Where has Your Marketing Budget Gone?
August 11th, 2009
So, we’re 2/3 of the way through the year, and I’m wondering what you’ve done with your marketing budget. As we all know, the less spent on marketing, the fewer customers you have. So, how much of your marketing budget have you spent thus far? How much of it was spent on traditional marketing, and how much of it was spent on SEO/SEM/Social Media? Have you dipped your toes into the social marketing pool we’ve discussed so often on this blog?
If you haven’t yet given it a try, you are by no means alone. Many, small business owners especially, have been hesitant to try something new. But, I think now may be the time to give it a go. I’m guessing that the larger portion of your marketing budget is gone, so why not try something that is either very low cost, or altogether free? If your looking for a good place to start, try Twitter. It’s easy, it’s free and it doesn’t have to take a ton of time so the risk is low. It may not be right for everyone, but for many small businesses, Twitter can be used to their advantage, if they’re not too pushy. I found a great little tutorial if you’d like to give it a try.
One key aspect to marketing within Social Media is to once again, provide helpful, relevant information. If you are doing nothing with your Facebook account but sending self-promoting messages to friends and clients, they will soon block you. As the old Scout saying goes: “Use resources wisely.” If you have a great special that will truly benefit your clients, by all means, Tweet it. But, if you are using your Twitter account to just say “Hello” and get in the face of your clients without any type of relevant information, you will be abusing the trust of your followers, and you will soon have none!
Social Media, as well as the good SEO/SEM of your site are incredibly important, especially now as we seem to be seeing a turnaround in the economy. Use it to your very best advantage!
