How to get original with your marketing (without breaking the bank)

The success of your business depends greatly on the success of your marketing. Getting your key messages, product features and brand identity out into your industry market helps to drive engagement and sales – but we don’t all have millions to invest in this marketing.

So, how do you come up with innovative marketing on a shoestring budget?

Do you need big bucks to deliver great marketing?

Big marketing budgets are usually the sole preserve of large corporations with deep pockets and large bank reserves. But it’s more than likely that your business doesn’t have huge budgets to spend on marketing. And this is why it’s more important to have good ideas than big budgets.

5 ways to be original with your marketing

1. Be 100% clear on your marketing goals – to create innovative and original marketing without a big budget, it’s important to be 100% clear about what you want your marketing campaign to achieve. What are your goals? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads or drive sales? Once you know your goals, make sure these objectives are specific, measurable, achievable and time-bound, to get the very best results.
2. Do something different to your competitors – knowing what your competitors are doing helps you pivot and come up with something measurably different. Pay attention to their social media, website, blog posts and above-the-line marketing. They may be helping educate your audience, can you do something that takes advantage of this but sets you apart?
3. Be innovative in your thinking – the best marketing campaigns are original and innovative. They stand out from the crowd and capture people's attention by following a new path, or trying a new idea. Don't be afraid to experiment and use your best creative minds to come up with a campaign idea or content marketing that really makes your brand stand out from the bland and vanilla marketing concepts in your sector.
4. Use social media to amplify your reach – social media is a great way to boost the reach of your marketing campaign, but without spending a fortune. Share your content, engage with your followers and interact with the most popular trends and memes in your sector. If you want people to start talking about your brand, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter (now X) or Threads can all be good places to get a conversation going. You never know, you might go viral!
5. Focus on good ideas that don't break the bank – just because you have a small budget doesn't mean that you can't create effective marketing campaigns. There are tonnes of low-cost and no-cost marketing tactics that you can use to promote your business. Original content marketing, smart use of social media, networking with other businesses, referral programs and highly targeted digital marketing campaigns are all tools to include in your cost-effective marketing toolbox.

Producing effective marketing on a smaller budget shouldn’t hold back your creativity. In fact, sometimes budgetary limitations can actually drive you to come up with cost-effective ideas that are just as effective as those from a million-dollar marketing budget.