Advertising with a low budget - is it possible?

In Poland, more and more companies from the SME sector (small and medium-sized enterprises) are established every year. Like every entity on the market, such companies try to develop by executing more and more orders and gaining more and more customers. However, many companies, due to limited resources, are afraid to compete with large companies, fearing that their actions will be unnoticed in the sheer volume of advertising generated by big business. However, there are ways for low-budget advertising to be able to notify potential buyers about the services and products offered by it, all you need to do is skillfully use a few tools available on the Internet.

Before you start your advertising campaign

Before you start advertising in the mass media, it is worth considering its effectiveness. Many small entrepreneurs rely on the press or radio, not realizing that these activities do not bring positive results. In the case of daily newspapers, you have to remember that fewer and fewer people are buying them, which means that the possibilities of reaching potential customers are limited. This is true even for trade newspapers - their circulation is also declining.

The same applies to radio advertisements. Their cost seems far too high compared to their effectiveness. Most listeners treat the commercial break as an unnecessary break and change the radio station as soon as it starts.

For this reason, the best and cheapest place to run an effective advertising campaign is the Internet. It is worth remembering that the differences in the budgets allocated to advertising can be effectively obliterated by the appropriate use of available funds and investing funds only in effective tools.

For this reason, it's worth taking a moment to think about how to advertise before choosing where to advertise. It is known that you need to reach the client in the best possible way, but how to do it? The best method is to define your target audience and focus on your strengths, i.e. what could make a potential buyer decide to use their services or products.

Having a specific niche and a potential customer profile, you need to think about where you can find buyers. This means specifying where you can reach them and avoiding places where you will definitely not be able to meet them.

Low budget advertising - available tools

1. Let's start with a very simple yet effective source of potential customers on the internet, which is local search. This type of search is based on an algorithm that, for the services sought, not only displays search results for the most relevant pages, but also recommends those that are closest. Local search also allows you to display the map with information on all points corresponding to the search in the area. It is worth trying to add the company to Google Maps, because creating an appropriate business card will allow customers not only to find the company's seat and provide them with information on the business profile, but also show them contract data and recall the ratings of other Internet users.
2. Another way is to use the long tail in positioning. In SEO optimization, it is important to match the website with the most effective keywords.
3. You can also try to use content marketing, i.e. activities that will be aimed at attracting potential buyers by publishing valuable articles. This allows you to establish a long-term relationship with the recipient by offering them useful and interesting articles on company blogs. Due to the fact that you usually have to wait for the effect of content marketing, it is worth being patient when using this tool. However, such activity brings tangible benefits, for example in the form of interaction with potential customers, but also in a properly built and well-managed entrepreneur's profile. Over time, published posts may be cited by representatives of other companies, and this will result in the person writing them gaining an expert opinion.
4. A very popular way for low-budget advertising to be effective is to create profiles on social media. Currently, almost all of them have accounts on Facebook or Twitter. In this way, the entrepreneur can reach a large group of potential interested parties. However, social networks have special rules. It's important to post regularly on them and reply to comments and messages.

Low budget advertising - other possibilities

Low-budget advertising for start-up businesses often seems impossible. In this case, it is a very good idea to take part in an industry competition. A high deposit or first place means a good chance for an article or interview, which should translate into greater brand recognition and an increased number of orders or orders.

You can also try to tell people about the services you perform or the products you offer. Word-of-mouth marketing works very well here, which involves inserting information about the company during a casual conversation.

Contrary to appearances, small companies that have little funds for advertising campaigns can compete with large organizations. All you need to do is skillfully use the means available on the Internet.