Are you seeking to boost your small business’ sales when you are running short of money?
Entrepreneurship comes with many challenges. Uncertainty and risk are the inherent elements associated with business. At one time you may have impressive sales, while other times, you barely make it to the bottom line. So when you are operating on a tight budget, increasing sales becomes an even more uphill task.
However, this is also the time to show or develop strong marketing prowess and innovative advertising skills. While doing this may not be a walk in the park, it is quite achievable, and being under a cash crunch doesn’t necessarily mean that all hope is lost.
Here is how you can increase your sales on a budget.
Budget Sales Strategy #1: Communicate with Your Current Customers
Your current customers are your most prized assets right now as they are the best resources for increasing revenue. It is way easier to upsell to a customer who is already familiar with your brand. You can start a healthy communication with them and highlight the qualities of your product or service and good communication will help you build a level of trust between yourself and your customers. You can also ask them for their valuable feedback, which will give you a good insight as to what changes you need to bring in. They will surely respect you for reaching out to them and, because of that, this is the perfect opportunity for you to create customer loyalty.
Budget Sales Strategy #2: Use Social Media More Than Ever
Social media is increasingly becoming a productive platform to market various products and services. As you may know, there are many social media channels that are highly popular with the masses, and more and more people are signing up for them on a daily basis. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest are the most used social media channels today, with Facebook having over 1.2 billion active users. Marketing on these social media platforms is inexpensive and extremely effective. You can use slightly different strategies to promote your product or service on different channels. For example, YouTube and Instagram offer a lot of visual opportunities, while Twitter allows you to reach people through primarily written content.
Budget Sales Strategy #3: Start a Referral System
It will be really helpful for you to develop a customer referral program by offering existing customers free products or monthly services for referring your business to new customers. Word of mouth will do the trick for you here, as friends telling friends about you will give you incredible benefits. You can easily set up a referral system and it won’t cost you much, however, you have to make sure that you are rewarding your customers with free or discounted services so they will continue to get new leads for you. Referrals are also handy for you to find other small business people who are ready to work with you, which will provide you with more opportunities to generate revenue.
Budget Sales Strategy #4: Use Cheaper Ways to Promote Your Product or Service
There are many creative and cheaper ways that you can use to promote your products or services. As an example, you can use your vehicle as a mobile billboard, or you can create custom-designed attractive labels that have strategic value in terms of being promotional materials or you can even create your own promotional leaflets.
One of the best ways you can promote your product or service on a budget is through “guerrilla marketing,” which emphasizes creativity over budget, and its strategies are often cheap and easy to implement. It will, however, involve a high degree of imagination to capture the attention of the public, so think about what you can do to really make an impact. Another way of promoting your product or service is to support a social cause, so becoming a socially conscious company can attract like-minded customers and drive your sales over time.
Budget Sales Strategy #5: Listen to What Your Customers Need
Listening to what your customers actually need or knowing what their real concerns are will not cost you much, and you will definitely get an inch closer to winning their loyalty. Through communication, you will get to know what types of products will satisfy your potential customers and how you can gain their trust. If you keep listening to them, they will also be more likely to choose your business over your competition.
You should also keep in mind to act towards resolving your customer’s issues as there is a popular adage in business that goes, “Most loyal customers are not the happiest ones, but the ones whose problems are solved”. Keeping communication channels open will also help to increase your goodwill, which is always beneficial for your business.
Budget Sales Strategy #6: Offer Discounts on Higher Volume Orders
Offering discounts is probably one of the oldest marketing strategies because it works more often than not. Psychology has it that when customers receive one or two FREE additional items, they feel as though they have received something for nothing. Since every customer wants a better deal and moves toward businesses that provide them good value for their money, they will readily purchase from you if you give them the best value. Ultimately, offering a slight discount can make your product or service more attractive to your customers so use that to your advantage.
Budget Sales Strategy #7: Publish Great Content
Create a blog for your business because blogging has huge potential to capture a bigger market for your products or services, so make sure you’re creating and publishing relevant and informative content for your audience. Great content will not only increase your site’s organic SEO ranking, but it can drive more traffic to your store and, ultimately, help you generate more sales. For example, blogging about top 10 lists or tips regarding some of the best practices of your industry might give your audience lots of value. Also, take the time to be active on other blogs and visit and comment on them regularly to increase your business’ exposure in relevant industries.
Conclusion
With a little creativity, experience, and passion, you can devise certain marketing strategies that will help you boost the sales of your small business even when you are working with a small budget. The above tips are proven examples of this. The only thing you have to do now is buckle down and become your most creative and innovative self!
