The Lean Marketing Playbook: Boost Your Bottom Line Without Breaking the Bank

As a business owner, you know every dollar counts, but lower budgets don’t mean less effective marketing. Learn about a few free tools and actionable tactics to maximize your visibility and engagement while keeping costs low.

Leverage organic social media

Organic social media allows you to speak directly to an audience at very little cost. Create engaging content like tips, customer stories, 15-second product demos, etc., that elevate your company as a key authority in your space. Post regularly on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn to target your audience’s preferred channels.

Take advantage of free design tools like Canva that make it easy to create professional visuals and hashtags to increase visibility. Be sure to invite those engaging with your posts to follow your company profile to increase your audience size.

Get more local customers with Google Business Profile

Claim your free Google Business Profile. Be sure to update the listing with your company’s hours, photos, and contact info. Adding keywords relating to your business combined with your location (e.g., “Denver plumber”) increases your chances of being featured on the Google search results page. Be sure to list all of the services or products your business provides as well.

Google prioritizes visibility for those business profiles that have higher numbers of reviews. Encourage reviews from your customers. Create a QR code that points directly to your Google Business Profile to make the review process easy.

Email marketing drives higher ROI at low or even zero cost

Start by building your email list with your current customers first. Segment your list by the products or services they use as well as how recently they visited your store, to help tailor your message more specifically to your audience. Collect emails from your website as well as from customers as they visit your store or place of business.

Use low-cost tools such as Mailchimp to create professional templates, send messages, and provide data on email performance. Offering a coupon code in exchange for their contact information is a great way to encourage potential customers to sign up.

A monthly email newsletter is just one of the tactics that Mandzok Marketing used to drive a 282% increase in traffic for an association of independently owned and operated small hotels in Palm Springs.

Create strong, high-value content

High-value content creation allows you to gain trust for your brand and ensure the public sees your company as the authority in your marketplace. Both of these concepts are needed to build a sustainable client base that grows over time. Start with a blog post for your website that can be repurposed into social media posts, email messages, or even content for a presentation delivered at industry events.

Be sure these pieces address the pain points your target audience suffers and be creative enough to keep your customers coming back. Adding a blog post between 1,000 and 1,500 words at the rate of twice per month shows Google that your site is updated on a regular basis. This is an important factor in determining search engine ranking.

Mandzok Marketing’s use of this strategy led to a 69% increase in new users to the website for a family-owned airport shuttle company.

Engage in community outreach

Giving back something to the community is a great way to increase visibility for your business while helping others at the same time. Research free events in your area, public markets, charity drives, or even volunteer your time. Most cities allow local businesses to even rent booths at city events. These can be a lucrative way of getting to know your neighbors and introducing them to your business at the same time.

Tailor charitable work to your business’ area of expertise. An auto mechanic can donate some of his time to teach locals auto repair basics. Capture your work at the event and share on your social channels.

Mandzok Marketing offers a full suite of marketing strategies designed specifically for small to medium-sized businesses. Where most marketing agencies require expensive retainers and long term-commitments, Mandzok Marketing provides a customized plan to suit a lower budget.