Direct Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses

If you don’t have much money to spend on your business’s marketing strategy, don’t worry, we’re here to help. We’ve listed our top low-cost direct marketing ideas for small businesses.

With digital marketing channels growing at an impressive rate, there are plenty of creative and cost-effective direct marketing ideas to increase awareness of your business’ products, services and brand.

Get a quote quickly here for your direct mail campaign >

Low Budget Direct Marketing Ideas For Businesses

If you have a low budget, it would probably be wise to either do a trial for direct mail or use a leaflet distribution service, as you can get much more reach than direct mail.

The main reason that leaflet distribution would be better is that you can get 1,000 leaflets delivered for around £99; however, to mail 1,000 letters or postcards would cost £600. This extra price is due to the postage costs.

Here are our 21 direct marketing ideas for small businesses:

1. Establish Brand Guidelines. Brand guidelines are important because they help you create a strong brand identity. Guidelines allow you to develop consistent branding across your marketing channels.
2. Publish Creative Content. As the saying goes, “Content Is King” certainly is. Creating unique and shareable content is the key to success and will earn your website some serious brownie points in rankings if you craft an SEO-friendly piece of content. I just wanted to let you know that having someone in your team who can create the content will save your business money as a freelance content writer won’t be required.
3. Develop a Social Media Plan. Creating social media accounts for your business and developing a presence on social media is a great low-cost direct marketing idea.
4. Email Marketing. Email marketing allows your business to engage with new customers and maintain relationships with existing customers.
5. Direct Mail. Create a Direct Mail campaign that delivers results for your business. Including personalised incentives in your direct mail campaign, such as birthday discounts or cross-selling offers, will encourage the recipient to purchase from you.
6. Business Cards. Update your business cards to stand out from the crowd and represent your business.
7. Digital Brochure. Brochures are great sales tools and are ideal for giving to potential customers. Create a digital version that customers can download from your website.
8. Offer Incentives. Could you send existing customers free samples or other incentives to regain their business?
9. PPC Advertising. A massive ad campaign may be out of your budget, but start a small pay-per-click campaign with spending limits to ensure your website has instant visibility without breaking the bank.
10. Create Industry Infographics. Infographics are powerful marketing tools because they’re easy to digest and visually pleasing, and people love to share them, which will help you gain referral traffics and links. Use a free graphic design tool such as Canva and use templates to create a stunning infographic for your business.
11. Start a Contest. Use your social media platforms to create a fun contest offering your audience an incentive to engage.
12. Sponsor a Local Sports Team. Promote your business in the local area by sponsoring a sports team.
13. Write a Press Release. Press releases are an essential tool to catch the attention of others to your business and its products/services.
14. Refresh Existing Content. Look at the existing content on your website and see if there’s anything you can do to give it a new leaf life. For example, if you have a collection of related blog posts, transform them into an ebook.
15. Give Away Freebies at Local Events. Everybody loves free stuff. Giving out branded pens, stress balls, balloons, etc., at local events will increase brand awareness.
16. Customer Referral Programs. Create referral programs to get your customers to spread the word about your product or service by offering them an incentive.
17.  Remarking Campaigns. Remarketing with users who have already visited your site is a great way to increase your conversion rate.
18. You can advertise your business on company vehicles. Branding your company vehicles with an eye-catching design and contact details can help to attract new customers as you drive around.
19. Set Up A Company LinkedIn. A business LinkedIn account will help drive traffic to your website and is another channel to promote your products, services and content.
20. Case Studies/Testimonials. Having compelling case studies on your website is the best way to showcase the sort of work you do for clients and also the results your work delivers.
21. SEO Marketing. When publishing new content on your website, target your keywords. You want your website to be visible to the ideal audience who will most likely buy from you.

Direct Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses

Here are all our 21 direct marketing ideas for small businesses:

1. Establish Brand Guidelines
2. Publish Creative Content
3. Develop a Social Media Plan
4. Email Marketing
5. Direct Mail
6. Business Cards
7. Digital Brochure
8. Offer Incentives
9. PPC Advertising
10. Infographics
11. Contests
12. Sponsor a Local Sports Team
13. Write A Press Release
14. Refresh Existing Content
15. Freebies
16. Customer Referral Programs
17. Remarketing Campaigns
18. Advertise Your Business On Company Vehicles
19. Set up a company LinkedIn
20. Case Studies/Testimonials
21. Postcard Marketing

Direct Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses from The Direct Mail Company

Here at The Direct Mail Company, we can help you create a successful direct mail campaign which won’t cost you a fortune.

We are experts in adverting and transactional mail, offer printing services and can even provide your business with bulk postage discounts.

Please contact us today for a quote or further information on our direct mail services. Feel free to call us on 0808 2533 845.

Get a quote quickly here for your direct mail campaign >