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While the Internet has made it easier for certain businesses to advertise, it has made a living hell for other companies. For example, if you wish to sell products online, you have to go against large companies such as Amazon, Temu, AliExpress, and eBay. Each one of them has billions of dollars at their disposal, easily thwarting any marketing strategy.
However, things don’t have to be that gloomy; there are still many niches that aren’t saturated and where you can make an impact. For example, large companies don’t want to tackle certain specialized products. Similarly, you can create unique service offerings that other companies haven’t thought of.
We’ll provide you with a step-by-step guide that will lead your company from day one. After explaining how to set up an online business, we’ll talk about different aspects of online marketing. Lastly, we’ll share some tips for running a brand on a budget!
Create a viable business plan
If you wish to grow a small business online, you should first create an actionable plan that would guide you throughout. A common mistake entrepreneurs make is believing they’re good enough to dominate search engines or social media platforms with limited funds. As you’ll quickly realize, to gain exposure, it takes much more than expertise.
So, what does a winning strategy entail?
- Performing competitive analysis
- Assessing different digital marketing tactics
- Predicting a necessary budget
- Predicting how quickly you can generate first leads
- Considering uncertainties
Perform competitive analysis
Doing a full competitive analysis might be tricky, depending on the industry. The best way to start is by inserting your product or service into the Google search engine and checking the biggest websites one by one. We also suggest you get tools like Ahrefs to see how different companies are performing.
With this software, you can learn more about:
- Top companies’ traffic
- Top companies’ links
- Domain authority of their sites
- Ranking keywords
- Market positioning and target audience
- Revenues (if you can find data via Yahoo! finances and similar platforms)
- Product and service quality (via Google reviews and other platforms)
Most importantly, competitive analysis can tell you whether it’s even worth it to start a company. This consideration is especially important if you have limited funds and can’t go toe-to-toe with bigger brands. Then again, you might have some leeway depending on your marketing creativity.
Keep in mind that you can always try to dominate your competitors by exploring different channels. For example, if everyone in your industry is using search engine optimization, you might consider creating an affiliate program.
Assess different digital marketing tactics
In theory, you’d like to dominate as many marketing channels as possible, but in practice, you don’t have enough money. Because of that, you’ll need to find a few tactics that will give you the most chance of success. Here’s a short breakdown of the most popular promotional activities you can try out:
- Search engine optimization
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing campaigns
- Affiliate partners
- Influencer marketing
- Pay-per-click advertising
- Other forms of advertising
A good rule of thumb is to check competitors’ strategies and see whether you can compete against them. If they’re too dominant in, let’s say, search engines, you might consider a different route. Here’s what the process would look like depending on the tactic:
- The best thing is to start with a Google search and check top-performing sites. Even if you’re in a smaller niche, you should check at least the first three pages by inputting your product or service category (summer dresses, HVAC services, online marketing courses, etc.)
- Check each site that is ranking for domain authority, keywords, and links. That way, you can determine if an SEO strategy is viable
- You need to do the same for local rankings. Go through all results in Google Three Pack and down the list. Specifically, check customer satisfaction for every brand. Even better, this will tell you more about the available service offers and whether it’s possible to penetrate the market
- After analyzing the biggest sites in the industry, you can check their social media accounts. See how they’re fairing on every platform, how often they post, and how many likes and comments they get. Alternatively, you can insert your product category into the search and see what pops up
- Analyze each company’s paid ad activity. If you’re checking Google, you can input the most popular keywords and see what’s ranking at the top. Among others, the analysis shows you if paid search ads are popular in your industry
- You should also analyze social media ads. Meta Ad Library and similar tools have data about each company’s paid activities
- Go to YouTube and search for your product. See what’s on top and how many views the content’s getting. Not only will you learn whether YouTube videos are a good marketing tactic, but it will also demonstrate what kind of digital content potential customers like
Having extensive knowledge of a certain marketing tactic doesn’t always warrant its use. In the end, if your target audience isn’t using certain platforms, you won’t be able to convert them. Similarly, there’s no point in trying out tactics that are too expensive.
Predict a necessary budget
Many small business owners don’t realize how expensive it is to market a company online. Among other things, you need to consider tool fees, domain hosting, website creation, and hiring several marketing assistants. The expenses quickly shoot up, forcing many entrepreneurs to bail on their dreams.
Regardless of expense unpredictability, you still need to set a budget. If you outsource work, you’ll likely have to spend somewhere between $3,000 to $10,000 per month (it can go lower if you find the right people). If you decide to run a marketing campaign by yourself, the expenses will be much lower, but you’ll have to determine if this is the most productive way to spend your time.
We suggest that you use as many free marketing tools as possible or look for software discounts. As for hiring marketers, you can find lots of great yet cheap talent on platforms like Upwork and Freelancer. Whatever the case, you shouldn’t start an online business if you can’t cover at least one year’s worth of expenses.
Predict how quickly you can generate first leads
Truth be told, some marketing strategies won’t provide any value. If you partner with a shady agency, there’s no telling what will happen to your website or social media account. So, even if it costs a little bit extra, you should only work with brands like MiroMind.
Your ability to generate leads, as well as the speed of lead generation, is mostly predicted by the tactic and approach. For example, if you opt for search engine optimization, you’ll likely have to wait for about six months for a first inquiry (although it might happen sooner).
On the other hand, email marketing will put you in touch with decision-makers instantaneously, but it is unlikely that you’ll close the lead because you haven’t built up your brand. In other words, there are pros and cons to each approach. The safest bet is to slowly build up your online reputation, get some user reviews, create a few connections, and leads will start pouring in.
Consider uncertainties
Whether you’re running a service site or online store, you will always require a larger monetary investment than initially expected. Even if you get great deals on freelancers and software, the costs will likely be much higher than you need them to be. In fact, this is why we’ve recommended the previous monthly budget of up to $10,000.
Here are just a few things that might go amis during your campaign, some of which we experienced with our own business:
- Higher operative costs than expected
- Payment processing issues
- Inventory and shipping issues
- Software issues
- Higher taxes than expected
- Stifling regulation you might’ve not known about
- New business coming to the market
- Black-hat SEO and other malicious attacks
- Not being able to capitalize
Even if a vertical looks fantastic, there’s a good chance you’ll encounter some major issues during the early days. For example, there are numerous niches where you can easily optimize a site. Unfortunately, you might find out that the majority of your visitors aren’t interested in your products and only use your website as an informational source.
A similar issue might occur if you choose social media. Even if you create relevant content and it goes viral, that doesn’t mean it will necessarily boost sales. Alternatively, you might struggle to cover the costs via advertisers at least.
8 Tricks for saving money
If you’re just starting your online business, you’re probably looking to create high-quality content and execute your business strategy on a minimal budget. Whether we’re talking about cheap labor or free marketing tools, there are many ways to cut your costs while maximizing your business’s online presence!
1. Wait for major discounts
Digital products fall under the same rules as any other traditional product. Online stores use discounts, loyalty cards, and all sorts of other promotions to entice their users and introduce themselves to the general public.
As you can presume, such a strategy can also be beneficial for your web business. Not only can you use these promotional tricks to share your message and get people onboard, but you can also use them to gain discounts. Most notably, you can save lots of money on hosting and software.
Black Friday discounts are the ones you should be paying attention to, but there might be other promotions you can benefit from. Our suggestion is to create a list of tools and platforms you’d like to have in your arsenal and check their sites on a regular basis. Subscribing to their newsletters will also help out.
2. Share tools
Some programs, especially enterprise-grade software, can be extremely expensive. For better tools, you’ll likely have to spend at least $100 or $200 a month, even more if it uses a credit system. As if that wasn’t enough, you’ll have to subscribe to several of them if you wish to run your business efficiently.
A good way to slightly reduce these costs is to partner up with other website owners. If you know an honest entrepreneur who uses the same programs as you, you can suggest splitting the costs and access for a particular program or set of programs.
While some people might not like the idea of giving access to sensitive website data, this might make a difference between surviving and perishing. You can also think of it this way: you still don’t have a developed business, so there isn’t much to lose.
3. Reavaluate tools
Another smart way of saving money on apps is by evaluating your toolset every once in a while. Most software verticals are extremely dynamic, with new brands appearing every few months. Even if your current software is considered the best in its field, don’t be surprised if it quickly gets replaced by something cheaper.
Keep in mind that staying in the loop will require some effort on your part. You should read the latest online reviews, various publications, and software updates. It also isn’t a bad idea to consult with your peers and see if there’s some new, improved solution on the market.
Whatever you do, make sure to test the software before fully committing!
4. Try content marketing
When we talk about content marketing, most people think about website articles. However, this term can refer to all sorts of other formats.
Although you should always hire a specialized team to create your videos and text posts, there are lots of things you can do yourself. For example, you can easily write short posts for Twitter and other social media platforms. That way, you can save money on creating a fully-fledged content marketing team and just pay money per project instead.
With the appearance of AI generators, you can even create content from scratch with minimal outside assistance. Bear in mind that these posts might be a bit lackluster and even trigger Google penalties down the line (if you post them on the website).
5. Use website builders
Another thing you can do yourself is create the website. There are lots of online builders that allow you to generate sites with minimal knowledge. Furthermore, they come with preset templates and optimization tools, so you can rest assured that the platform is well-optimized for speed, mobile devices, and other purposes.
While having a professional site does have its benefits, the results aren’t much worse with site generators. This is especially true if you’re using a simpler service site that doesn’t have online selling features.
6. Rely on Upwork
Right now, Upwork is considered the best platform for hiring global digital talent. Among other things, you can use it to connect with content marketers, various IT experts, and photographers. The best thing yet is that you won’t have the same expenses as you would when hiring local talent and putting them on the payroll.
Given that the platform features so many freelancers, you can always get a good deal. Just ask for quotes and go with professionals who have lower fees. Alternatively, if you want to get top-notch talent, Upwork can help with that, as well.
7. Use free ancillary tactics
Besides your main marketing tactic, you can also introduce various ancillary tactics to boost your exposure. For example, you can use email outreach to perform guest blogging campaigns, generate leads, and connect with influencers. Similarly, creating a Google My Business account and moderating online reviews is a fantastic way to get more customers.
There are also many strategies where you don’t have to spend money until you’ve made money yourself. The best example of that is affiliate marketing, where you pay commissions upon sales. You can also form a sales team that would, in a similar fashion, earn commissions.
8. Delay shipping and obligations
Another trick that gives you some financial leeway, although it doesn’t necessarily save you money, is delaying payments. Like traditional businesses, online stores can pay their obligations and buy outsourced products a bit later. That way, you’ll have more money for handling your affairs in the following period.
While this might not be a big thing for smaller brands, it can be a difference-maker for stores with high turnovers. Keep in mind that this trick can be used for just about anything as long as the other side is willing to give you a grace period. However, we suggest you don’t use it when working with partners, as it will destroy your reputation.
Conclusion
Building a long-lasting brand is much trickier than some other entrepreneurs might think. Despite their advantages, search engines and social media come with numerous challenges and expose you to massive global competition. While this might not be an issue in a few verticals, it’s a major problem for most businesses.
Luckily, there are many tricks you can use to circumvent these issues and come on top. Most notably, you should carefully plan your marketing activities and try to minimize costs at every corner. As long as you follow the instructions disclosed in this article, you can easily boost your business’s online presence.