Out-of-control spending on advertising can literally drive you out of business. The idea that pouring an ever-increasing stream of dollars into that rabbit hole marked “marketing” always yields a commensurate return, is a fallacy. It might be time to step back and take a look at how to reduce advertising costs while increasing the bang for your buck. Here are three tricks that, if you’re not doing yet, hop to it. Why spend more money for the same effect when you could spend less?
The Miracle of Free
In recent years, Google has adopted a policy of rewarding good content with ever higher search engine rankings. If you are producing a single piece of well-written content each week two years ago, you’d probably be sitting pretty in page one for a number of keywords at no cost other than the time taken to write and post the pieces. When you hear the phrase, “content is king,” this is what they’re talking about. Regardless of your industry and whether you’re targeting your hometown or the global market, you’re crazy to not take advantage of content marketing. Make sure you stay current, including industry news and be interesting, unique, and creative in the content you put out. If you don’t have time to do this step yourself, it’s worth the cost to hire out to a content marketing agency. They’ll be able to include the right keywords and stay relevant in your industry.
Call to Action
Any type of content or advertisement without a CTA (Call-to-Action) at the end is about as close to wasted money as you can get. Tell a listener, reader, or viewer what you want them to do next in response to your ad. Your best bet is to induce them to turn over their email address. Since people rarely buy a product or service on a first exposure, your first goal is not to make the sale, but to gain their permission to contact them in the future with more sales messages. If your advertising is targeted and your product or service of high quality, a simple CTA could greatly affect your bottom-line in a positive direction. You can leave a message open for comments at the bottom of social media posts as a good call to action as well.
Think Mobile
Right now, there is a huge disparity between the amount of internet traffic generated by mobile devices and the cost of targeting that market. Try scaling back your radio and television buys, which, despite what the friendly salesperson tells you, are largely untrackable when it comes to effectiveness. Shift that money into mobile spending. For marketers, it’s a buyer’s market and you can absolutely pinpoint every person that interacts with your advertisement and to what extent. Good outreach marketing solutions will always include mobile options to connect with the right audience in the right ways.
If you find yourself at a loss when it comes to increasing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, try the preceding three strategies. You might notice a difference where it really matters – your bank account. Use better techniques and be sure to stay relevant, unique, and ahead of the curve.
Eileen O'Shanassy is a freelance writer and blogger based out of Flagstaff, AZ. She writes on a variety of topics and loves to research and write. She enjoys baking, biking, and kayaking. Check out her Twitter @eileenoshanassy.