How to make a small marketing budget count

The world’s largest companies are investing heavily in digital marketing – indeed, 98 per cent of marketing directors at large, global enterprises are planning to increase or maintain their digital marketing budgets during 2014, according to a survey of 2,500 of them conducted by consultancy firm ExactTarget.

Small businesses don’t have the same level of resources at their disposal as the largest companies, but that doesn’t mean that they should ignore digital marketing. You can achieve plenty on a modest budget.

Start by deciding on your priorities. Digital marketing is an extremely broad term, encompassing everything from how you go about building brand awareness to the best ways to exploit your customer data, and from how to acquire subscribers and increase conversion rates, to how to engage on social media and through digital content such as websites and blogs.

The key, according to Pilar Barrio, global head of social media and communities at digital marketing company hibu, is to “think in the round”. You may not be able to do everything, but the choices that you do make should work together as a coherent digital marketing strategy. “Integrate all of your different digital marketing efforts – and don’t forget offline marketing – so that they work together,” she says. “For example, social media should be driving traffic to your website wherever possible.”

Dominic Hiatt, the founder of Just In Time PR, which works with clients on digital strategy and relies on digital marketing itself, says tone is all-important.

“The key to is to be authentic, to engage in conversations with people and try to create great content,” he says. “If you’re just trying to flog your products, you’ll get nowhere.”

Get it right and you can level the playing field with larger rivals. “Digital marketing can enable companies with hardly any resources to have the impact of the biggest blue chips,” Hiatt adds. “One piece of electric content can fly, and before you know it you’re being inundated with traffic.”

Start by deciding on your early priorities for digital marketing. Are you thinking about ideas that will generate more sales leads – online events such as webinars and conferences, for example? Are you keen to generate more online content – and material that is of a better and more varied quality? What

about the increasing popularity of automated marketing campaigns that can take the work out of running and tracking your activity? Is social media now the priority? Have you thought about whether developments in big data might help your business find a competitive edge?

It’s also increasingly important to think about different digital platforms, with smartphone use in particular now growing so rapidly. This means having content that will work on smartphones and tablets – or even the development of smartphone and tablet-specific apps for your customers.