Where do I spend my Ad Dollars on a Limited Marketing Budget

Boosting social media posts, paid advertisement campaigns, professional photographers; there are seemingly infinite ways to spend money on marketing these days. But for small business owners, knowing how to make the most of your limited digital marketing budget requires a certain self-awareness of your business and brand, not to mention keen insight into what your target audience is searching for online.

Many small business owners fail to realize the potential of significantly investing in digital marketing strategies. In fact, the U.S. Small Business Administration reports that the average U.S. business only spends just over 1 percent of their revenue on advertising efforts, while B2B product companies spend 6.3 percent of their revenue on marketing and B2B companies spend 6.9 percent.

With so many small business owners putting an emphasis on stretching their marketing dollars out as much as possible, knowing where and how to spend a tight advertising budget may seem intimidating. However, with the right resources, tools, and foresight, appropriately allocating your marketing budget doesn’t have to cost your business an arm and a leg.

In today’s ‘___ Near Me’ local marketing podcast episode, the digital marketing gurus of Triton Commerce breakdown where exactly small business owners should spend their ad dollars when it comes to maximizing their marketing potential. Take a look at a few crucial components that can help you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to digital marketing on a limited budget.

Knowing how to spend your money is more important than how much money you have to spend. Take a look at these digital marketing tips for advertising on a limited budget.

Focus On Your Strengths

Your business might specialize in a number of different products or services, but is it really worth spending the money to emphasize all of your company’s services, or just the ones you do best? When working with a tight marketing budget, it typically makes the most sense to promote whatever services your company would consider to be its bread and butter, rather than trying to showcase every single service you can provide.

For example, if you manage a roofing business that primarily specializes in roof repair and replacement, it might not be worth spending the extra advertising money to highlight the fact that you also can do siding or window repair.

A few questions to consider answering when marketing toward your company’s strengths include:

• What is the service(s) you’re best known for?
• What services or products do you make the most money off of?
• Which service tends to lead to more additional services or sales?
• What services do you specifically want new, potential customers to know about your business?
• Would you rather spend the majority of your marketing budget highlighting several services you CAN do, or emphasizing the service(s) you do best?

Remember, the key here is marketing whatever products or services you want to base your reputation on, and that will also lead to longer-lasting customer relationships.

Where is Your Target Audience Looking for Help?

Once you know what aspects of your business you want to focus on showcasing, the next step of making the most of your limited marketing budget is to figure out where your target audience would be trying to find or search for your services. Much of this comes down to which industry your company serves, as every industry has its own target audience that utilizes different platforms or mediums to find the services or products they’re interested in.

Let’s use an accounting firm versus a nail salon as an example. People actively searching for an accountant are less likely to be scrolling through Facebook or Instagram for help with their taxes. Instead, perhaps LinkedIn is a more appropriate platform for an accountant to invest in social media paid advertising, because businesses utilize LinkedIn to actively seek out accounting services. In fact, accountants will almost undoubtedly get a better ROI on paid ads or search-based advertising rather than the big social media platforms.

As for a nail salon, typical nail salon customers are more likely to be susceptible to visually stimulating, color-focused and vibrant advertisements, and tend to actively search on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok for finding new nail salon choices or recommendations. No matter where you think your audience is, you have to put in the work to find them, which means occasionally testing out marketing strategies.

Whether it’s figuring out which marketing avenues or media platforms resonate best with your target audience or keeping track of various data and analytics with every social media post or email newsletter, some initial marketing experimentation will help you understand where your target audience is and help pay off in the long run.

Don’t Forget Traditional Marketing Methods

While dedicating a significant portion of your marketing budget to digital marketing strategies is an essential part of modern advertising, it’s important not to overlook how crucial traditional marketing methods still are with today’s customers. For many businesses, especially those operating in the home services industry, a well-rounded digital and traditional marketing approach can be extremely beneficial.

When we talk about traditional marketing options, we’re alluding to everything from:

• Business cards
• Yard signs
• Truck or vehicle wrap designs
• Flyers or brochures
• Event marketing
• Referrals and more

Allocating your marketing budget to maintain a healthy balance of digital and traditional advertising methods will ensure that you’re covering all of your local marketing bases moving forward.

Maximize Your Marketing Potential With Triton Commerce

At the end of the day, working with marketing professionals will only help you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to allocating your marketing budget. At Triton Commerce, we work with business owners from all industries, ensuring they receive the custom marketing strategies they need to enhance their company’s online presence and visibility.

When you need digital marketing solutions that adhere to your budget’s needs, contact Triton Commerce today to get started on your free Digital Marketing Plan. Also, be sure to listen to our weekly podcast for all the latest tips and information regarding innovative and effective digital marketing!