Why a limited budget shouldn’t define your marketing success

Do you associate successful marketing with a big budget? Feel you don’t have the expertise or time to do any marketing so you leave it or do it inconsistently. Perhaps you’re a bit afraid of ‘getting it wrong’? 

It’s time for a rethink…

Here are six essential steps to get you started on the road to strategic marketing on a limited budget

1. Set a budget – it’s important to work out an initial budget but you don’t need thousands of pounds. You do need to think and behave strategically…which leads to my next point.
2. Have a clear plan – your marketing strategy should support your business goals. It’s worth spending time being very clear on your strategy. This will underpin your decisions on what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. This will formulate your marketing plan – your tactics.
3. Know what you want to achieve – Benchmark where you are now, how will you know if what you have done has been successful and should be repeated or refined? It’s old but true – if you don’t know where you are heading how will you know when you get there?
4. Build relationships – successful marketing is all about relationships and how you nurture them! After all, when it comes down to it, people buy from people, they know, like and trust.  When companies support local charities they want to enter into a long-term relationship with them, it’s so much more than support through money or a tick in the CSR box.
5. Share your ethos – how do you conduct business? Do your values ooze out of what you say, what you write and how you treat others whether that’s clients, introducers, influencers, staff, the list goes on.
6. Bring in expertise – you know your business, its products or services but perhaps you find it difficult to express the value it brings or who to ‘speak to’ about it. A marketing professional expert can draw out your knowledge and match it with the best route to market, choose the right channels and can maximise what budget you do have.

How an independent marketing professional can help

• Small is beautiful. Having worked in large international companies and SMEs for me it’s always been about the team. Providing support to each other, bouncing ideas around and working hard to achieve great things for the organisation and their clients. Let’s not forget that small is also agile!
• It’s not right that as a small business or not-for-profit you should do without or not believe you can have strategic, thoughtful marketing and communications. Independent practitioners like Amica bring good marketing practice to small businesses and teams. I offer marketing that is both real, actionable and practical to move the business forward and get results.
• I work WITHIN your team and my clients see me as part of their management team. That’s what I love, it’s not a typical supplier/client relationship. We are working together to achieve great things and move the business forward.
• You don’t need me every day but you have your own Marketing Director every working day. I work remotely most of the time but see and speak with my clients regularly as we need to, booking calls, meetings and of course using systems and emails to keep each other informed. It’s all about working efficiently and flexibly to suit. 
• I have your business and your best interests at heart. I’m not physically working on or in your business Monday to Friday but I get to know your business really well and find that I naturally think about suitable opportunities, relevant news or marketing approaches. I treat your investment as carefully as I would my own money.
• Goldfish, that’s you, not me! I’m the one looking in and over, seeing things from a fresh perspective and not afraid to make suggestions.  
• I love to share in your passion for your business and only work with you when I know I can make a difference. It has to be the right fit for everyone.

Are you feeling the effect of coronavirus on your marketing activity? Do you know wonder how you can adapt to a reduced or no budget? I’ve got lots of experience in this. Let’s have a chat.

Photo credit: Andy Cox ©