience.
Analyse Data and Adjust Strategies
Data is king in the modern world and harvesting and analysing it will reap real rewards for your business. Despite the obvious power of data analytics, most businesses are still not harnessing its power which means you have an opportunity to get ahead of your competition.
Data analytics can be as simple as comparing metrics from the current financial year to the previous year to discover areas where improvements can be made. But by diving deeper into your marketing data, you can discover which pages are getting less traffic, which channels are driving less traffic or conversions and which campaigns are generating less traffic. More importantly, you can discover the reasons why these campaigns are not working and make the required adjustments to improve your lead and conversion rates.
Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. By employing these cost-effective strategies, you can enhance your brand’s visibility, engage with your audience, and see tangible growth in 2024.
Remember, the key to success lies not just in choosing the right strategies but also in executing them well. So, start with one or two tactics that resonate most with your brand’s goals, test their effectiveness, and gradually expand your efforts as you see results. With consistent effort and smart investments, your brand can enjoy both affordability and impact in its branding and marketing endeavours this year.
