Lockdown Digital Marketing
During this corona lockdown, most of the businesses and markets are closed and many businesses are not investing in marketing and most of us are waiting for the market to open again to start the business.
It may be a wise idea to save your money if you have a limited budget for marketing. but it is also true that a business needs to always be in front of the customer so that they keep you remembered.
It is easy to convert a website visitor into a customer if they already know you for a long time compared to the visitors who are the first time on your website.
But, when the budget is limited then it’s not wise to invest all of your money like on regular marketing, because due to the nature of business you may not be able to convert your visitor into a customer at this time.
IDEA BEHIND LOCKDOWN MARKETING
Spend Less.
Stay visible to all your existing and future customers.
Expect the highest conversion rate once businesses are open.
FREE OR LOW-COST LOCKDOWN DIGITAL MARKETING IDEAS
So what are the low-cost digital marketing options available for such small business owners?
There are many options that you can apply depending upon your goal. some of them are
FREE
Search Engine Optimization SEO: it helps to show your website on the first page of Google when someone searches for your product or services. If you know how to do it then you can do it yourself, but I will highly recommend hiring someone with the experience of SEO for better results.
PROS- Google does not charge for clicks on your website but you have to pay the SEO professional if you hire someone.
CONS- It is a long-term process and it needs time to show its result. it may take from one month to 6 months to bring your website on the first page of Google when someone searches for you.
Social Media: Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tik Tok are some popular social media platforms where any business can create a free profile or page and start engaging with prospects. There are many tutorials available on Youtube on how to do social media management.
PROS- Every social media offer a free way to market a business. It is available for everyone and there is no limitation on posts, shares, and engagement with customers.
CONS- Like SEO, It will be a challenge to get your post visible to lots of people. You need expertise or need to hire social media experts to manage it effectively.
PAID ADS WITH SMALL BUDGET
The idea of the small budget paid ads is to reach hundreds of people each day. With every Rs.100 spend, you would be able to reach many hundreds of people and visitors to the website.
Facebook Ads: With Facebook advertisement, a business can reach its targeted audience with relevant messages, details of services/products.
PROS- Low-cost marketing ideas. You will be able to target user based on
- Their location
- Demographic
- Interest
- Behavior
- Life events
- Job title
- And so on
CONS: You need to set up these on your own or may need to hire Facebook Ad experts to set these for one time. You can not expect any quick sales.
Google Display Advertising: This can be a very low-cost advertising option to reach hundreds of audiences every day. These ads offer to reach customers on millions of websites when they read any articles, watching videos, etc.
PROS- Google display advertising offers multiple types of ads and targeting options. You can choose any one option to reach your customers.
- Show Rich media advertisement ( text, banner, videos, etc)
- Decide on which website you want to show ads
- Select your user interest, behavior and target them with ads
- Use remarketing Google ads to target your past website visitors and customers
- Pay 1/10th cost to search marketing
- Control location, user age, gender to show ads.
- Decide your own daily budgets
- And there can be many options as per your goal
CONS: Like others, you need to have some experience with it and have to hire someone to set up these all. But these paid advertisements can be set up once to keep it running. You just need to fund the Ads account.
Also, a one-time setup is good when your goal is to reach more people with display ads. Or, you can keep someone to monitor it on a daily basis to improve performance.
These can be a good chance to start with display advertisements and stay active online in-front of your customer. It will have long term benefits plus better utilization of the lockdown period.
Share your views in the comments on these free and paid digital marketing ideas during this lockdown.