In these challenging times, it’s essential that businesses keep talking to their customers; this really is not the time for marketing ‘radio silence’. While cashflow may be a concern for many businesses, the great news is that marketing doesn’t have to involve big budgets. In fact, there are lots of highly effective and impactful, low cost marketing activities businesses can (and should!) utilise.
Email marketing
Mailchimp offer free email marketing up to 2,000 subscribers and 10,000 campaigns a month. Their drag and drop interface makes building your own email template simple and helps to ensure brand consistency.
Social media
Instant, easy to access and free, social has seen a HUGE surge in usage during the Coronavirus outbreak. Remember, social media is about being social. Don’t just ‘post & go’; respond, engage and have a conversation.
Google Ads
Google offer free credits of up to $10,000 pm for charities. It’s a detailed application process, but well worth considering if you’re eligible. They are also giving SMEs who currently use Google Ads free credits during the outbreak, so keep an eye on your account if this applies to you.
Content creation
Now more than ever ‘Content Is King’! Writing good, relevant content for your website Blog or News section will demonstrate expertise, add real value to your customers and (if done well) improve your search engine rankings.
SEO
SEO can seem like a daunting task, but now is a great time to get started. Benchmarking your current search appearances and rankings and making sure your site is running as efficiently as possible, will help to get it ‘crawled’ and ranked.
Market research
Research and analysis should always be the starting point of any good marketing strategy. If you and your customers are quieter during this lockdown period, take the opportunity to up your market research and customer feedback.
A final thought
It’s a time to be vocal, but not noisy. Whichever low cost marketing channels you use, keep in mind that as businesses turn their attention to online conversations, it’s important to add value not ‘noise’.
