Business owners are hoping to find ways to create effective marketing campaigns that will bring in extra money this holiday season, but in some cases budgets are now tighter than they’ve ever been.
Several creative solutions have been proposed to this problem, and it’s likely that businesses are going to pick and choose the best ideas in the hopes of trying to weather the storm as best they can. Perhaps one of the most popular approaches right now involves doing the entire campaign yourself so you don’t have to spend any money on hiring a contractor. As customer expectations are rapidly changing, business owners are in a rather unique position to respond to their potential clients’ needs.
Running Your Own Marketing Plan
Business owners who have any background in marketing or promotion shouldn’t have too much difficulty running their own campaigns. Scheduling is going to be your biggest issue in this case, since you’re going to need enough time to juggle the demands of managing a campaign while tackling the remainder of your normal business activities.
Those who don’t have the resources to do everything themselves can still reduce costs by creating at least some of their own assets. If you previously had an outside source create your materials but can’t afford them any longer, then you might consider outsourcing to an overseas contractor as a potential way to cut costs. Since many economists have suggested that companies shouldn’t cut their promotional budgets even when things look grim, you might want to consider holding your current spending levels steady and outsourcing other departments to save money that you can then put toward your marketing budget.
This might take a bit of restructuring, especially if you manage a larger firm that has multiple divisions with competing demands. However, you might be able to save a little extra money if you combine both of these approaches. Say, for instance, you have several contractors you work with. Producing some of your own materials while simultaneously finding less expensive contractors to work with can help to shave off just enough in the way of costs to enable you to run a full marketing campaign this holiday season.
You might also want to start looking at different methods of getting your message out, which can help to attract potential customers without breaking the bank.
Looking for New Ways to Promote Your Business this Holiday Season
Conventional radio advertising is likely to see the biggest uptick in years come this holiday season. While you might think that the platform is dying, around 90 percent of adults in the United States listen to AM/FM broadcasters on a weekly basis. Since many of them are in their cars at the time they’re listening, they can be looked at as a captive audience who might not have any choice but to hear any marketing messages they’re exposed to. This makes it an ideal option for those who are trying to find an expensive way to reach a large number of people.
At the same time, small business owners who are exploring new options shouldn’t lose sight of the tools they have right at their fingertips. Social media marketing has never been more affordable than it is right now. You can create an account on nearly ever popular social networking platform without spending a single dime.
Budget digital marketing plans are easy to draw up when focused almost exclusively on this avenue. Some specialists have even gone so far as to recommend responding to all customer concerns on Twitter or other microblogging platforms if possible, because this turns simple question and answer sessions into instant marketing opportunities. If someone’s searching through a bunch of tweets and finds your correspondence, then they already have a good idea of how well you treat your customers.
Traditional blogging shouldn’t be forgotten about either. Your content needs to be genuinely useful to potential clients if you want it to gain any traction. Considering providing additional tips and tricks that clients can use when they invest in one of your products. These posts will be filled with important information that your existing customers will keep coming back for. Those who haven’t yet bought into your brand may begin to want to, especially if they’re trying to buy gifts for individuals who aren’t the easiest to buy for.
As you explore these creative ideas, you might even consider granting an interview or two.
Finding Unusual Ways to Promote Holiday Deals
There are a large number of professional podcasters who would be happy to host business experts on shows before and during the holiday shopping season. This is a great opportunity to get the word out about any new product launches you might have in store for Christmas. Considering that over 16 million people listen to podcasts on a regular basis, you can be sure there’s a market out there to be reached with this kind of content.
Best of all, it shouldn’t cost anything to get on a show like this. You might also want to post guest blogs or even join linking building groups with other business owners to help promote your brand as we get closer to the holiday season.
It might seem difficult to run a marketing campaign with such a limited budget, but you should think of this as a chance to help grow your business at a time when such opportunities are hard to come by.
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