According to Hubspot, over 32% of digital marketers claim that securing enough budget is one of the biggest challenges that they face. In larger companies, that number goes as high as 51%.
But this certainly isn’t much of a surprise. Marketers and businesses have struggled since the beginning of time with finding money to market their business.
The bottom line has always been that business owners know they need to market. They just don’t want to have to spend a fortune to do so.
So, what do you do? Well, the only viable solution is to find a way to be successful with digital marketing on a shoestring budget.
Let’s take a look at some steps that can help you do that.
#1 – Utilize High ROI Marketing Methods
If you’re looking for the magic pill to digital marketing on a shoestring budget, that pill would be utilizing high ROI marketing methods.
As obvious as that may seem, far too many marketers do not follow this simple advice.
In a census put together by the teams at Econsultancy and Adestra back in 2014, it was determined that the top four methods resulting in the highest ROI included:
- Email marketing
- SEO (Organic Search)
- Content Marketing
- Paid Search (PPC)
As Graham Charlton, the editor-in-chief at Econsultancy, says:
“Email generates fantastic results for those who are making the time to adapt their marketing practice to the changing expectations of their customers.”
It’s important to understand exactly what Charlton is saying.
While he makes it clear that email marketing is the taste of the day, he also mentions the importance of continually taking the time to investigate the constantly changing expectations of customers.
Email marketing and SEO may be the highest ROI marketing methods today. But they might not be in 2017 and in the years to follow.
So, how do you determine what the current expectations of your customers are? You put a process in place for effectively measuring the ROI and other data for each method that you use.
#2 – Develop Efficient Processes for Measuring the ROI of Each Marketing Method
In the world of marketing, results are all that matter.
Jerome Fontaine, the CEO of Fournaise Marketing Group, had an epic quote about this. He said:
“Every Tom, Dick & Harry is a marketer, lacking the scientific and financial knowledge necessary to inform and optimize the creative side of marketing. CEOs have told us again and again: they want ROI marketers, i.e. 360-degree performance machines trained to deliver (real) business results and prove/optimize ROI.”
Now that is a quote that every marketer should hang on their wall.
If you want to become a 360-degree performance machine, you have to be able to develop efficient processes for measuring the ROI of each marketing method that you use.
Without the ability to do this, you’re just another Tom, Dick or Harry.
#3 – Utilize Tools and Resources That Improve Marketing Efficiency
In general, digital marketing on a shoestring budget only really requires that you take the two steps listed above.
The problem, however, is that effectively utilizing and measuring high ROI marketing methods isn’t easy. In order to do so, you must utilize tools and resources that improve marketing efficiency.
If you’re attempting to succeed at SEO as a marketer for a small business, for example, you need to use tools that improve the efficiency of doing so.
Otherwise you’re going to end up wasting a lot of time and eventually burn yourself out.
If you can find an all-in-one digital marketing solution, even better.
By taking the time initially to research and find the tools and resources that improve marketing efficiency, you put yourself in a much better position to achieve long term success.
Conclusion
Attempting to succeed at digital marketing with a small budget certainly isn’t easy. Fortunately, it’s also not impossible. By utilizing the steps listed above, you can set yourself up to get the most out of the marketing budget that you do have.
