We live in a startup age, but Fortune 500 companies aren’t going anywhere any time soon. That means that your typical chief marketing officer at a startup or small business must compete with those much bigger companies’ massive marketing budgets, and that things aren’t going to get any less competitive.
Marketing officers understand this: In the 2017 CMO Survey administered by Deloitte and several partners, CMOs across multiple sectors said they planned to increase their marketing budgets.
But, if you’re one of them, don’t despair! Startup marketing can still succeed with savvy use of certain marketing channels. Here are 12 budget-friendly options for you if you’re in the role of CMO with a budget:
1. Content marketing
In content marketing, a company offers useful content in conjunction with its product, capitalizing on brain power in its field; a blog is the usual channel and it can be effective.
The Content Marketing Institute, in fact, reported that of the small businesses it studied, those with blogs achieved 126 percent more lead growth than those without. So, suppose the head of a bicycle startup writes a blog post on how to change a tire: The post would likely draw new bicycle enthusiasts to the website, helping those bikers fix flats as well as introducing them to a new bike shop or product.
2. SEO
There’s a lot of content on the internet, and consumers use search engine results to sift through it all. Junto Digital Marketing has reported that a mind-blowing 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine. To win your company placement on that essential first page of results, you’ll have to optimize your website with appropriate search terms.
You can learn to do a lot of that optimization yourself; check out Search Engine Journal’s free online resources for learning SEO.
3. Word of mouth
The idea of people simply talking about a product to drive results might sound quaint in the digital age, but statistics don’t lie: Marketing firm Invesp reported that consumers are over 90 percent more likely to buy a product if it’s recommended by a trusted friend. To capitalize on this scenario, incentivize referrals by sharing your product. Evernote, for example, rewards referrals by offering users points to use in its platform.
4. Facebook ads
Let’s say you’ve done a little research and realized your customer base is mostly 30-something year-old women in Nebraska. Using Facebook ads, you can skip advertising to 40-something year-old men in New York and instead put those savings toward ads for the demographics most likely to…
