Running a student business has both perks and drawbacks. On the one hand, it’s a unique experience that will help you acquire new knowledge and skills and, hopefully, set up a stable income. On the other hand, getting your company up and running on a student budget is a real challenge. Or, at least, most young entrepreneurs think so.
Despite the common belief that effective marketing is expensive, we are ready to assure you that you can make your business thrive without heavy investment. These days, there are plenty of low-cost techniques that you can easily handle on your own and get the best results. In this guide, we are going to tell you about a few of the best ones!
Content Marketing
This is probably the easiest to leverage technique, even for student entrepreneurs with no experience in marketing. Great content can help you extend your outreach and nurture your target audiences, prompting them to buy from you. At the same time, content helps drive demand, increase brand awareness, and build lasting relationships with your prospects and existing customers. And the best part is that you can even handle it on your own, thus, minimizing the investment.
The bad thing about this tactic is that writing excellent content on your own isn’t only time-consuming but also very challenging. As a student, you must be already dealing with tons of writing for college. So, it’s natural if the perspective to write more terrifies you. Luckily, you can leverage trusted buyessay writing services to reduce the academic load and use the saved time to build a winning content strategy for your business. This way, you will maintain high grades and also drive awareness for your brand.
SMM
Marketing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media (aka SMM) is a new big thing in business. According to recent statistics, over 53% of the world’s population are active users of social media platforms. So, whatever your target audience is, chances are that a big part of it can be found on social media too.
With the help of high-quality content and a well-outlined strategy, you can promote your brand’s social media accounts, grow your following, and eventually win lots of new customers for your business. Channels like this provide plenty of opportunities for promotion and building brand awareness. However, before you get started, it’s crucial that you carefully study your target audience and define what you can offer to your prospects in order to attract their attention.
Email Marketing
According to studies, this technique brings businesses an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent. This fact alone makes email one of the most reliable and affordable tactics for promoting your student business. And, just like with content, you can handle it on your own.
There are many different types of promotional emails. These include welcome, nurture, re-engagement, and many other types of messages, all meant to engage prospects and convert them into paying customers. With some dedication and a wise strategy, you can turn email into your most powerful marketing tool!
Paid Ads
As you already see, there are quite a few ways to promote your brand with no or very few investments. However, we have to admit that using such low-cost techniques is almost always very tedious and requires a huge time commitment. On the other hand, there is a simpler path. With the help of paid ads, you can gain more exposure for your student business without putting so much personal time into it.
There are many different types of paid ads, including pay-per-click, cost-per-impression, and others. Every kind of advertisement can deliver great results and maximize your website’s traffic and sales. However, before you engage in it, you have to get more well-versed in targeting. The better you know your target audience, the greater outcomes you can get from paid ads. Otherwise, you risk wasting lots of money if you don’t know your audience.
SEO
Search engine optimization, or simply SEO, is another awesome tool for young entrepreneurs. With its help, you can significantly boost your website’s rankings and traffic and, at the same time, keep your investments rather low.
To get started with SEO, you need to search for trending topics and keywords relevant to your business. Also, you need to craft exciting content tailored to your target audience’s pain points, interests, and needs. These are the basics that are super easy to take care of. However, in order to make the most out of this technique, you should also take care of the so-called technical SEO of your website (i.e., improve the site’s performance and user experiences). You might want to hire a tech specialist for this purpose. But, in any case, the ROIs offered by SEO will easily pay off the money you invest in it initially.
Influencer Marketing
Finally, the last technique we’d like to share with you is influencer marketing. This tactic is rather fresh. It developed with the rise of blogging and influencer culture on social media, and now, it’s one of the most powerful tools you can use to get your business going.
According to recent data, 93% of companies have already tried this technique, and their primary goal for using this tactic was brand awareness. Indeed, teaming up with influencers your target audience loves and trusts can help you gain more exposure and make your brand more recognized. But that’s not all. Studies reveal that as many as 61% of consumers trust the recommendations from their favorite influencers. So leveraging influencer marketing can also help you significantly boost your sales.
The Bottom Line
Running and promoting a business while in college can be very troublesome. Not only do young entrepreneurs lack time, but they also often have very limited budgets to spend on marketing.
Luckily, that’s not a problem anymore. Now you know that there are many ways to advertise your brand and boost sales without investing too much money in it. Use the tricks from this guide to make your business thrive!