How To Launch A Shoestring Marketing Campaign

how to get started with shoestring marketing campaign

One of the factors that can seem to be standing in the way of great success for your business idea is the need for a marketing budget. 

How do you compete with big companies with the revenue to invest in getting their name out there? How does it work if you can’t afford billboards, radio ads, a massive chunk of PPC advertising or attending every trade show going? Can you really find all the customers you need to grow your business without branding agency strategies and costly above the line spend? 

As a small company, budgets are bound to be constrained at the beginning. You need to pull sales in to afford to have the capital to invest in advertising. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t plenty of lean marketing strategies that can help spread the word about your business without costing the earth. Here are three small, practical things you can do to pull together your first shoestring marketing campaign.

Create Video Content

A sure-fire way to attract more customers is to use videos to showcase your products and expert knowledge. You may not be pulling a huge audience to your own website yet, so take full advantage of the high volume traffic on sites like YouTube instead. Video content doesn’t have to be a polished production – in fact, people often respond better to something a little homespun as it comes across as authentic. All you need to get started is your smartphone and a basic video editing app. Plan out a helpful video that showcases what you do well – for example, if you sell spare oven elements, create a video about replacing parts in your oven. 

Link it back to your online store so people can easily purchase the products, and encourage them to contact you for specialist advice. This way, you will drive traffic to your site, and you’re there for people when they need you. People search for anything and everything online, so a few well-planned videos can have you hitting above your weight regarding being the go-to authority in your area.

Create A Blog To Speak To Customers

Adding a blog to your website is a brilliant tool – and it’s completely free to set up. Not only can it allow you to have a voice on current topics and start engaging with your customers better, but the positive effects on your website in terms of Search Engine Optimization can be substantial. Your website is regularly indexed by search engine bots, and they want to see fresh content addressing the topic of your site. This has the potential to boost your Domain Authority Score, which means you’ll appear higher up on the organic search results when people look for relevant terms – and all without spending a penny on digital advertising. 

So create a killer content calendar and start posting regularly. Focus on being helpful rather than the hard sell. The more interesting and valuable the content, the more likely customers are to share it within their own networks and so give you even more exposure. Make it simple for them by embedding share buttons for social networks within each post. You’ll be amazed at the benefits this simple step can bring.

Produce Some Case Studies

There’s nothing more effective to push potential customers down the sales funnel than by showing testimonial from other happy customers. It has a reassuring cognitive effect that is proven to make new customers more amenable to purchase from you – and you can put some together for free! 

When you know that a project has gone well, make a habit of following up afterwards and collecting a short testimonial. Most happy customers will be pleased to oblige, but you could offer a small discount in return for using them as a case study. Try to include quotes from them and also some numbered statistic about the need you have met for them or the improvement they’ve experienced. Add these testimonials prominently to your homepage and spread the word on your social media channels. If you find a particularly great story, sometimes it can even get picked up on by local media – trying including the news desk in a tweet with a link to your reviews. Now more than ever, potential customers look for feedback to let them know they’re doing the right thing by buying from you, so this simple tactic has the power to increase conversion.

Masterful Marketing Shoestring Success 

These things are all extremely low-cost and really can encourage people to try your services. Before you know it, you’ll have enough revenue to branch out and add other marketing methods into the mix.



shoestring business guide


I hope you enjoyed this article about how to get started with your marketing campaigns on a shoestring budget.

Interested in more articles about frugal marketing?

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