According to recent data from UpFlip, 85% of small businesses spend less than $10,000 per year on marketing. If you fall into that category, you must carefully allocate your budget. With so many customers to reach, how do you make the most of the money you have to spend?
Here are five ideas:
1. ) Choose your target audience strategically. If you are sending direct mail, identify your best target audiences. Are they your most frequent customers? Those who spend the most? Those who fit a particular profile? Identify your best customers for each campaign, then focus on that group.
2.) Combine print with email. Send your offers by email first, then mail those who didn’t respond to your email. Print packs a powerful punch, but if your budget is tight, tight, tight, you can always skim off the first round of buyers with digital marketing. Then, print will be used for those who are more challenging to reach.
3.) Use vehicle wraps. Vehicle wraps are one of the most cost-effective marketing channels because you get thousands of views just by driving around. How many impressions you’ll get depends on where you live, but vehicle wraps are an outstanding option if your goal is branding.
4.) Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM). This is a low-cost mailing program through the U.S. Postal Service. EDDM allows you to select neighborhoods by desired demographics, such as household income, and mail to neighborhoods with those demographics at a postal discount.
5.) Use USPS Informed Delivery to add free digital images to your direct mail campaigns. Over one-third of Americans are signed up for USPS Informed Delivery, which provides a preview of the mail arriving that day. With a 60% open rate, those emails are marketing gold, and the USPS allows you to add full-color “representative images” with response links at no cost. This gives you an extra marketing touch for free.
These five options do not exhaust the ways to stretch your marketing budget, but they are a great start. Want more ideas? Let’s talk!
