Free Marketing – Attract New Customers Without A Budget

“When a company has just been founded, it often lacks the business and technical background to move forward in marketing. However, to generate revenue, customers are needed. Without revenue, however, no marketing campaign can be financed,” says business mentor Jessica Verfürth. This vicious circle must be broken.

Free marketing sounds fantastic, but is it realistic? Jessica Verfürth recommends that start-ups do without expensive marketing measures. Good marketing does not require a budget, Verfürth knows from her own experience. She built up a company with ten employees from scratch and made it from the bottom to the top. She uses four methods to explain how female founders can build up high-reach marketing without a budget.

The group strategy

Social media enable their users to constantly get in touch with new people and thus potential interested parties and future customers. Bringing like-minded people together in groups is therefore one of the success models of social media platforms. Therefore, these networks are perfect for marketing, for example, to become better known in one’s niche and to present oneself as an expert. However, to master this successfully, it is necessary to build up a certain understanding of the target group beforehand and to master the marketing basics. On the other hand, you will hardly see any success with this.

Once the basics are covered, founders can then give their community an insight into their work with posts and livestreams. Another idea is small, low-cost introductory offers that generate interest among potential customers. In this way, interested parties get an impression of the collaboration and relationships develop from which trust grows.

The organic lead generation

This type of customer acquisition requires female entrepreneurs to make direct contact with people. The idea is to clarify in a conversation whether the person in question belongs to the target group and whether there is an interest in working together. “So that such a conversation does not appear clumsy and pushy, the use of a question scheme based on psychology is suitable,” explains Jessica Verfürth. This makes it possible to talk to the prospect about their problems and the possibilities for a solution.

Lead magnet creation

Another marketing measure is the creation of a lead magnet. This refers to content in various formats: including, among others, webinars, e-books, checklists or similar. These have the task of arousing the interest of potential customers and attracting a new lead. Here, too, it is essential to develop a comprehensive understanding of the target group. Once this is in place, the founder can develop a lead magnet and offer it for download, for example. When creating it, it is essential to ensure that an “aha” effect is awakened in the prospect – the lead magnet should therefore not be too extensive.

Lead magnets that can be used on all social media channels should not lead the prospect away from the platform, however. For example, if you place a link to your own homepage, you lose reach with the post. Better is a so-called call-to-action. One idea would be a call for users to get in touch who want lead magnets. The link is then sent directly to the interested parties.

Cooperations

This method includes the collaborative design of a cooperation offer with a business partner. In addition, one’s own reach can be improved as a guest in an interview. Beforehand, however, female founders should urgently clarify who owns the resulting leads from new customers. This will help avoid complications later on. In addition, an agreement with the cooperation partner on the commission for the first purchase is important. There must also be an agreement on how to deal with possible upsells.