
As a woman small business owner, you’re familiar with the importance of digital marketing in your industry’s successes or failures. The problem is, you’re not exactly a marketing expert, and outsourcing your company’s marketing strategy can be expensive. There’s nothing to worry about; with the right set of tips, you can DIY your digital marketing strategy on a budget. We’ve compiled a list of seven smart tips for affordable DIY digital marketing that’s guaranteed to boost your brand’s visibility and sales.
Your brand identity is what sets your small business apart from others in your industry. You must create a unique and consistent brand identity that will make people recognize your brand. That could be in your website design, logo, packaging, or typography. Every single customer should be able to tell it is from your brand. Consistency shows professionalism, and it awards you a credible reputation.
Social media is a free marketing tool you can take advantage of. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest are efficient digital platforms that can take your brand to new heights. Create business social media profiles with business-related content such as pictures, videos, infographics, and captions that engage your followers. It’s a beautiful way to keep your followers updated and create conversations around your unique value and personality.
SEO is crucial for your brand’s visibility on Google, and your website should be friendly for Google searches. By using keywords that are relative to your brand name, such as products, services, and location, you increase your website’s profits’ earning potential.
Also, factors like the rate of your website’s load time, how easy it is to find things, and its mobile-friendliness on various devices(e.g., phones, computers, and tablets) make a difference in customer satisfaction and SEO. You can try optimizing the website yourself, or you can opt for website optimization services that won’t break the bank—Fiverr has dozens of fast, affordable SEO consultants to get you started.
Quality content is a powerful way to build your brand and gain visibility. It is through content that you communicate your brand voice, identity, and expertise you want to be associated with. Blogging and podcasting are free digital marketing strategies that’ll keep your customers in touch, entertained and informed with your brand. Brand voice can be maintained by using infographics, pictures GIFs, or memes.
Email marketing is an efficient DIY digital marketing strategy that many small business owners neglect. I get it— email can feel like a burden at best and be the stuff of nightmares at worst!
But hands down, email is one of the most effective and predictable ways to reach your target audience, and it’s a powerful way to stay in touch with your customer base. You can use email marketing to offer promotions, sales, or exclusive product information and to nurture your customers or clients between purchases.
Email subscribers typically want to be first in learning about sales so that they can get them before everyone else, which drives sales, engagement, and conversion rates. Platforms like Klaviyo—an email marketing platform made for selling—make it easy to set up automated emails for cart abandonment, regular check-ins, recommendations, and more.
It’s 2023 and if you aren’t thinking video, you could be missing out on serious growth! Video Marketing has grown significantly over the years. Video marketing attracts more engagement than any other type of digital media and has the most success:
Today’s video marketing is simpler than ever. All you need is a phone, decent lighting, and a story to tell. Ideas include product demonstrations, customer reviews, behind-the-scenes vids, slideshows with trending audios, and hey — maybe even a dance or two.
Marketing analytics help you track your digital marketing plan’s performance, and it’ll provide you with insights on how to make your strategy better. You can monitor your website traffic, social media engagements, and email responses to see how well your strategy is performing. Almost every platform has some type of analytics. Don’t let the numbers scare you–a quick look comparing what had the most response can give you tons of insight. With the data you get, you can improve on areas that need improvement and know what’s working and what’s not.
DIY digital marketing doesn’t have to be expensive, and as a woman small business owner, implementing it can be a win for your brand without stretching your budget. With these seven tips, you can create a digital marketing plan that works with ease for your brand and helps drive traffic to your website and social media pages. For more help, check out my resource for the top 5 tools for affordable DIY digital marketing!
Stay confident, engaging, witty, stay unique, and always deliver quality content. Your brand will continue to resonate with your customers!
The post 7 Smart Tips for Affordable DIY Digital Marketing Without Breaking The Bank appeared first on Honeycomb Marketing Co..
]]>The post Lead Magnets for eCommerce Shops appeared first on Honeycomb Marketing Co..
]]>In marketing terms, a lead magnet is a valuable resource that your leads — potential customers — can download or access in exchange for their contact information. If email addresses were currency, lead magnets would be the product your leads buy with their currency. The best lead magnets for direct sales have a high percieved value to your potential audience, giving them plenty of incentive to provide their email to you, as well as an invitation for you to contact them with information about your company, products or services.
You can find thousands of lead magnets online, and most likely, you’ve downloaded some yourself. Coupons, free gifts, samples, e-books, training guides, video access; these are all considered lead magnets. Lead magnets for direct sales can be a game changer for your business, as it can provide exceptional value to your customers, establish you as the go-to person, help you brand yourself, and so much more. If it can work for millions of brick-and-mortar and online retailers, it can work for your small business and direct sales business!
Of course, as a direct sellers or small business owner on a budget, freebies or complicated and time consuming e-books may be off the table. Additionally, you may be limited to what you can provide to an external audience according to your company’s policies and procedures. As you’re planning your lead mangets for direct sales, consider these factors: How much time can I commit to creating this? How much money can I allocate to a lead magnet? Does this adhere to my company’s rules? You might flex your creative muscles a bit when choosing your lead magnet, but it will pay off in spades, and can help you generate new leads on autopilot.

Via ulta
One most-utilized lead magnets in the retail industry are the gift with purchase and for good reason. It not only gives an added value to your customer but also sales for your business. Gift with purchase can be anything with percieved value, from a handful of samples to a full-sized free product. For direct sellers, you may consider something complimentary to your product you can send for free — a small makeup bag if you sell makeup, a glass roller container for essential oils, or deluxe samples of a full-sized product for skincare. In all three of these examples, the free gift is very inexpensive or complimentary to you. Makeup bags, glass rollers, and small jars to distribute samples are all available for less than $1 per item. Each provides a personalized touch to your sales.
Video has exploded on social media, with live video being top of the list. In fact, more than 95% of brands in a recent survey said live video would be a part of their marketing plan. Video can help showcase your personality and solidify your personal branding for your direct sales business. It can also be used as a lead magnet! A video series can include tutorials on your products, DIY follow-along videos, demos and more. Once you decide on your video series topic, take some quick videos ( less than 2 minutes per video) and upload them to YouTube as unlisted videos. After your new lead signs up, send them the video links via email each day for the legnth of the series (p.s. email automation can help tremendlously with this!)
Your video series should have a percieved value to your potential customers. What can they learn from you that they can’t get elsewhere? How can you simplify their lives or meet a need? How can your video series solve their problems or address their pain points? Videos should address at least one of these questions. Remember: a video series is designed to show YOUR expertise with your product or service, so don’t stress about how it looks! A short smart phone video is all you need to get started.
If you’re the creative type, these lead magnets for eCommerce idea are perfect for you. This category of lead magnets includes:
And so so SOOOO many more. Seriously, the list could go on and on with ulimited topics. A great digital download 1) solves a problem or addresses your potential customers have and 2) compliments a paid product or service you offer. It has to fit both parts of this equation to work for your business. One of the most creative I’ve seen is from Young Living essential oils. I could mark off all the products I used, and the guide told me which YL products I could use instead. Brilliant!
Digital downloads are usually created in a design program like Canva, uploaded to a cloud storage site (like a website, Google Drive or Dropbox, or email marketing platform), and emailed to the lead upon request. Again, automation can help this, but as you start, you can send them individually through your personal or business email address along with a personal note. Encourage your leads to engage with you by prompting questions or feedback about the digital download.
Don’t think you have the design chops to knock out something like this? Think again! Canva has tons of pre-made templates in the platform and even more for purchase on other websites, like Etsy and Creative Market. It’s worth the investment!
“Answer some questions and we’ll tell you what kind of cheese you are!” Buzzfeed is basically the king of the quiz.
But they are definitely doing something right. Judging by my Facebook feed, people love to take quizzes and share their results, which means the companies who created the quizzes are getting traffic and leads while they sleep. Quizes can work for any type of company and aren’t difficult to create. Your quiz should focus on the benefits of your product or service in a fun way, and each question should lead users to an outcome that compliments one of your products. For example, if you sell organizational tools, you may develop questions about your potential customer’s degrees of disorganization (“You’re a neat freak!” or “You’re a total pack rat!”) (but nicer, because who wants to be called a pack rat??) Your quiz results will provide: 1) an email address 2) valuable information about your customer 3) a ready-made sales tool for you to follow up with the specific product to meet their needs.
Quizes can be set up easily with almost no tech knowledge on Outgrow.co
(Don’t forget to grab a copy of my eBook, How To Grow Your Business with Quizzes)
Once you’re settled on the ideal lead magnet, get ready to find even more customers to nurture and serve!
The post Lead Magnets for eCommerce Shops appeared first on Honeycomb Marketing Co..
]]>