How to Start Marketing from Scratch If You Have $500 or Less
You’re a small manufacturer that has never done ANY marketing and relied exclusively on sales reps and referrals.
There’s no budget. You have a website, but no idea how to update it. There’s no one internally that can write. You’ve never taken photos.
How do you get started?
8 Activities to Marketing with a Tiny Budget
1) Make Sure Your Personal LinkedIn Account Is Updated
Business owners rarely realize their personal LinkedIn accounts are one of their best marketing assets. It’s time to dust off that profile and make sure it’s ready.
- Use a recent picture of your smiling face—and not a Glamour Shot circa 1996 or your sunburnt smile with a 20″ Walleye cropped out
- Update your current job description, history, education, awards won, etc.
- Get rid of any resume language describing your ideal job because no one trusts a business owner or executive that is one foot out the door
- Use a cover image (across the top of your profile) that is relevant to your business
- Take the few minutes to verify your profile with LinkedIn—it boosts the trust factor
Once updated, make sure you’re logging in every week. Comment on your connections’ posts, follow your customers (and future customers) company pages, and don’t be afraid to share your business-related thoughts.
2) Get Your LinkedIn Company Page Set Up
LinkedIn allows your business to have a page, too! Once you have your personal page ready, you can set up a business or company page.
Your business page allows you to have a brand presence on LinkedIn with several benefits:
- Ability to showcase your business with text, picture, and video posts
- Build brand awareness and engagement with future customers and job candidates
- Create LinkedIn Lead Gen forms to help convert customers directly from the platform
- Take advantage of LinkedIn Ads and the ability to hyper-target your ideal customer
Leveraging your company page on LinkedIn should be approached a little differently. On your personal LinkedIn page, you should share your personal insights and expertise. With your company page, content should be educational with an emphasis on you customers’ biggest challenges. But also share your big wins, new hires, and bits about your culture.
Make sure your sales team and other key employees follow the company page. Using their personal pages, they should repost or share the company page posts with their own insights. This will help catapult the reach of your company page and boost your expertise.
3) Call Your Oldest and Newest Customers—Ask Why They Chose You Or Stay With You
Every business owner THINKS they know why customers choose them. Stop. It’s time to find out for sure. Start by working the phones and maybe buying a lunch or two.
Schedule a time to meet with five of your oldest customers. Why do they stay? What value are you providing?
Next, schedule a talk with your five newest customers. What attracted them to you? What finally won their business?
Get their permission and use the answers for:
- Future case studies
- Quote graphics on social media
- Testimonials on your website
- Opportunities to get online reviews (see below)
4) Talk to Your Sales Team and Find Out the Most Common Questions
Whether you have a hired sales rep or an in-house sales team, this is the front line of your customer experience. They are answering both the “silly everyday” and the deep jargon-laced questions.
Even the most basic questions are opportunities to market. Just imagine all the people calling and asking. How many more are simply Googling that same question?
Is the answer to that question on your website? Being asked on social media?
Having a blog or FAQ section on your website is key. Not a writer? Don’t panic—use video. And yes, that first video will suck. But it’s a start.
Use a cell phone to record yourself or a member of the sales team calmly answering the question in 30 seconds or less.
That short video can:
- Get posted to LinkedIn
- Uploaded to YouTube (second biggest search engine)
- Embedded on your website
- Transcribed into a blog article
Just imagine how much you could do with ten questions!
5) Secure and Optimize Your Google Business Profile on Google Maps
Google Maps is giving a lot more than directions. Look at the search results when you type in “tool & die machining near City, State.” Right below the paid ads you see Google Map results.
This is called your Google Business Profile (GBP).
Listed in the “local pack” are GBP accounts that fit the criteria. Complete with descriptions, reviews, and locations.
If you have never claimed your Google Business listing—do this IMMEDIATELY. Here’s how to claim your Google Business Profile.
Make sure your listing is accurate:
- Business name is correct
- Contact information is complete
- Location and hours
- Upload pictures of the building AND your products
6) Get Online Reviews
Reviews for B2B companies are becoming key to success. Online reviews, especially on Google, will help you in several ways. Reviews will:
- Reinforce your reliability and trust
- Feature specific products and services you provide
- Spotlight customer experiences
- Help boost your organic SEO ranking
Once you begin getting reviews, make sure you respond to every review! Here’s a step-by-step way your review replies will help entice customers—even with negative reviews.
7) Answer Questions on Quora and Reddit
Peers helping peers. It’s why both public Q&A platforms have been so successful. And it’s why dedicating a bit of time every week is crucial.
Seek out the subreddits relating to your customer’s industry. If you manufacture restaurant equipment check out questions in r/restaurantowners or r/restaurateur.
Answer questions! Don’t pump your product or service. This is about showcasing your expertise! By engaging in these forums or threads, you’re getting your name out there.
Our recommendation is easy—spend twenty minutes a week. Find at least three relevant topics to chime in on. Don’t pitch your services or products. Simply share your expertise.
8) Start an Email Newsletter to Customers Past and Present
An email newsletter is an excellent way to keep in contact with your customers. Two elements will make it successful:
- Sent consistently each month or quarter
- Don’t sell—educate!
The regular email newsletters you send are about demonstrating your value and educating your customer. In fact, 65% of your new business will come from existing customers.
The customers on your list already know you, but how often do you hear, “I didn’t know you could do <insert service>?”
Your email content should always focus on helping your customer with their challenges and not simply pump your product or services.
The one thing NOT to do is blatantly sell.
There are a variety of cost effective platforms you can use:
How to Get Started
Tackling the whole list at once may be a bit overwhelming. Break it into chunks. Perhaps start with LinkedIn? Or get your Google Business Profile set? Wherever you start—just START.
If you need help getting everything rolling or find yourself needing an extra set of hands, please give us a shout. Team Signalfire would love the opportunity to help you. Our team has walked many businesses through this process.
You can find more ways Signalfire can assist you here!