Advertising will always be critical when starting a successful business. It's the first step in ensuring people take notice of your brand. We see adverts everywhere these days - some of the times we don't even realise we're looking at them! But, they are all around us as companies fight for exposure.
Adverts provide consumers with access to your business. It lets them know you exist, while some adverts can go one better and explain what you do and why they should be interested. A successful advertising campaign should be part of your overall marketing strategy, helping you generate leads that translate into sales.
Unfortunately, startups tend to lack the funds to fuel massive advertising campaigns from the very beginning. It can be a smart idea to use most of your budget to advertise, but it still holds some risks. Instead, you should be on the lookout for affordable forms of advertising. We've listed a few examples below to help you kickstart your strategy:
Affiliate marketing
Although it has marketing in its name, this is generally considered a very affordable way to advertise your business. The idea behind it is straightforward:
- Contact affiliates that are willing to promote your business for you
- Pay them for helping you achieve specific goals - sales, lead generation, downloads, etc.
Your affiliates will all be given special links to use as they please, and they're basically going to advertise your business for you. Affiliates tend to be people with existing online followings, so all of their fans are likely to click their link. When people then follow up by completing the desired action you set - let's say, a sale - you pay your affiliate an agreed-upon amount. It's affordable because you really don't spend any money unless you receive the desired outcome.
Setting up an affiliate program is also a genius way to encourage customer loyalty for your startup.
Promotional materials
Making your own promotional materials or products can be a very cost-effective way of advertising your business. A simple example of this is to make nice hoodies with your brand logo and business contacts on them. You can wear these to work, to the shops; wherever. Get your employees to wear them and you're all basically advertising your business wherever you go.
Other people see the hoodies, see your brand logo, see your name and see your contact details. It's like you're a walking business card, which could be all it takes to get people to contact you.
Moreover, you can send out promo materials to your customers as well. Give them mugs, coasters, tote bags, clothing - anything with your brand logo emblazoned on it. They can then use these items throughout their daily lives, basically advertising for you.
The great thing is, you only have to worry about the cost of creating these promotional items - which isn't going to be that astronomical. Plus, think about the reach you generate!
Signage
Traditional forms of advertising include things like posters or billboard adverts. You could even pay to have your advert emblazoned at a bus stop. These are all fantastic ideas that get eyes on your brand, but they're expensive. For context, it can cost around £485 to get a billboard up - and this is just for two weeks. That might not seem like a massive amount of money, but the effects of billboard advertising over just a fortnight are going to be minimal. So, you'll have to spend more and more money to keep your advert up there.
Consequently, billboards and other forms of advertising like this are usually dominated by bigger businesses. They have the funds to keep themselves up there for as long as possible, while little startups like yours miss out. Instead, you should opt for a more affordable idea that's somewhat similar.
As the heading suggests, the idea is signage. As you can see on the Vivid Ads website, there are many different forms of advertising signage you can use:
- Flags
- Banners
- Fabric walls
- Pop-up gazebos
The list goes on, and the concept is that you create your own advertising and then place your signage wherever you like. It could be on the street outside your location, directing eyes towards your business. Or, you can attend events and place your signage there, generating more advertising benefits.
Unlike billboards or posters, you only pay for the production of your signage. Once you've got it, you can use it as often as you like, making it very affordable.
Social media ads
The world of digital advertising is extremely big, with so many different ways of promoting your business online. The mere existence of a business website is considered an advert in itself. You're putting your name out there and whenever someone sees you in Google searches, they start establishing brand recognition and could visit your site.
Nevertheless, social media ads are generally considered the most affordable around. This is because you have two tactics to use:
- Pay to boost organic posts
- Create your own ads and run them on social media
Either way, you don't have to spend huge amounts of cash as you can tailor your campaign to your budget. Boosting posts is probably the more affordable option for startups, but a social media advertising campaign can also be cost-effective when done correctly.
Primarily, you pay for social media ads on a cost-per-click basis. Whenever someone clicks on the ad, you pay. So, you don't ever pay for adverts that aren't clicked on, meaning you stand a chance of gaining something whenever you spend money. If someone clicks on your adverts, they'll be taken to your website where a good landing page can convert them into leads or paying customers that more than make up for the cost of advertising.
Final thoughts
At the end of the day, advertising is essential to get your startup out there. If you don't spend some money on advertising, your start up could fail before it's properly up and running. Don't be afraid to invest, but also ensure you utilise the affordable methods listed above. They'll help you save money while still generating brand awareness.
Copyright 2022. Article made possible by site supporter Jeremy Bowler.