Acquiring customers through online advertising is a standard practice for many companies, especially startups. But how do you actually build brand awareness in the early stages? Last year, 26% of companies ran online advertisements. In the US, the average monthly investment in online advertising for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ranges from $9,000 to $10,000.
Want to cut advertising costs? Marketing can be expensive if it isn't focused on your target audience. Targeted advertising, email marketing, sales funnels, A/B testing, landing page optimization, and—of course—regular analysis and optimization. Sounds simple, doesn't it?
Here are a few tips from our company, along with a description of how we reduce costs for clients whose marketing strategies are not yet ready for new challenges. Which levers are most effective for cutting costs?
Marketing is a crucial component of any successful business. However, traditional advertising methods often entail high costs, especially when results fall short of expectations. In an era where every marketing budget must be used efficiently, performance marketing is gaining increasing popularity. Here, you will learn how performance marketing can help you reduce advertising costs while achieving the desired results.
It is important to note that performance marketing is an approach to online marketing aimed at achieving specific, measurable financial results (such as leads, sales, or registrations). The primary goal of performance marketing is to recoup the investment and track all expenditures.
An effective way to reduce advertising costs is to use data-driven ads precisely tailored to your target audience. Instead of broad-reach advertising, you pay only for those genuinely interested in your product or service. This not only boosts conversion rates but also lowers overall advertising expenses. It is ideal for advertising on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and even Google Ads.
Online advertising should be viewed as a small part of your marketing mix. Under no circumstances should you acquire more than one-third of your customers through this channel. Thanks to the low commission charged by the BEILRY advertising service (exchange), you can acquire more customers for less money.
Online advertising on the BEILRY advertising service (exchange) starts at 0.002 cents per ad impression or 0.02 dollars per thousand impressions. This is undoubtedly the most affordable online advertising. Within their BEILRY personal account, advertisers can view the price of the most recent transaction (purchase/sale) in real time, thereby gaining insight into recent impression costs.
The BEILRY advertising service (exchange) does not use RTB (Real-Time Bidding). RTB relies on an auction system where the advertiser pays the maximum price for an ad impression. In contrast, on the BEILRY exchange, an ad is displayed simply if the price paid by the advertiser equals or exceeds the combined cost of the publisher's site and the BEILRY commission.
For many companies, abandoning outbound marketing is a challenging task. Therefore, the ideal mix looks like this:
- 25% of customers come through advertising (outbound marketing)
- 25% — through organic SEO (inbound marketing)
- 25% — through word-of-mouth
- 25% — through customer loyalty
The less you spend on advertising, the more profitable you will be. Therefore, use advertising only to drive growth:
- when you need growth
- if you have unused production capacity and need to "fill the gaps"
To reduce your dependence on online advertising, we believe there are three key areas to focus on.
Leverage customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Customer retention should be a primary source of revenue. A frequently cited study published in the *Harvard Business Review* shows that profits can increase by 95% if loyalty levels rise by five points. While this figure may seem substantial, it is easily explained by savings on customer acquisition costs—costs you would otherwise inevitably incur.
By doing your utmost to satisfy your customers, you ensure they will have a positive impression of you when making their next purchase. This also fosters positive word-of-mouth (a single satisfied customer tells an average of nine potential customers about you).
Boost your brand awareness.
Social media is an essential tool. Visibility is crucial for attracting new clients. Make your presence felt on LinkedIn by posting content regularly. To increase your chances of visibility, leverage the three factors that drive 55% of viral reach: network size, post length, and the number of emojis.
Build informal connections with potential clients. Increase your visibility by offering prospects something of interest—such as an analytical report or an interview for a podcast or video podcast. There are many ways to build relationships at minimal cost while bypassing traditional client acquisition methods.
Focus on growing organic traffic (inbound marketing).
The final area requiring attention is inbound marketing. With inbound marketing, customers come to you with needs they have already identified. This conversion channel is crucial in B2B, where customer acquisition costs are high.
Implementing an inbound marketing strategy requires conducting SEO research and publishing content. It takes at least a few months to see initial results from this approach. Therefore, it is important to start before the immediate need arises so that the strategy pays off when circumstances change. In these uncertain times, it is particularly important to avoid spiraling advertising costs.
To attract customers effectively, ensure your Google Business company page is up to date. Customer reviews are vital. We strongly recommend encouraging your clients to leave reviews. In B2B, this rarely happens automatically, and a bare Google Business page does not inspire confidence in potential clients.
BEILRY Advertising Service - Internet advertising on your terms!
Mainton Company - custom software development and testing, DevOps and SRE, SEO and online advertising since 2004.