Priority Pursuit

How to Get the Most Out of a Small Marketing Budget

Treefrog Marketing Episode 158

As a small business owner, you know that every dollar counts. So, how can you maximize a tight marketing budget to drive real results?

In this episode, we break down the essentials of small budget marketing. You'll hear why having a strong website matters, how to create clear messaging that hits home, and why email marketing is your budget's best friend. 

We also cover some common pitfalls and what to prioritize first. It's all about smart, strategic moves that make your budget go further. 

So tune in to this episode and start getting the most bang for your buck.

Specifically, this episode highlights the following themes:

  • Crafting clear messaging to connect with your audience
  • Building an SEO-optimized website
  • Prioritizing quality over quantity in content marketing


Other Mentioned Links & Resources

Episode 104: How to Build a Lead-Generating Website
https://treefrogmarketing.com/how-build-lead-generating-website

Episode 110: A Proven Content Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses
https://treefrogmarketing.com/proven-content-marketing-strategy-small-businesses

Episode 114: How to Build a Sales Funnel as a Small Business
https://treefrogmarketing.com/how-build-sales-funnel-small-business

Episode 084: How to Identify & Understand Your Ideal Client,
https://treefrogmarketing.com/how-identify-understand-ideal-client

Episode 153: The 5 Most Effective Things You Can Do to Improve Your Small Business’s SEO
https://treefrogmarketing.com/most-effective-things-improve-small-business-seo

Learn more about MailChimp:
https://admin.mailchimp.com/referral?code=sqGM5tW20HY

Get access to this free mini-course- Marketing Guiding Statements:
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com/marketingguidingstatements

Get a Free PDF Guide: The Most Effective Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses: The Flywheel Marketing Method:
https://treefrogmarketing.com/most-effective-marketing-strategy-small-businsses

Learn More About Treefrog’s Small Business Marketing Resources & Services:
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com

Use this coupon code to try Showit for FREE
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com/showit-coupon-code

Receive 50% Off Your First Year of HoneyBook:
https://www.treefrogmarketing.com/honeybook-coupon-code

Book a Strategic Marketing Coaching:
https://treefrogmarketing.com/marketing-consulting-small-businesses

Join the Priority Pursuit Podcast Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/179106264013426

Follow or DM Treefrog Marketing on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/treefroggers

Follow or DM Kelly Rice on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/treefrogkelly

Follow or DM Victoria on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/victorial

Victoria Rayburn [00:00:00]:
If you want to get the most out of your marketing budget, no matter the size your website, it has to be a top priority because it's your most powerful marketing tool. Your website is the foundation of all of your marketing and communication efforts. Yes, social media, email marketing and countless other marketing tactics and tools are important, but at the end of the day, these tools exist to help drive traffic to your website, and your site is where your ideal clients will actually take action and convert into paying customers. Hey there, you're listening to the Priority Pursuit podcast, a podcast dedicated to helping small business owners and leaders define, maintain and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses they love.

Kelly Rice [00:00:43]:
And we're your hosts, Kelly Rice and Victoria Rayburn. And whether you're just starting out, inflation has affected your numbers or you just haven't been budgeting for marketing, today's episode is for you. Because we're breaking down how to market your business on just about any budget.

Victoria Rayburn [00:01:01]:
Now friend, while you may not have the funds to invest in outsourcing your marketing, hiring a marketing team, or running big, robust campaigns, marketing still needs to be a priority. Because the fact of the matter is that most small businesses plateau or fail to get to the next level simply because their marketing isn't equipped to take them any further or even to keep their doors open. Now, because this is the priority Pursuit podcast, today we want to explain what aspects of your marketing we recommend prioritizing in order so that you can one, get the most out of your marketing budget and two, make the most of your time as you or a member of your internal team are likely to be the one handling these tasks. At least for now. At least while you have a smaller budget. So Kelly, do you want to take the first priority?

Kelly Rice [00:01:59]:
Sure. So now, if you've listened to a single episode of priority pursue, you aren't going to be shocked when I tell you that if you want to get the most out of your small marketing budget, you need to create clear messaging. In fact, this should be your top marketing priority regardless of your budget, no matter what. I mean, you can build a stunning website, you can post a reel a day, you can implement sales funnels and do all of the marketing things that you're supposed to do. However, all of these efforts and tactics are literally a waste of time and money and your resources if your messaging isn't clear. So in other words, clear messaging, which again, is communication that your ideal customers can understand quickly and easily, is the key to successful marketing. And because in order to convert prospects into paying customers. You have to know exactly what to say to connect with your ideal customers, hold their attention, and then ultimately make them want to do business with you.

Kelly Rice [00:03:01]:
So now the best way to create clear, customer focused messaging is to write what we call marketing guidance statements. And we've talked about marketing guiding statements. I don't even know how many episodes at this point, but in case you aren't familiar with this idea, marketing guiding statements are written statements that position your brand and business as a trusted partner. And the process of developing these statements gives you the information you need to write clear and concise and effective messaging in a story based framework. And when you take the time to create your marketing guiding statements, you can refer to this language as you work on writing your website copy or blog post, social media post, or developing really any other marketing piece to make sure that your marketing is customer focused rather than braggy or salesy, and it has the power to convert your ideal customers.

Victoria Rayburn [00:03:48]:
Essentially like you know, think of your marketing guidance statements as the gps of your marketing efforts. Once you write them, as long as you follow them, you'll more easily get to where you want to go. Because like Kelly said, all of your marketing materials be written in a way that allows you to actually connect with your best customers. Now, because we know that small businesses like cannot, their marketing can't succeed without clear messaging, we put together a free mini course that walks you through exactly how to write your small businesses marketing guiding statements to take the first step to effective marketing for small businesses. Writing your marketing guiding statements mini course no, it's a long title, but you know a lot of information to fit in there. But visit the link in the show notes or go to treefrogmarketing.com marketingguiding statements, which is all one word without any space, hyphens or special characters. So again, that's treefrog marketing.com marketing guiding statements.

Kelly Rice [00:04:44]:
All right, and just to get clear one more time, your marketing, regardless of your budget, will not be successful. Meaning it won't convert or attract your ideal customers if you don't have clear, customer focused messaging. So before you spend another minute or dollar on marketing, please, please, please take time to write your marketing guiding statements. And like Victoria said, you can learn how to write these statements with our free mini course, which can be found in the show notes or at treefrog marketing.com forward Slash marketing guiding statements yes.

Victoria Rayburn [00:05:15]:
Then after you've written your marketing guiding statements, the next thing you need to do is build a strong foundation for your marketing by creating a strategic SEO optimized website. So if you want to get the most out of your marketing budget, no matter the size your website, it has to be a top priority because it's your most powerful marketing tool. We've talked about this in several episodes of the podcast as well, but your website is the foundation of all of your marketing and communication efforts. You know, yes, social media, email marketing and countless other marketing tactics and tools are important, but at the end of the day, these tools exist to help drive traffic to your website. And your site is where your ideal clients will actually take action and convert into paying customers.

Kelly Rice [00:06:01]:
Exactly. We see this all the time. But so many small businesses get caught up in trying one marketing tactic after another before creating a firm marketing foundation with a strategic site. So for all of the reasons that Victoria just discussed, and so you can make the most of your marketing budget, please, please, please don't make this mistake.

Victoria Rayburn [00:06:21]:
Right.

Kelly Rice [00:06:22]:
But once you have your website developed again, do that first before you do anything else besides clarifying your messaging. The next most effective thing that you can do with a small marketing budget is to create content that serves your ideal customers well. And by content, I mean blog posts, videos, podcast episodes, epigraphics, organic social media posts, and any other medium that allows you to share a message and engage with your audience and allow them to engage with you. In honesty, content marketing is where we often see small businesses struggle and really become overwhelmed because they often assume that they need to create massive amounts of content for any and every medium. They be present on every social media platform. And because they're overwhelmed, they either, one, don't create any content at all, or two, they just haphazardly create content that doesn't really speak to their ideal clients. So again, they're just wasting their time. So if you have a limited marketing budget, this likely means that you're going to have to create your content yourself or task a member of your team with this responsibility.

Kelly Rice [00:07:28]:
Or you might have budget to outsource it, like on a small scale. So for example, you might hire a copywriter to write one blog post for you a month, or work with you, or work maybe with a social media agency to handle some of your social content. But whether you're creating content internally, you're outsourcing some of it, or you can outsource all of it. If you want to get the most out of your marketing budget, you need to think about how you can offer quality and consistency over quantity. And by this, I mean if you can only put out one quality blog post per month, start there. Publishing a quality blog post on a monthly basis. So basically, twelve posts per year. It's going to be immensely more effective than releasing a post a week for 52 weeks that your audience doesn't really care about or they don't find helpful.

Kelly Rice [00:08:23]:
And it gains you no SEO value, right? So in order to create content that your ideal customers generally want to engage with, you have to understand your audience. So what problems are they facing? What are their pain points? What does success look like for them then? What kind of content do they prefer to consume? Do they spend all day in TikTok? Do they regularly go down like YouTube rabbit holes? Or do they prefer to read blog posts? So if you need help identifying and understanding your audience, I want to encourage you to go back and listen to episode 84 on how to identify and understand your ideal client, which you can find wherever you listen to podcast at priority pursuit.com or we'll obviously link it in the show notes. But once you understand who you are talking to, what they want to hear, and how they want to consume content, you can create content that truly resonates with them and provides value. Remember, from previous episodes, you want to be the guide in your brand story, not the hero. So by creating helpful content and relevant content, you'll be in a better position to help guide your ideal customers, as opposed to feeling like you're trying to sell to them. But then, in addition to creating the kind of content your audience wants to consume, you really only need to focus your efforts on the platforms your ideal clients use. So don't waste time and resources on content for platforms where your audience where they're not active. For example, while the world might be telling you that you need to be posting on TikTok three times a day, if your ideal client isn't using the app, don't waste your time there.

Kelly Rice [00:09:59]:
Instead, invest in creating high quality content in the places they frequent and again, in the medians they prefer most.

Natalie Franke  [00:10:08]:
What would you do with an extra 45 minutes every workday that would save you 16 hours a month or roughly eight days a year. And over the course of your career, we're talking about over one year of your life. Saved all that time back? Well, many independent business owners spend far more than 45 minutes a day on administrative tasks, and with honeybook, you can get that time back, and then some. Honeybook lets you easily manage projects, contracts, invoices, scheduling and client communication, saving you time and allowing you to better serve your clients. For a discount on your first year of honeybook, visit honeybook.com and subscribe with the code priority pursuit, 45 minutes a day adds up quickly. Use it to focus on what matters.

Kelly Rice [00:10:53]:
Most many small businesses. Businesses don't have an effective marketing strategy, and because of this, they try one tactic after another without seeing results. This not only prevents consistent business growth, it makes managing marketing efforts more difficult.

Kelly Rice [00:11:06]:
Than it should be.

Kelly Rice [00:11:07]:
As a marketing agency for small businesses, we understand how frustrating it can be when hard work doesn't deliver the results that you want. Because of this, Treefrog has developed a proven four step marketing system that will help any small business grow on our website. You can also schedule a 30 minutes discovery call to discuss working with Treefrog to build a marketing strategy that will allow your small business to finally see the growth you've been working so hard to achieve.

Victoria Rayburn [00:11:31]:
And in case you'd like more guidance in creating a content marketing strategy, I do want to encourage you to go back and listen to episode 110, a proven content marketing strategy for small businesses. In this episode, Angel Toby, who is our amazing content director at Treefrog, shares the exact strategy our content team uses to serve our agency clients. But let's talk about SEO again because, well, you know that I want to. So the next thing that you want to prioritize is SEO. Now, we touched on this tactic a bit when we discussed how your website needs to be optimized for search engines, but there is more to it than that. Now, in case you aren't familiar with SEO, it is a free process that helps your website and business information get found on Google or other search engines. When users conduct searches related to your products, your services or your content. Basically, it helps prospects find you on Google.

Victoria Rayburn [00:12:29]:
Now, I want to strongly, strongly encourage you to prioritize SEO because like we discussed before, 97% of people use Google when they're in need of a product or service. As a result, if you can get your website and business to rank among the top Google search results, you can get your information in front of prospects who are actively searching for and likely ready to purchase exactly what you have to offer. Basically, when you have a successful SEO strategy, you don't have to spend so much of your time going after new leads. Instead, many of your strongest leads will start coming to you through Google. On top of this, SEO is free. So it is just absolutely an ideal tactic if you don't have a large marketing budget. Again, a successful SEO strategy, it has a lot of moving parts, so we aren't going to get into all of the how to's in this episode. However, I want you to know that one SEO likely isn't nearly as complicated as you think it is.

Victoria Rayburn [00:13:26]:
This is something you can learn. And two, we have all kinds of SEO resources available@treefrogmarketing.com. dot we will be sure to include some of our most popular resources in the show notes. Now, before this turns into another episode about the power of SEO, I'm going to stop here. Kelly, do you want to break down the next tactic? We'd recommend small businesses prioritize.

Kelly Rice [00:13:48]:
Yeah, it is probably a good idea to cut you off here before it gets out of hand.

Victoria Rayburn [00:13:52]:
I mean, I want to be offended, but I get it. I mean, SEO, it's just, it's so powerful that, you know, I'm always really happy to talk about it.

Kelly Rice [00:14:00]:
I actually think that you talk about SEO in your sleep. I should ask your husband if I'm not, does she wake up going, you need to do this, then this, then.

Victoria Rayburn [00:14:07]:
We've talked about this before. I absolutely have work dreams. And then I like get up the next day and I thought, I'm done with a project and I'm not, so. But anyway, okay, moving on from SEO.

Kelly Rice [00:14:17]:
Okay, so the next thing that we want to recommend prioritizing is building a sales funnel so that you can build your email list and utilize email marketing very, very effectively. And a sales funnel is simply a content marketing framework that takes potential customers to paying customers. Right. And that's exactly what we want. So it essentially, it allows you to serve your prospects, it builds trust with them and it helps them see that your product or service is the answer to the problem that they're facing. So as we've discussed in past episodes, nobody likes to be sold to. In fact, going straight for the sale is the equivalent of literally laying eyes on someone for the first time. Walking up to them, getting down on one knee and asking them to mirror you.

Kelly Rice [00:15:01]:
That is uncomfortable, it's not appropriate, and more than likely it's not going to end very well for either party. Right? So think of a sales funnel more of like dating. Essentially. By providing your prospects with the content and information they need to see how your product or service can make their life better, they'll get to know you and then they'll naturally want to engage with and most likely purchase from you. So in order to get your prospects into your sales funnel, you need to get their email address. And you're going to do this by creating an opt in, which is simply an incentive, such as a guide, a video, a discount, or something that is of worth to them that you can offer in exchange for their email address. Then once you have their email address, you can continue to nurture those prospects via email. There's a specific strategy that you use initially before you dump them into just your ongoing nurturing things.

Kelly Rice [00:15:57]:
But I guess in this social media driven world, you might be thinking, why in the world what I want to use email and why would I want to do that? And I totally understand that, but the numbers literally don't lie. So email has again and again proven to be the best marketing channel in return in terms of ROI. In fact, I think it's agency analytics says that they estimate the email generates $36 for every dollar spent. I mean, that's a 3500% ROI, right? But on the other hand, if you look at the social media numbers, I think the studies. Victoria, correct me if I'm wrong, they say there's an estimated return of like $2.80 for everybody.

Victoria Rayburn [00:16:45]:
It's not even $3, right?

Kelly Rice [00:16:47]:
I mean, that is a huge difference. When you just hear the numbers, I know that you, they can seem shocking, but when you stop to think about updated, like all the updated social media algorithms and everything that's changing constantly, it's really not surprising because email has always been a staple. But there's always something different in social media when it comes to algorithms and all of this. But, you know, at this point, less than 10% of your followers, even, I think, in social media, see your organic posts, but with email, it allows you to communicate directly with your audience. And your emails are more or less guaranteed to end up in a prospects inbox if you're doing it right. Right. So it's making email like a direct line of communication between you and your prospective customers who have already expressed interest in your product or service when they get into your sales funnel. So they've already shared their email address with you.

Kelly Rice [00:17:44]:
So they're literally a warm lead as opposed to social media, where you're just kind of blasting anything and everything up there.

Victoria Rayburn [00:17:51]:
Exactly. And now, really quick, I want to add that email marketing is affordable. I mean, it doesn't have to cost you any more than a subscription to an email marketing software. And Mailchimp actually is free for up to 500 subscribers. So if you're just starting your mailing list, start there. I mean, yay. Free until you hit 500. So basically, if you handle it yourself, email marketing isn't expensive.

Victoria Rayburn [00:18:17]:
And like Kelly said, it can deliver really big results.

Kelly Rice [00:18:19]:
Yeah. And now, I know we've thrown a ton of information and podcast episodes and all of that in this episode, but I'm going to give you one more if you are ready to build a sales funnel and leverage email marketing, I want to encourage you to go back and listen to episode 114, how to build a sales funnel as a small business, which, like every other episode we've mentioned, you can find wherever you listen to podcasts or via a link to or we'll put a link in the show notes. And again, when we refer back to these episodes, it's because we're giving you step by step things that you need to do, not necessarily a, you know, here's an overview and then we send you out to kind of figure it out for yourselves. If you take the time to go back to these episodes, you'll really get those step by step things that you need to do in order to, in this example, build an effective sales funnel.

Victoria Rayburn [00:19:10]:
Yes. And also on that note, please know when we put this episode together in order of priority. So we are giving you these episodes, but by no means expecting you to spend the next 36 hours listening to podcast episodes. Like take this one step, one step at a time, and I'll hopefully you'll use the resources that we have mentioned to again, cross off one priority at a time. This was put in order. How many times can you say priority at once? But we want you to get the most out of your marketing budget. So just take it one step at a time. And then also, on the note of throwing a lot of podcast episodes at you, please don't ever hesitate to email us or shoot us DM's with marketing questions.

Victoria Rayburn [00:19:48]:
We're more than happy to send you resources, whether they be priority pursuit episodes, other resources our team has created, or even non Treefrog developed content. Sincerely, there is nothing we want more than for your small business to succeed. So don't hesitate to reach out. We are here to help. We want to help. But the last thing that we want to encourage you to do if you have a small marketing budget is to invest in, invest your digital ad dollars wisely. Unfortunately, organic reach isn't enough anymore. And even more unfortunately, social media and Google Ads, while still highly effective, they just aren't as affordable as they used to be.

Victoria Rayburn [00:20:30]:
I mean, I remember, you know, Kelly, ten years ago we were telling people like, yes, use social media ads. Get, use social media ads like they're so cheap, everybody uses them now. They're not as affordable as they once were. But we do want to encourage you to use your money where you'll get the most bang for your buck. And by that, I mean it's important to understand where your ideal customers are paying attention and focusing your ad spend there. So, for example, if your ideal client is on Instagram but not on Facebook, invest in Instagram ads and don't waste a dime on Facebook. Then, in addition to choosing the right platforms for your audience, be sure to use best ad practices for said platforms. Monitor your ads performance and then make adjustments as needed to ensure you are getting the best possible results.

Victoria Rayburn [00:21:15]:
This is not something that you just want to run blindly, right?

Kelly Rice [00:21:19]:
Like amen right? Like I don't know how to make like that is so important, right? And I know that there was a lot of information and that we mentioned several episodes and podcast episodes, but please know all the links are listed in the show notes and that every priority pursuit episode has a coinciding blog post. So you can find a summary of this episode with all the mentioned resources at Priority Pursuit.com dot. But like we said at the beginning of this episode, if you have a small marketing budget, these are the six things we would recommend prioritizing in order to get the most out of your funds and your time. And I want to go back and I want to remind you that we put these in order. So don't. Don't create a sales funnel first without first clarifying your messaging right now.

Victoria Rayburn [00:22:11]:
You might be listening and thinking, well, this still sounds like a lot of work, even if you did tell me what order to focus on. But before we wrap, I want to address a common question we receive, which is, you know, can someone realistically market their business on their own? And the answer is kind of a political answer. But if you have time, yes, when you have a clear marketing strategy and between drag and drop, web builders, YouTube, how to videos, automation options, and other tools and resources, you can implement your own marketing strategy. However, as a small business owner, handling every aspect of your marketing strategy likely is not the best use of your time. At least it isn't long term. But it's just because you know, several skill sets and knowledge you may not currently have are going to be required. And chances are the time needed to learn these new skills and information will take a lot of time, which is going to inhibit business growth and prevent you from focusing on other aspects of your business, operating within your zone of genius, and also, arguably, most importantly, living and enjoying life outside of your work. So maybe you don't have the funds to hire or work with marketing pros right now, but you have time to implement your own marketing strategy.

Victoria Rayburn [00:23:28]:
That's great. However, we just want to caution you from doing this long term. Even if this means hiring a VA to help you with some of the marketing techs, like you just don't want to inhibit growth or stand in your own way of reaching your goals because you're doing everything yourself. Plus, you know, marketing, if done strategically, is going to generate more business and more money. So be wise with your finances, but don't be afraid to invest in strategic marketing.

Kelly Rice [00:23:55]:
Yeah, and also really quick, I want to talk about marketing budgets. So while you may not have much of a budget right now, it's important to know what you should be spending on marketing now, I wish I could give you an exact number, but every business is different and has different goals and as a result, budgets are going to vary. But according to the US Small Business Administration, small businesses wanting to see consistent growth should plan to spend an average of seven to 8% of their revenue on marketing. And then mid sized businesses, which for the sake of the conversation, or businesses that make more than 5 million but less than 50 million a year, should invest at least 10% of their revenue into marketing. So you may not have a large budget now, but if you start setting aside seven to 10% of every sale and investing that back into strategic marketing, you will see business growth and then enable yourself to meet your goals.

Victoria Rayburn [00:24:49]:
Exactly. And honestly, I get chills and just so excited for you thinking about that. Now. Again, today we went over these six tactics we recommend prioritizing in order. Already said that half a dozen times, but they were in order. While you can work through these tactics one by one, it is so important to have an overarching marketing strategy so that these tactics all work together and ultimately get you where you want to go. So with that in mind, I do want to encourage you to check out two final resources. So first, if you've listened to past episodes of Priority pursuit, you know that we are big fans of the flywheel marketing strategy.

Victoria Rayburn [00:25:25]:
This is the exact strategy we use for nearly all of our agency clients because it's proven to work for small businesses. I mean, some of our clients have seen up to 800% growth as a result of this strategy. And again, there's nothing we want more than for your small business to succeed. So we have detailed this strategy in full and want to share it with you. To download a free guide, the most effective marketing strategy for small businesses the flywheel marketing method. And to make this strategy your own, visit the link in the show notes or go to treefrogmarketing.com flywheel. Now, maybe you don't have the budget to outsource your marketing or hire a marketing team. However, if you'd like guidance, instruction, clear direction, and someone to hold you accountable when it comes to your marketing, I also want to invite you to check out our strategic marketing coaching program.

Victoria Rayburn [00:26:11]:
As a student, you'll meet with either Kelly or me one on one, seven times over the course of six months for 90 minutes. Over the course of these seven sessions, we'll teach you the flywheel marketing method and help you make it your own so that your marketing strategy aligns with your business goals. And then, at the end of every session, you'll be assigned homework that is due by our next meeting, so about a month later. So not only will you have a step by step guidance as you build your marketing strategy, you'll also have someone to help make sure you're getting stuff done. So if strategic marketing coaching sounds like something you might be interested in, check out the link in the show notes or go to treefrogmarketing.com, click on the marketing, coaching and consulting option that appears in our website's menu, and then explore all of our coaching and consulting options right.

Kelly Rice [00:27:01]:
And while we offer full marketing partnerships and conserve as your marketing team, we realize that isn't in the cards for all small businesses due to budget restraints. However, no matter the size of your business or the revenue you generate, we want to help you achieve your vision or your version of success. So whether you want to utilize our free resources, enrolling coaching, or partner with us to handle your marketing for you, please know that we're here for you and that you can access these resources and learn more about our services@treefrogmarketing.com. or via the links in the show notes.

Victoria Rayburn [00:27:35]:
And on that note, thank you so much for tuning into another episode of the Priority Pursuit podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, we'll take we hope you'll take a moment to share it with your small business friends to leave us review on Apple Podcasts, and that you'll join us next week for even more marketing boundary and priority driven tactics you can use to build a life and small business that you love.