HOW TO: start marketing when your business is brand new + you've got zero money to spend!

Most new coaches, freelancers, heck - even marketers! - struggle to come up with an effective marketing strategy when they’re first getting started. It’s tough, but absolutely vital to establish a foothold in your industry. It’s a totally overwhelming thing to have to figure out if you’ve got no experience!

Plus, some new entrepreneurs, coaches + freelancers mistakenly think that if they can’t afford to spend big bucks hiring marketing specialists and paying for advertising campaigns, then their business is doomed to failure.

That’s not the case + it doesn’t have to be scary, either.

What I want to do is teach you just a few of the fundamental elements you yourself can (and should!) have in place early on that will allow you to attract new customers to your business from a place of ease and without spending huge amounts of dollar.

So take a moment to ask yourself the following questions:

· WHO IS YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER?

I want you to think here not just in terms of demographics (age, gender, location), but also in terms of their desires, challenges, wants and needs - what drives them and what keeps them up at night?

· WHERE DO THESE PEOPLE SPEND MOST OF THEIR TIME ONLINE?

What are these ideal customers doing online? Put your geek hat on and conduct a little bit of research. Which platforms can you find them on?

· HOW HAVE PREVIOUS CUSTOMERS FOUND YOU IN THE PAST?

If you’re already established, don’t forget to pay attention to what’s already been working!

· WHO ARE THE KEY INFLUENCERS FOR YOUR NICHE OR MARKET?

Are there well-known personalities with commanding opinions or a big following in your niche or industry? People who have the capacity to influence the buying decisions your ideal customers make?

When you’re clear on these elements, you really can build a fired up marketing plan with ease.

HOW?!

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Well, with the answers to these questions, you can craft your own content marketing strategy. For a new or small, fledgling business, content marketing makes a whole HEAP of financial sense. Content marketing enables you to use what you already have - your expertise + knowledge - to establish know-like-trust with the members of your target market and build up your own audience. Then, you can use very simple funnels to convert your crowd into customers! The best bit is that you really can get started with very little to zero financial investment here!

Let’s have a closer look - what does content marketing achieve?

· CONTENT MARKETING BUILDS + ESTABLISHES YOUR (STELLAR) REPUTATION

For a new business, becoming an established ‘authority figure’ in your niche makes a big difference. No, you don’t have to be scary or super outspoken, but imagine if you’re competing with 7 other hair stylists for customers. Who will people be more confident in? Those that can actually demonstrate their expertise! The stylist who takes time to write or even just share an article on how to deal with dandruff will initiate a conversation with existing and potential customers, and this engagement builds trust - which in turn makes customers feel more at ease when booking in for services.

· CONTENT MARKETING HUGELY INCREASES YOUR BRAND AWARENESS

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Putting out regular, fresh content will naturally make your audience (+ potential customers) curious about who you are and what is it that you’re doing. Using the same example we took above of hair stylists, then let’s see how this could work in your favour. Imagine you specialize in bridal up-dos or creating funky colour combinations. Put out regular YouTube videos showing off your mad skills will enable you to steadily build a following of potential clients who are looking for the services you specialize in AND that already love your style! It’s also an amazing way to stand out from your competition ;-)

· CONTENT MARKETING IS THE FOUNDATION THAT LETS YOU ‘BUILD ON’ OTHER MARKETING TACTICS

Any business - but particularly as an entrepreneur or a newbie - your marketing is going to have a MUCH better chance of success if it’s “integrated”. What do I mean by this? Well, all of your efforts should be supporting one another, and you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. So, you might combine social media content with an email marketing strategy, which would be supplemented and supported by your SEO strategy (so that people find you super easily in Google searches)…. imagine if you keep getting found by your ideal customers in Google searches, but when they visit your site there is no content to help them decide to book or buy from you? Equally, it’s tough to run a social media or email marketing campaign without ‘content’ to fill it! There are a million and one ways to build an effective “integrated” marketing strategy + what yours looks like is ultimately going to depend on what your business is and where your audience are!

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· CONTENT IS VITAL FOR AN EFFECTIVE + EFFICIENT SALES FUNNEL

Good, fresh content is able to reel people in - and not just any people, but the people that your products or services are MADE for! That’s big stuff. But what happens once we’ve caught their attention? We don’t want to drop the ball now. Think about your content as a journey for the reader or visitor - someone who sees a good video on Facebook will be tempted to click on it; from there she’ll (hopefully) be spellbound by your captivating landing page; maybe next you’ll encourage her to take an action like opting in for a lead magnet… which - if it’s solid stuff - might just be the tipping point if she was in the market for your product or service and undecided between a couple of options! Hello, new customer!

For more tips and tricks, grab my free Content Idea Generator + get on the mailing list for insane amounts of content marketing expertise. Never thought you'd get a handle on marketing? Think again!