Price increases everywhere. Well, including digital ad prices across significant platforms like Meta, Google, Amazon, and Tiktok.

How significant are the price increases? Well, according to this article;

• Meta’s cost per thousand impressions (CPM) increased by 61% YoY (year-over-year), reaching an average CPM of USD $17.60
• TikTok’s CPM increased by a huge 185% YoY, peaking at an average CPM of USD $9.40
• Google’s display CPMs increased by 75% YOY and their search ad cost-per-clicks (CPCs) were up by 14% YOY

So, what to do when you don’t have any marketing budget or you don’t have extra money to spend on marketing?

Here are 4 ways to do it:

1. Find an existing market & leverage it

Find a place where people post about their problems and how your product or service can help solve them.

Look into Facebook groups, Twitter, or Niche Forums like Quora. One key ingredient here is to focus on targeted local prospects.

Example: Airbnb

They leveraged Craigslist, a platform with millions of users looking for accommodations, to increase their user base substantially.

You can read more about it here.

2. Give incentive to your users to share (word of mouth)

Give discounts or cash vouchers when they share about your product or service on their social media page.

Example: Dropbox

Dropbox incentivized its users by providing free space for every new signup from a user invites.

Based on investx.com, 44% of their new users were introduced to Dropbox by another user.

How about the more practical approach you may ask?

• You can try to create a viral contest and giveaway. You can refer to some great templates & examples at these famous tools; VYPER or Gleam.
• Refer-a-friend programs. Provide your customers with incentives to talk about your brand with their circles. Rewards can be anything from the gift-cards, cashback, free gifts, and discounts.

Start small with your close friends, family, and staff.

3. Start a blog or guest blogging

Provide consistent free quality content to your target audience via your website or blog. This is where you need to have basic SEO strategies so that your hard work will be fruitful in the long run.

If you don’t have a blog, try to reach out to other bloggers or content websites in exchange free product/service or discount code.

You can even try to reach out to Youtuber and give free products in exchange for a review.

What is the catch? Nothing but your time and effort.

4. Be Visible on Social Media

I believe the keyword to be successful in social media marketing is CONSISTENT.

Focus on building your own communities and engage with them. Posts regularly. Share a story, tips, or anything that gives value to your audience.

“Social media marketing is about creating content that brings your audience together as a community and inspiring authentic conversations while increasing your brand’s awareness.”

— Krystal Wu, Social Media Community Manager, HubSpot

If you are just getting started, my advice is to focus on 1 or 2 social media platforms where your audience is.

Still not sure where to start? Well, here’s the comprehensive guide for you;

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These are only a few ones that I’ve been using for the last couple of years and are still relevant up until today.

Don’t be discouraged if you didn’t have a big marketing budget. Start small and focus on building your own community.

“You can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings within them.” — Pam Moore, CEO of Marketing Nutz

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I hope you find this article helpful.

My name is Arinah, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia I’ve been involved in marketing since 2013 at IMAN Media Group Sdn. Bhd.

Throughout the years, I have collected many tips and errors along the way. I also lead a multi-talented team and help turn a start-up company (5 figures a month) into a hyper-growth company (7 figures a month) in less than 5 years.

Now, I want to share this journey with you.

GREAT NEWS!

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p/s: Newsletter are written in Bahasa Melayu.