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39. The Best Way to Market on a Budget

I am all about marketing organically.

It doesn’t cost money, it just costs time. It lets you be more about connection rather than the numbers.

I’ve done a few episodes on marketing and on growing organically on Instagram, but today’s episode is all about marketing on a budget. I’m going to share with you the best way to market during a slow season, during a busy season, when you’re just starting or when you’ve been in business for 20 years.

These techniques never go out of style!

They don’t change with a pandemic. They don’t change with what platform you’re using. They don’t change with shifts in social media algorithms or with a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.

Marketing your business on a budget comes down to three words: Consistency. Authenticity. Believe.

Marketing on a Budget

That’s it! The magic formula to success.

Consistency, authenticity and “believe” are really the only things you need to remember when it comes to marketing! We really like to overthink marketing and we have it in our minds that we need complex strategies and expensive tools. Marketing is just educating people, connecting your services to their needs. Don’t overthink it.

And I know these principles work because I started out with no connections when I began my business. It was just me at ground zero and I didn’t have the money to spend on SEO. Using these principles took me from a $35 a session photographer to a fully booked photographer in a saturated market with an associate team. And these principles continued to do me good as we went into a pandemic. My marketing strategy centers around me being authentic, me being me and sharing my hard days and my good days. And marketing is not hard because of that.

Organic marketing will set you apart from other businesses in a saturated market. You will learn how to personalize your marketing strategy and create systems to help you run a business instead of letting your business run you. Let’s break it down.

Consistency = showing up daily.

Showing up everyday is the first thing you should start doing if you want to get serious with marketing.

Did you know that 50% of businesses fail within the first year and 70% of businesses fail after their first five years? It’s not because of poor marketing.

It’s because people stop showing up.

Showing up everyday could be blogging three times a week. It could be posting five times a week on your Instagram feed and three times a day on your stories. Maybe you’re into Reels right now or Pinterest or Facebook Live. Whatever your platform is, make sure you’re showing up, doing anything that engages your audience to let them know you’re still there.

Marketing on a Budget

Because if you are not showing up everyday, it will be harder to get sales when you need them.

You can’t be absent for a whole month and come back just to ask people to buy your product. People want to watch the TV show, not the adds (plug to podcast 26: growing organically on instagram) Show up because 90% of your competition won’t. If you are not showing up, you are in the back of people’s minds.

Marketing on a Budget

Authenticity = Being yourself

If you want to create an irresistible brand, show your audience who you are. By showing up everyday, you will create a connection with your audience that will keep people coming back. Connection is important because people are not just buying your product or service, they’re buying you!

 

Think of marketing as an experience. What experiences can you give your customers or potential clients. Ask yourself: “How can I add value to my client’s experience? How can I help them feel more prepared when working with me or my product? What questions do they have that I can pre-answer with FAQs? What do my clients want to know?”

Believe

A lot of people put their negative beliefs in the way of their success. I hear people say, I’m not good at writing captions, I’m not good at social media, or I’m not good at taking pictures. There’s too many people, it’s a slow season, no one will listen, I don’t have time.”

These are all limiting beliefs!

Stop making excuses or living in fear that things aren’t going to work. Think about it, what’s the worst it can happen if we actually try it?

Holding yourself back from even trying isn’t going to take you to the next level, trying is the only way to learn what does work and what doesn’t work. If you believe social media will work, if you believe posting and blogging and commenting will work, it will work.

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