Everyone today wants more for less. We want better brands for lower prices, so we shop Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Burlington. We compare Ebay and Amazon prices to Walmart in order to find the best deals available on everyday items. We hit holiday specials and frequent Groupon to buy more things and do more things at lower prices.
It only follows that businesses are taking the same approach towards marketing budgets — looking for ways to reach further without spending more. And yet marketers are continuing to find the need to increase their budgets to keep up with the latest online demands.
According to the CMO Council, over 40% of US marketers increase spending on data-driven marketing in 2014.
The Advantage of Social Media Marketing
Would you ever choose to place a billboard by a rural side street over a major highway? Probably not. Typically you want to advertise to large audiences, hoping to hit the target market that needs or wants what you offer.
According to PEW Research Internet Project, 74% of adults use social networking sites, including 89% of the Millennial audience (ages 18-29).
Social media is typically an overlooked and undervalued method that marketers should take into consideration for a wide reach at a low cost. Common sense says to spend your dollars where the people spend their time, if you are looking to boost brand exposure.
Business Insider has found that Americans spend more time on social media than in any other activity on the internet.
B2B and B2C companies can reach enormous audiences (1.28 billion users) worldwide to generate impressions better than any other ad method in history, spending roughly $0.25 to reach 1,000 people.
Similar to Facebook, Twitter ads provide enormous amplification for just pennies, providing affordable supplements for brand awareness. Getting your brand out in front of your audience is important for building recognition and trust among consumers.
Twitter reaches over 1 billion users with 46% logging on at least once a day.
StumbleUpon
There are 25 million using StumbleUpon to discover sites relevant to their interests. StumbleUpon Paid Discovery gets your content into the limelight for $20. On average, pages presented by StumbleUpon are viewed 25% longer (72 seconds) than the average time spent on a web page (58 seconds).
Utilizing Content Creation Tools
An efficient marketing method is nothing without effective content. Content creation tools can reduce the time-consuming efforts that are required for brainstorming content ideas and professional wording pieces. This helps you utilize executive talent elsewhere (like analyzing your sales funnel and improving conversion rates) while presenting the most professional face for your business.
As you approach your audience, it is important to stay on-target with your brand message, while providing relevant content that peaks interest and presents you as the authority in your industry. These budget-friendly marketing tactics will help you reach a wider audience with materials designed to boost conversion.
Alethea M is a corporate blogging guru and freelance writer for WriterAccess. She loves pulling out interesting facts from article research to impress friends at dinner parties.
