The economy has certainly had its ups and downs over the past couple of years, which means that more people than ever are looking for ways to grow their business with a smaller budget.
If you’re heading into 2025 worried about the amount you have (or don’t have) to allocate to your marketing strategy, here are some ways you can maximize your returns while keeping your costs low.
Start Simple
If you don’t have much of a marketing budget for the coming year, start by focusing your efforts on one channel. If most of your audience is on Instagram, for example, then you’ll want to start making Reels and carousel posts, keeping a close eye on your analytics and making adjustments until you get the right recipe.
Once you’ve started gaining traction on that one platform, you can start porting content over to a second platform, and seeing what adjustments need to be made to get the content to perform as well as it does on the first platform. In the case of LinkedIn, for instance, you’ll probably find that your video content does not perform as well on its own, and that adding explanatory text or sticking with image posts plus text can be a better strategy on that channel.
Embrace Content Creation
One of the most effective marketing tools is also the one you don’t have to pay anything for: yourself.
One thing we’ve learned from the rise of AI in marketing is that people value human connection more than ever, so if you can consistently create content that shows your personality as part of your business, you’re going to have an easier time connecting with and building an audience. Yes, it can be trying at times to be the public face of your business, but if you can take that slightly vulnerable leap of faith, you might find that it pays off in more ways than one.
Don’t Overlook Paid Ads
A lot of small businesses think that if their marketing budget is small, then that means they won’t be able to afford paid ads. Yes, ads can be expensive, but if you strategically choose the right types of ads on the right channels, you can get a surprising amount of of bang for fewer bucks.
The tradeoff is that the process becomes more labor-intensive on your end. This means that you will have to pay closer attention to what is working and what isn’t, utilize perpetual A/B testing, and constantly be refining your targeting. You can also make use of the automated bidding strategies available on most platforms, both to control costs and to make sure you’re getting the best ROI from the ad campaigns you do choose to run.
Explore Retargeting
Ad costs are only going to keep going up, and attention spans will keep going down, so one way to get the most out of your budget is to shift some of that ad money into retargeting.
The buyer’s journey is not as linear as it once was — in the never-ending maze of social media and other online channels, today’s potential customers might encounter your business, find it interesting, but then get distracted by the next thing in their feed and forget they were looking at your products. Retargeting helps leverage that interest by reminding them of what they were interested in, and encouraging them to take the next steps towards making a purchase.
Set a Reasonable Limit
Don’t get caught up in the myth that your marketing budget has to be 20% or 30% of turnover in order to be effective. For most businesses this is way too much of an investment, and will not necessarily get you better results.
The general advice for businesses is to prepare to invest 10% of turnover on marketing. Some businesses can get away with less, but 10% is a good starting benchmark that will give you enough room to try out your best ideas, and pivot whenever necessary.
What are your plans for keeping your marketing costs down in 2025? If you’re looking for creative ways to help your business grow, contact us today and we’ll set up a free consultation to help get you on the right track before the new year starts!
COGO Interactive is an award-winning digital marketing agency specializing in online marketing strategy, web design, SEO and social media marketing. We work with clients in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC and across the nation.
