Doing your own marketing can be a great way to save money and stay completely in control of your brand’s voice. To ensure that your DIY marketing campaign is a success, here are a few important dos and don’ts to follow.
Do have a strategy
You’re not going to get results by winging it. Effective marketing campaigns need to be planned out. This involves choosing the right time, targeting the right audience and using the right channels. Strategy should be applied to every element of your marketing from your social media posts to your promotional emails – by planning them out a week ahead, you can fine-tune them for maximum effectiveness.
Do have a budget
Whilst going DIY can save you a lot of money, there may still be times when you need to spend some cash to get results. It’s all too easy to overspend by boosting too many Facebook posts or pouring too much money into a trade fair stall. Set a monthly budget so that you’re not spending all of your money on marketing
Do know the limits of your knowledge
Whilst you may be able to self-teach yourself various marketing skills, it’s important to know when to let the pros take over. When it comes to practices like web design, SEO and video advertising, you’re usually better off hiring a digital marketing company. Learning to shoot and edit videos to a professional level or learning how to master SEO can take people years – trying to do these tasks yourself could result in something amateurish if you have no experience.
Don’t just market online
You can’t run a successful business nowadays without doing some online marketing – however offline marketing can be just as important. Never underestimate the power of networking and word of mouth. Printing off business cards and organizing marketing events could also help you to attract new customers.
Don’t get preoccupied chasing competition
A lot of companies feel that successful marketing is all about trying to outdo competitors. Whilst it is important to keep up with your competitors, you should obsess over trying to offer better deals or getting more Facebook followers. Instead, think about ways to stand out from your competitors. This can often have much better results by giving you your own USP.
Don’t forget about return customers
Marketing isn’t all about attracting new customers either. For many companies, return customers can be just as valuable. There are lots of marketing strategies aimed at return customers that you can try such as introducing loyalty schemes, creating a mailing list and keeping previous customers following on social media.
