Creative tips for maximizing your marketing budget

Businesses and organizations with small marketing budgets can still generate big-time results. It’s all about being strategic.

Businesses large and small should establish a marketing budget in order to develop and promote the company’s brand with the overall goals of building awareness, fostering engagement and ultimately driving leads or sales.

To connect with target audiences without breaking the bank, brands can tap into a variety of smart and creative solutions across print and digital platforms, including these three tips:

Branded Templates

Creating a new design or graphic for every social media post or piece of collateral can be time consuming, and time is money. Instead, businesses can create custom branded templates for social media, emails, newsletters, brochures and postcards. A creative staffer simply needs to update the template with new images, headlines and copy. Using templates allows businesses to save money without sacrificing quality or brand continuity.

Photos and Videos

Ideally, businesses should produce original photography and video footage for use in marketing. This helps create authenticity and differentiates a brand from competitors. However, photo and video shoots can be costly and time intensive. Tech-savvy employees can capture high-quality photos and video clips with a smartphone, then layer in stock photos or videos where appropriate. This helps trims costs while still providing eye-catching visuals that connect with target audiences.

Go Evergreen

Frugality is a skill that helps individuals and businesses stretch a budget. That means ensuring your investment is being used to its full potential. The same holds true in marketing. Take an evergreen approach to generate content that is just as relevant today as it will be next week, month or year. Creating digital graphics, collateral and videos that have a longer shelf life will allow you to get the most mileage out of your content. Minor updates like changing a date, title or image can be quick and easy – without requiring a complete overhaul.

As summer approaches in Southwest Florida, brands in all industries can maintain the momentum they built during the season by continuing to market their products and services. Being strategic with creative elements like graphic design, social media, photography, and videography can generate a big-time return on investment.

About the Author

Teri Hansen, APR, is president and chief creative officer at Priority Marketing, Southwest Florida’s largest full-service marketing, advertising, public relations, website development and digital marketing agency. Visit PriorityMarketing.com or call 239-267-2638 for more information.