A company's digital marketing budget has become extremely important in recent years. A recent study showed that 55% of Snapchat users reported that they follow one or more brands on the platform.
In order to keep up with the trends, your company should be creating a digital marketing budget and using creative tactics to reach your intended audiences.
We know that not every budget is limitless. Fortunately, you can still craft an effective strategy without breaking the bank. Read on to find out how to nail your digital marketing budget frugally.
Determining Your Digital Marketing Budget
Before you start throwing money around, be sure to plan out a budget. It's important to put effort into designing your budget and actually sticking to it because it will save you money in the long run.
Allocate Resources
You first have to decide who is going to be handling your digital marketing. You can do everything yourself, let an agency handle everything, or figure out a combination.
If you feel confident in your digital marketing abilities, then doing it yourself will be the cheapest option, money-wise. The biggest downside to this strategy is the time it will cost you.
If you let an agency do your digital marketing for you, you can probably expect to spend a good amount of money. But in this case, you know that the marketing is being done by professionals and will, therefore, have a higher chance of being effective.
Splitting the work with an agency is a good middle-ground if you aren't 100% confident in your own abilities. Of course, you could always improve your abilities by taking a digital marketing course online. Educating yourself further with digital marketing knowledge can only help.
Consider the ROI
ROI stands for Return on Investment. What you want to aim for is a 5:1 ratio, meaning if you spend $1 on marketing, it should make you $5.
5:1 is the average, so anything higher means that your marketing strategies are working pretty well.
Using a ratio allows you to track your failures and successes easily. You'll have concrete data that tells you whether you're hitting the mark.
If your ratio is 5:1 or higher, then you can keep doing what you're doing! But if it falls below 5:1, you should consider making adjustments to your digital marketing strategy.
Digital Marketing Strategies
Digital media is evolving all the time. These days, you have tons of options when it comes to digital marketing. Below, we'll go over a few ways to get the most out of your budget.
Utilize Social Media
Using social media is arguably the best way to spend your digital marketing dollars. But you want to make sure that you're advertising on the right platforms.
Consumers respond better to brands when they are interacted with. Twitter is a great platform for interacting with users because you can respond quickly and easily. Twitter also has a user-base that consists of both young people and older people.
For a younger audience, focus on Instagram and Snapchat. The nice thing about these platforms is that they are more compatible with videos. Videos catch users' attention and allow for more content.
For longer videos, tutorials, and/or vlogs, use YouTube. On YouTube, you can easily determine who cares about your content by looking at your Subscribers. If you don't want to create your own channel, you can also advertise on other users' videos.
If your company performs a niche service, you might consider advertising on forums. For example, a contract manufacturing business might benefit from a post on a subReddit about 3D printing.
With a bit of research and an eye for trends, social media marketing can be done yourself! As long as you have some time to dedicate, you can save a lot of money by running the accounts yourself.
You can also consider paying social media influencers to advertise your product. An influencer is a model / blogger / social media user with a large number of followers who will make posts about your brand.
To save some money, try negotiating with the influencer. Sometimes, influencers will accept a trade if they are interested in your product or service.
Mobile Apps
A lot of people use the internet on their phones. In fact, some social media platforms (like Snapchat) are only accessible on smartphones. To reach the biggest audience, you may need a smartphone application.
If your app is going to be complicated, you could be looking at a sizable fee. But if you are familiar with building apps yourself, or if the app will not take much time to create, then this is a good option.
Having a presence on the app store and having the ability to send push notifications to consumers will greatly increase your brand visibility.
Email Marketing
Don't forget about email marketing! This tactic is perfect for those on a budget because it can easily be done yourself.
All you need is an attention-grabbing email filled with interesting, quality content and a substantive email list.
To build an email list, invite potential customers through your website and/or social media promotions.
Be Creative
The biggest thing to remember is that digital media is overflowing with content, so you need to stand out. The easiest way to do that is by providing unique, quality content.
If your niche is filled with static image marketing, try creating a GIF or a video. Interact with your audience. Commission small artists to create exclusive designs.
Don't be afraid to go against the grain a little bit. If you catch people's attention, they will talk about. And that increases brand recognition.
Nail Your Digital Marketing Budget
By figuring out creative, low-cost strategies like these, we have no doubt that you will nail your digital marketing budget.
Check out our resources on influencer marketing for more tips, tricks, and ideas!
