Latest / Imperfect Marketing / 151: Maximizing Marketing on a Tight Budget: Kendra Corman's Strategies and Insights

Transcript

151: Maximizing Marketing on a Tight Budget: Kendra Corman's Strategies and Insights · Imperfect Marketing

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to another Imperfect Marketing Brief.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, kendra Corman.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Today we're navigating the waters of budget-friendly marketing, which is my favorite topic.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Right, because a little can go a long way if you're using the right strategies for your business.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: And again, whether you're running a bootstrap startup or looking to make the most out of limited resources, this episode is for you.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and just jump right in.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Let's start off with leveraging networking groups.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Building connections can be a catalyst for growth and I know that about 90% of my done-for-you business came from networking.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: You can do things like BNI or I'm a member of Local Business Networking, lbn here in Michigan, where you can engage with local business groups.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I actually started in my local chamber as a part of a business development group.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: There are so many resources through your local chamber.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I encourage you to check it out and leverage the heck out of that membership, because you can build relationships and gain referrals.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Now you don't want to go into these relationships seeking referrals.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: You want to look at giving okay, connecting people, giving being your authentic self, because the problem with these are that a lot of people go into them and they want to get referrals, and so they're constantly asking for business, but you've got to give to get, and it doesn't always have to be business, especially if you're starting out.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: But creating those connections and helping people along the way or helping them with your expertise really goes a long way in building that no-lake-and-trust factor, which is key to building your business.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Another thing that you could do is attend some industry events.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I love attending conferences and industry-related events because you can network, spread the word about your brand in your local community, but you can also learn a lot from others, and that's what's really important, and that's one of the reasons I'm really happy that we are back to in-person events and conferences and I can't wait to learn and see more.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about digital marketing on a dime.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Digital marketing is a host of different services and things that you can do, but it's an affordable way to reach and engage with your target audience.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: So, first off, social media.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Right, you've got Instagram, facebook, linkedin, x, formerly known as Twitter and you can share your story, you can connect with your target audience, you can ask questions, you can respond to questions.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: You can do just so many different things.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Social media is a great way to meet and engage with others.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: And then, of course, the other big, huge term content marketing.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Content is king, right?
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: No, good content is king, but you want to create and share valuable content that addresses your audience's needs, their questions.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: This will help with your SEO.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: This helps with content for your email newsletter, which is another piece that's really effective on a dime.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: I usually recommend people just starting out If you've got less than a thousand contacts start with ConvertKit.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Convertkit is a great email tool and it is free for your first thousand subscribers.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: It doesn't offer any automations in the free version, but that's okay, you're just starting out, so just get started.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Constant Contact is another tool that I recommend and I use all the time.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: It is a fantastic, easy to use system that can really grow with you, because it also offers SMS messaging as an add-on, does landing pages and a whole host of other things.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Their automation capabilities have actually been really growing.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I'm really excited about all of the different stuff that they have going on there, and I'll have links for both of those in the show notes for you, of course, as usual.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about online networking.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, there are a ton of different ways to network online, so if you're not interested in going to your local Chamber of Events, or you don't have the right group, or there's conflicts for your BNI or your local business networking LBN groups.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Whatever it happens to be, I get it, and for some of us, online might be the only way to go because of your schedule.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: So think about online groups.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Think about LinkedIn Network.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Think about that.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: We're LinkedIn networking.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Think about all the different ways that you can engage with different people on online and, again, make it personal and authentic.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Those are key.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: All right, personal and authentic.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I'm going to say it again.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: That is so key to online networking because if you just say something generic and you haven't done any research, people aren't going to respect you and then you just wasted a bunch of time and for a lot of startups, time is actually really, really valuable, even though you might have more of it than money.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk finally about strategic alliances.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I love partnerships.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I think partnerships are a great way to grow.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: That's one of the reasons I always have guests on my show right, because they share with their network and then their network gets to see me.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: I might not be the right fit for their network, that's okay, but I get that exposure by partnering with them on an episode and giving you content that's going to help you out.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: So you can cross promote with complimentary brands, people, things like that, and you can share content to each other's audiences.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: You can also collaborate with micro influencers.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Micro influencers are one of my favorite things and trends.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: If they resonate with who you are and your brand values, then you could actually get some pretty cool engagement out of that.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: All right, if today's episode sparked any new ideas for you and your marketing strategy, I'd have really appreciated if you would subscribe, share and leave a review for imperfect marketing.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Your engagement drives me to continue delivering actionable marketing insights every week, twice a week.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Tune in next time as I delve into the topic of automation versus a personal touch in marketing.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Until then, remember a tight budget is an invitation for creativity.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Don't let it stop you or slow you down.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: See you next week.