Did you just start a business? Or has your business been in operation but had no success? Consider a few DIY marketing strategies to help get your business going.
But don’t be afraid to hire some professionals for a couple of tasks. That way, you can make sure your business is ready to attract the right customers.
Read on to learn more.
1. Do Market Research
While it’s not necessarily a marketing idea, market research is crucial to making the most of marketing. You can use your market research to figure out what your ideal customer likes and dislikes.
The research will also help you decide where to spend your marketing efforts. If you find your audience isn’t on TikTok, for example, you can know not to create an account there. So you can save time and money in the long run.
2. Develop a Plan
Use the results from your market research to create a DIY marketing plan. Maybe you decide to rely on free marketing, or you might figure out you need to spend some money on advertising.
Either way, having a plan can help you choose the right marketing ideas for beginners. Then, you won’t waste time trying every possible marketing strategy available.
3. Join Social Media
If your business isn’t on social media yet, now’s the time to join. And if you are on social media, consider adding a second or third platform. You can use it to link to your website and promote upcoming launches and sales.
Social media is one of the best free marketing strategies for businesses. Just make sure that you join platforms with your audience so that you can turn them into paying customers.
4. Work With Influencers
While this idea isn’t free, it can be affordable and worth it if you do it right. Influencer marketing is where your business works with an influencer to promote a product or service you offer.
Before hiring someone, make sure their audience includes the people you want to sell to. Then, you can set a budget and negotiate the content and terms with the influencer. This can be more affordable than buying ads, and you know you’ll reach the right people.
5. Improve Your SEO
Another option for how to market your business is to work on your search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a free way to reach your ideal customers, and you can reach them when they search on Google.
You can select relevant keywords that you think your customers might use. Now, this strategy can take some time before it brings in results, but it can work for years after you implement it, and you don’t have to pay for advertising space.
6. Create a Blog
Another one of the best DIY marketing ideas is to create a blog and add it to your website. That way, you can write posts and optimize them for more keywords, giving you more opportunities to rank highly in search results.
Make sure to add new blog posts regularly, whether that’s monthly or weekly. Your audience can come back to your blog to read your content, so read more here about how you can make a blog work for your business.
7. Start a Newsletter
Social media and SEO are great ways to bring in traffic. However, an email list is one of the best cheap or free marketing strategies out there. When someone visits your website, they can opt into your email list.
You’ll then send a newsletter each week or month. The newsletter won’t have to pass an algorithm to get to its recipients, so you can make sure it gets to people who want to read it.
8. Get on YouTube
If you’re willing to be on camera, YouTube is a great DIY marketing option. You can film videos about your products and services, or you can turn your blog posts into videos.
Use the description box to link to your website and products. When someone searches for something related to your video on YouTube, you may show up in the search results, just like SEO on Google. Then, you can get more traffic.
9. Cross-Promote Your Content
Cross-promotion is one of the best marketing tips and tricks. You don’t have to create unique content for all of your social platforms, your website, and your newsletter.
Whenever you create a new post, you can share content you recently shared elsewhere. That way, your entire audience can see the content, and you can increase the chances of making a sale from each post.
Don’t Build Your Own Website
While some DIY marketing ideas can be successful, others require the attention of a professional. Building a website is one of those things, unless you’re a web designer yourself.
Be sure to hire a professional to create a unique website and optimize it for mobile use and SEO. That way, you will be able to get and retain traffic, so you can sell more products and services.
If you’re on a tight budget, you may be able to build your site. However, consider at least buying a premium theme that you can customize to make your site unlike anyone else’s.
Don’t Copy Your Competitors
Another thing to avoid with DIY marketing is copying other businesses. It may seem like an easy way to get a few followers and website visitors, but it doesn’t look good.
Odds are, your business isn’t exactly like the competition. Your audience may be slightly different, so they may expect a unique style from you. If they think you’re copying another business, they might not trust you.
While you can create unique content yourself, it doesn’t hurt to hire an expert. Then, you can make sure the content you post fits your brand and serves your customer base.
DIY Marketing Made Easy
For many small and upcoming businesses, DIY marketing seems like the best way to go. In some cases, DIY marketing ideas can help grow your business.
However, you may want to hire professionals to create unique content and build your website. That way, you can stand out from the competition.
Check out our digital marketing section to learn more about how you can promote your business.