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  Marketing campaigns aren’t run on anything. Organizations know this. That’s why they have a marketing budget. Larger companies spend hefty sums on it; they’re always aiming to acquire customers by the thousands (or more). They do this for one reason: it often costs more money to gain more patronage.
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What about businesses that don’t have deep pockets? How do they make something significant of their smaller marketing budgets? It turns out that large spends aren’t always the principal determinant for gaining customers. A marketing campaign with relatively modest funding can capture a large number of leads if it’s executed in line with smart strategies. This happens fairly frequently. In this article, we’ll look at five steps you can take to maximize returns on your marketing budget. Here they are.

Reach Out To Your Target Market

If you don’t have a lot of money to devote to marketing, you will want to make every Naira count. There’s one way to do this: zero in on your target market. Unless you have a clear sense of who you want to reach, you’ll end up trying to engage people who aren’t interested in the type of product you’re selling. Your target market is made up of people who are likely to want your kind of product or service (from you or your competitors). They are the ones you should be aiming your marketing at. Before drawing up a marketing plan (and budget), the first thing you need to do is to define your target audience. Know what age range, income bracket, geographic location, tastes, and preferences are—and how these things relate to your aim of solving a problem that they have. These details will inform your marketing message and how you present it across your online and offline communication with them. Aim to create messaging that speaks to them directly and makes them interested in your offerings.

Learn From Your Competition

Perhaps there’s something your competitors are doing to attract your ideal customers to themselves. What is it? And how do you provide an improved version of that thing (or feature)? By closely studying other businesses in your niche or industry, you can get a good idea of what works with customers and what doesn’t. And you’ll learn more than just competitor’s strengths. You may discover their weaknesses and design your product or service to be better in those aspects.
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Make the Most of Social Media Marketing

There’s more to social media marketing than just updating your Instagram and Facebook pages every little while. If you’re going to win with them, you’ll have to produce and share content that’s relevant to your target audience (remember the point we made above). If the people in the market you want to reach are drawn to a particular kind of content and communication style, you’ll want to mirror those in your social media posts. It’s a smart way to get their attention and draw them closer to your brand. Post things that they’ll consider interesting, helpful, and engaging. Make your social media page one that they’d like to visit often. Sharing a mix of content types—text, images, videos, infographics, etc –could prove effective. Also, be sure to put posts up at the times they’re most likely to be checking their social media timelines. Here’s an article about scheduling posts for high-traffic times and how it can help increase your reach: How to Increase Social Media Engagement Using Scheduling Tools.

Drive-Up Your Customers’ Lifetime Value

Your customer lifetime value (LTV) is the total profit that a customer contributes to your business throughout their relationship with it. The higher the average lifetime value of your customers, the bigger your marketing Return on Investment. There are several things you could do to increase customer LTV. Perhaps the first thing you can do is to find your target market—something we’ve already talked about. It will typically cost less to acquire customers in this category, as they may already be interested in having something that you offer. Another thing to focus on is strengthening your relationship with your customer. You can do this by consistently delivering great service. The longer you’re able to retain a customer, the higher their lifetime value is likely to be. You could also drive up the amount of money they spend on each transaction by cross-selling and up-selling products to them. Their lifetime value will increase with each extra or higher-value purchase they make.

Monitor Marketing KPIs

Customer lifetime value is just one of a host of marketing KPIs you should be measuring. Others, like Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), and Conversion Rates could give you some insight into how much value your marketing resources have returned. By tracking these indices, you could find out what’s working what isn’t, and make adjustments to your plans and spending that will improve marketing outcomes.

Final Words

Ideally, you’ll want to pull off some great wins with your marketing efforts. But unless you’re taking the right steps to make it work, you may find that your spending on it doesn’t bring home the kinds of results you hope for. Follow the tips in this article, and you’ll be on your way to securing maximal returns on your marketing investment. Featured Image Source: Tech Bullion
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This article was first published on 27th September 2021

ikenna-nwachukwu

Ikenna Nwachukwu holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He loves to look at the world through multiple lenses- economic, political, religious and philosophical- and to write about what he observes in a witty, yet reflective style.

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