Digital Marketing Services On A Budget: Amazing Actionable Tips For Start-Ups

Digital marketing services are a lifeline for start-ups. Whether you’re a small scale business or have some experience under your belt, investing into your presence online has explosive potential. Here at Profile Tree we have been offering a range of Digital Marketing Services to our clients from across the sector since 2010. 

We have gathered all the knowledge from our in-house team of experts to create some actionable tips that you can explore to help grow your presence online. Our years of experience, having provided digital marketing services to over two thousand businesses, mean that we have the top tips and advice for those of you seeking cost-effective digital marketing services.

You might be thinking, wow Profile Tree that sounds impressive… But where do I start? What exactly should I prioritise when resources remain scarce yet the pressure to stand out online intensives daily? 

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Within this blog we will investigate the digital marketing services that are affordable for you right now and suggest some actionable steps to start your journey.

Step One: Making Time To build your Presence Online

We know things can get very hectic, very quickly when running a start-up. You’ve got a lot on your plate – products to sell, customers to please, maybe even a few employees to manage and train? It’s easy to feel like you’re running out of time before getting to everything on your to-do list. Digital marketing services might seem at the bottom of your priorities list but a little investment of time goes a long way. 

Prioritising the time to sit down and give your attention to your digital presence is something that is essential for authenticating your business at the beginning and later on down the line, your growth. 

Sporadic, random and inconsistent posting will not develop your goals in the long term or do you any favours when creating content. Social media platform algorithm’s are unlikely to favour you, if your presence on them is not consistent. 

Actionable Tip

Can you invest sixty minutes a day to focus on one online platform? Prioritise one social media platform that is relevant to your target audience, your customers. Spend time engaging with your customers, creating and scheduling your content for the week and build your brand tone of voice. This is a free digital marketing service that you can implement, easily yourself.

Step Two: Optimisation As A Digital Marketing Service

Optimisation in its basic terms means taking current content, be it your business logo, the text on your website or social media bios and ensuring that they are the most relevant and best standard they can be in relation  to your business. 

Optimisation is a crucial digital marketing service for small startups, as it enables you to maximise your online presence. (Basically showing up as the best version of yourself digitally.) 

By optimising your website, content, and social media presence, your business can attract more qualified leads, improve conversion rates, and drive sales as it appears clean, polished and professional. This process involves identifying areas for improvement and implementing strategies to enhance website performance, search engine rankings, and user engagement. 

This approach allows startups to allocate limited resources wisely and achieve significant results without overspending. Moreover, optimisation is an ongoing process that can be adapted as the startup grows and evolves, ensuring continuous improvement and long-term success.

Actionable Tip

Can you invest thirty minutes a week to revise your current content and consider how best to develop it moving forward? Do some research into the Keywords related to your business, (We’ll go further in depth into SEO & Keywords later in this blog) and consider how you might use those within your content. Again, this is another digital marketing service that you can ownership of yourself without the need to rely on external support.

Step Three: Reputation Management

Social media is social. Digital spaces are a place that offer interaction, engagement and opportunity to craft your reputation. Therefore, it’s important to invest time into expansion of your businesses reputation as a free digital marketing service.

Actionable Tip

Go to Canva and generate a QR code for your Google Business Page. If you have a physical business space, place this QR at your cash point and encourage customers to scan the link and leave you a Google Review. This will show the excellence that your business offers and increase your star rating. 

Don’t be afraid of negative reviews! We all are human and we cannot be perfect all the time. Take the opportunity to take ownership of this and engage with negative reviews also. Showing your customers that you care and want to improve their experience is key. Endorse your reputation!

Step Four: A Few Digital Marketing Services That Won’t Break The Bank

Let’s discuss some of the excellent free digital marketing services that you could implement today, for free! 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Optimising your website and content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), means your startup can reach a wider audience, you can enhance your brand visibility and drive organic traffic to your website.
• Actionable Tip: Try SEMrush for free and do some keyword research relevant to your business.

 Social Media Marketing & Content Marketing

• As aforementioned, seek the platforms online that are relevant to your customers, or where your potential customers might be as they are your target audience. Create profile pages for your business where relevant.
• Actionable Tip: Choose two platforms to begin and consistently post there for three months to grow your network. Revise the insights and analytics within the platform to evaluate how your presence has progressed within that space of time. As aforementioned, focus on the optimisation of your profile. Use your logo and complete relevant contact information.

Analytics and Reporting

• Reviewing your analytics is an essential digital marketing service for small startups. It really empowers you to make decisions that are informed by numbers and your previous achievements. 
• Finding the time to review, analyse and assess the engagement on your social profiles and your website can really help you understand what your audience likes and help you make decisions with your content as you move forward. 
• Actionable tip: If you have a website in place already, create a GA4 account and attach it to your domain via code. GA4 is a free analytics tool that you can use to assess the traffic going to your website. To ensure the most potential from the digital marketing service, we recommend getting the help of a web developer to set up the code and tracking.

Email Marketing

• Email marketing is an excellent way to connect with your already existing customer base, filling them in on relevant business updates, product launches, offers and so much more! 
• To start your Email Marketing Campaign journey, begin curating a list of email contacts, ensuring GDPR compliance.
• Actionable Tip: Join Mailchimp for free and use their ‘Form Builder’ to create a ‘Sign up to my Newsletter’ page. This allows you to collect email addresses officially and professionally. You can include this link in your social media profiles. 

Non-Organic Digital Marketing Services To Consider When The Time And Budget Is Right

Ads

• Once you have grown a consistent and sustainable presence online, it might be time to consider non-organic content. Ads, or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising involves placing paid ads on search engines, social media platforms, or other websites.
• As a digital marketing service, ads elevate your strategy to the next level, however they cannot replace organise content.
• Advertisers pay a fee each time a user clicks on their ad, making it a targeted and cost-effective way to reach a specific audience. 
• There are many options, ranging from Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Tiktok Ads. 
• Actionable tip: Choose the platforms that are most relevant to your start-up. From there invest a six month window of time to create ads, analyse the analytics and move forward with an informed strategy.