Limited Resources Doesn’t Mean Limited Success

Written By: Carisa Peters

Needing to stimulate growth and awareness for your organization? If you’ve decided that marketing is the way to do it, but you’re worried about execution because of limited staff or budget resources, you’re not alone. Many small businesses and nonprofits face the same limitations when it comes to marketing, so we’ve pulled together a comprehensive list of helpful tips for achieving success no matter what you have to work with.

Get Started for Free

There are many different ways you can start your marketing momentum without spending any money at all. Simply creating accounts on any of the major social media channels will give you a direct connection to your audience. You can promote your organization and interact with supporters of your brand directly without spending a dime!

There are also tools beyond social media to help you with your marketing needs. Many online services are subscription-based, but almost always have free trials. Give those test runs a try and decide what will help you reach your goals before making an investment.

What’s the Buzz About?

Spend some time researching trends in print and digital marketing before you make a plan of action. Some new techniques may be more budget-friendly than others, and trendsetters often are such because their approach is getting more results. Don’t you want that too?

Share your new ideas and trend experiments with your audience as well. They will see you as forward-thinking and want to keep a closer eye on your social channels to see what you do next. It’s a win-win situation for both of you!

Make a Plan

Ok, yes you need a plan for your marketing, but you also need to do some pre-planning research and decision making. Before you do anything else, you must first think about the mission of your organization. Re-align yourself with the brand so that all of the marketing you’re about to create reflects that same mission.

Before you start anything, take a look at your current status as it relates to your goals. If you want to increase sales, what are your current numbers? If you want 50 more Facebook followers, record how many you have before you start. You have to create a baseline to be able to measure the ROI of your project. It’s also important to regularly circle back to your original goals to make sure your plans coincide with those objectives throughout the duration of your project. Consistency improves efficiency, which is in itself a cost saver. The organization does too, so create editorial calendars to keep everyone involved on schedule and aware of what they need to do. Then document your plans as you go forward to keep everything on track.

Ask for Help

If you realize at the beginning of your project or even halfway through that you can’t manage it with the resources you have, don’t be afraid to reach out to an outside resource. It could be a peer company, another organization much like yours who is not a competitor. They may have similar struggles and could offer advice. You could also partner with a marketing agency for the needs of your project. Marketers who do this type of work every day can quickly execute what you need to have done or provided guidance to you as you work through it with your team. Relying on a marketing expert allows you to focus on the areas of the project that need your time and attention the most.

You have endless options as you dive into a marketing need, and it’s important to remember that you can accomplish many things on your own with a little research and effort. However, help is out there, happy to guide you through decisions and initiatives that will help your organization see success!