Where Should Your Marketing Budget Go? Four Outside the Box Ideas That Work

Big or small, knowing exactly where to allocate your marketing budget can be a massive headache.

Regardless of how much you have to spend in terms of time and cash, it certainly pays to think outside the box about how you get your brand’s message out there.

Think about it. The tried-and-tested principles of traditional content marketing and social media are pretty widespread. Meanwhile, everyone’s using the same tactics to promote their businesses which results in a lot of one-size-fits-all marketing, right?

Instead, consider some creative ways to make your business stand out from the crowd and attract more leads. The following strategies may require some legwork; however, they’ll signal your brand as willing to go above and beyond versus following the crowd.

Launch a Mobile App

There’s an app for just about anything, but what if you could add your business to that list?

Given that people spend more time on their mobile devices versus traditional desktops, anything you can do to better reach mobile customers or clients is a plus. While once considered costly and time-consuming, hiring a team to develop your app is arguably easier than ever. If nothing else, having a dedicated app for your business signals you are forward-thinking and ahead of the game, looking to reach anyone and every other than leaving potential customers in the cold.

User-Generated Content Campaigns

User-generated content such as customer photos, testimonials, and stories are changing the game for today’s brands on social media. If you haven’t already come up with a hashtag or way to repurpose your customers’ content as your own, you’re ultimately missing out on the ability to build trust with your audience.

After all, user-generated content is organic and essentially free if you have people ready and willing to sing your praises. Given that people trust UGC more than traditional marketing messages, being able to harness your followers as billboards is a huge plus.

Spend More Time in Social Groups

Certain businesses can thrive and exist solely within the confines of groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. If you have serious knowledge to sell such as marketing tricks or consulting secrets, social groups are a potential goldmine of clients, customers and networking opportunities.

The goal here is to establish yourself as an authority figure and eventually create your own group over time. While this strategy may take months to implement, it’s a surefire way to drive more traffic to your site, build your email list and brand yourself as a go-to resource within your niche.

Go the Cold Email Route

Cold emailing might seem like the opposite of “outside the box,” but remember that so many businesses sleep on outreach either because it takes too long or they don’t know where to start. By crafting your own scripts and hiring virtual assistants to do the heavy lifting, you can find opportunities to cold email prospects and clients for…

• Selling your services or acting as affiliates
• Link-building outreach campaigns
• Sharing and boosting your content via social

Such emails are underrated and indeed require some time and research. Those willing to put in the hours can see massive returns.

Simply put, marketing today requires you to go beyond simple blog posts and social sharing. Doing what’s necessary to set yourself apart from the pack may require some extra work, but it’s well worth it in the long run.