I'm so excited to announce I've started a YouTube channel.

In this episode of Strategies that Stack, I break down how to market your business effectively without a massive budget. Whether you're just starting out or looking to be more strategic with your resources, this episode provides actionable strategies you can implement immediately.

Chapters:

• 00:02 - Introduction to the Podcast
• 02:01 - Understanding Your Marketing Budget
• 08:31 - The Power of Storytelling in Marketing
• 12:19 - Nourishing Your Creativity
• 16:28 - Building Community for Marketing Success
• 19:33 - Strategies for Effective Marketing

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Welcome to the Strategies that Stack podcast.

I'm your host, Victoria H.

Boyd.

I'm a corporate escapee and marketing consultant, and I'm on a mission to help you build a marketing strategy that is so stacked, you become absolutely unignorable.

Each week, I will bring you real stories, the actual data, and the true strategies that have propelled online creators and entrepreneurs to the top of their industries.

So grab your coffee and let's jump in if you think you need a massive budget to market your business.

Marketing doesn't have to be expensive to be effective.

And in the next few minutes, I'm going to show you the exact strategies I've used to help small businesses grow without burning through their savings.

Real tactics that work and not just theory or fluff.

If I'm new to you, hey, I'm Victoria Boyd, and unlike a lot of marketing experts who tell you to spend thousands on ads, I'm going to show you how to market your business effectively without breaking the bank.

So Whether you have $0 or $500 to spend, this video is going to give you actionable steps that you can implement today.

So yesterday I was in a call and somebody in the call asked, hey, what do you do if you don't have a marketing budget?

And I was like, oh, my gosh, that is such a freaking good question that, like, I never really thought to answer with my content.

But it's such a good question that I think a lot of small businesses are asking.

And even if they're not directly asking it in those exact words, you're still thinking, what do I do?

I have limited resources.

So this video is going to cover all of that and more.

It's going to share what I talked about in the coaching call yesterday, and I'm going to wrap this up with some action items that you can do literally by the end of the week.

So I want to start off by what is the marketing budget and what should you budget?

Because I think a lot of people think they need a lot more capital to market or they need to have, like, big numbers before they should even start marketing.

And when a lot of people hear marketing budget, they immediately think, okay, money for Facebook ads or expensive software.

Now, there are fixed costs that are like your.

What I call essential infrastructure.

That's things like your domain and your hosting for your website.

It is so important, probably more so now than ever, with the just unknown future of social media.

Right now you need an email marketing platform.

So what I mean by that is the way that you are broadcasting to your list, you can't just do that through Gmail or through your Yahoo account.

You have to be using a domain, an owned domain.

I can riff on that in the future, but you can start for free with Kit or Mailerlite.

You're also going to need some basic design tools because even if you're not planning on having a heavily like designed social media presence or brochures or anything like that, there are going to be times when design is necessary for your marketing.

And I highly recommend Canva.

And you can even do that for free.

Then there's going to be things like team costs, such as salaries or contractors, but you don't need those to get started.

And then there are variable costs for things like memberships that you're in, software costs, social media, scheduling software, CRM and advertising.

And now you're probably like, okay, what do I need to do to determine my marketing budget?

How do I know how much money I need to set aside for these things?

Now, determining exactly what your marketing budget should be is really a loaded question.

And there are a lot of different ways to think about it.

For newer businesses, I would say between 15 and 25% of your overall projected revenue is a really good spot to start.

That's going to give you a little bit extra to get those initial customers in test strategies.

And then we can figure out your CPL and your cpa, which I will go into later when you just are a little bit more established.

Right.

And if we're looking at our cost per lead and cost per acquisition, let's say you're like, no, no, no, no, no.

I have no idea what my revenue could possibly look like after my first year in business.

Give me a different way to think about this.

And this is for you.

You can look at your cost per lead or your cost per acquisition.

That's CPL and cpa.

And there's a little formula for this.

This isn't like foolproof necessarily, but it is a good way and it is a formula that you can use.

So your CPL equals your total marketing cost divided by the number of leads and your CP costs divided by the number of customers.

And then the third way that you can figure out what your marketing budget needs to look like is you can actually look at your competition, what they're doing and what you need to do to be competitive with them and to stand out against them.

So some things that I like to look at is, are they always sponsors on a certain podcast?

Is there a different podcast that serves the same audience but maybe is smaller?

And you can sponsor that same thing with sponsoring local events in your town.

If you are a, like, physical business.

Physical business.

If you're like a brick and mortar and you serve your local community, sponsoring things like Little League town events, that could be a really great way to be competitive against other people in your market.

Do they always make an appearance at certain conferences, like south by Southwest?

Is that something maybe you could budget for this year?

Are they active on social media?

Are they creating a whole bunch of blog posts?

Are they doing Facebook ads?

Are they doing Google Ads?

So competitive research is another really great way to just see what other people in your industry are doing and what you might need to do or what you might want to consider to be competitive against them.

But what most experts won't tell you is that your most valuable marketing assets are actually free.

So no matter what money you have, and if you're anything like me, when I started, I started knowing that I had $52 coming in that month, you have something that I think is more valuable than money.

You have time, you have creativity, and you can focus on your people.

And no amount of money is a substitute for a good strategy.

And none of these things require money to make happen either.

So here are two assets you have that cost nothing but a little bit of thinking.

Number one is your story.

So your story is literally your most valuable marketing asset.

No matter what age you target, no matter what you sell.

Stories connect and stories convert.

Stories are amazing because they always will differentiate you from a crowded market.

Why?

Because no competitor can copy your unique experiences, your origin story, how you started your business.

Nobody can compete with your story.

Nobody can take your story from you.

It also helps you to create natural authenticity in your marketing.

And your story is also going to help you find shared experiences with your audience.

And that creates connection.

Connection creates community.

And community is.

Is how you make sales.

And it helps you stand out without spending money.

So, for example, instead of saying, I'm a marketing strategist, I can share how I got hit by a car and how it changed my entire perspective on business and life.

And this instantly makes me more memorable.

Another example is I can share how I started my business with just $52 and I matched my corporate income in six weeks.

It shows that I understand the journey of bootstrapping.

Hey, just a little announcement here.

I've actually started producing YouTube videos.

So this episode you can also view it on YouTube.

I will link it down below in the show notes, but you can always find me at Victoria Hboyd, pretty much anywhere you want to look.

So if you're thinking, well, what if my story isn't really interesting enough?

Or what if I'm just starting out and I don't have all of these things, here's a few stories that I know you have and you might need to think about it.

You might need to flip through a journal, you might need to sit down with a friend.

But I know you have these stories.

So the first one is your origin story.

That's simply why you started why did you start your business?

Why did you start offering whatever it is you offered?

And even if you're not going for like a business, but you're just trying to figure out how to make your content go further, your story can be one of those ways that you can build that relationship with your people.

It's highly shareable content and it can be a great way to build up a creator business as well.

So story number one is your origin story.

That's literally why you started.

Story number two is your transformation story.

So what changed that got you from point A to point B?

And last but not least is your impact story.

So this is where you can share how you help others.

A little example template for you is I started Insert business name because I was faced with this problem and after a key event or key realization I discovered solution.

Now I help ideal customers achieve desired outcome through your unique method.

I will have this linked down below so you can just take it, copy it, and paste it into your notes app and start to create content from this framework.

Next we have our POV or our point of view.

So there's a few different POVs that you can use and I'm going to give you a handful of them now.

But just know that this isn't like an exhaustive list, just like it wasn't exhaustive of stories.

There are so many different stories you can tell and there are so many different points of views that you can share with your audience as well.

So the first one is your industry stances.

So these are things like common practices that you disagree with method methods that you think are outdated, new approaches to things.

A good example from my world is I will commonly say marketing doesn't have to be manipulative to be effective and believe it or not there are still people out there, there are still marketers that believe you have to manipulate to get people to have interest in your stuff.

And that's just not the case.

The next one is unique methodology.

So documenting your approach is like, so, so good.

And it is something that is going to make you stand out.

It is something that you can infuse into all of the content that you create.

And here's a few things that you can think about when you are creating this content.

How do you solve problems differently?

What steps do you take that maybe others don't, or maybe others overlook?

What do you prioritize that maybe others completely overlook?

For example, one of like my unique methodologies is I believe in strategy stacking versus focusing on a single tactic focus.

So I'll commonly say multiple strategies work together, multiple tactics lead to better results.

And like, I love to talk about how no longer is it really that common for somebody to convert straight off of an ad.

Instead, they might see the ad and then they might jump over to Google and they might jump over to TikTok, and then they might jump to Instagram, then they might look at YouTube, then they might check their email.

And this doesn't necessarily happen like right away.

It doesn't necessarily happen in that order.

But the likelihood of somebody just buying right off of an ad is like lower than ever before.

And that's not to say ads aren't effective.

It is just to say that really measuring where the customer actually converted is getting harder than ever before.

So take with that what you will.

Controversial, yet true opinions are really, really, really great POV content.

I like to call these your eye roll triggers.

And they're the things that make you roll your eyes when you see them in your industry.

So it could be common myths that you dis, it could be overused strategies that you think are ineffective.

Actually, right before I hit record on this episode, I actually posted on threads that we gotta stop DMing people welcome DMs because it's so annoying.

Nobody wants them.

They're not effective anymore.

So, like, that was a controversial opinion that I just shared on threads.

More that you can kind of think about are things you strongly disagree with in your industry, unique approaches that you use, and core beliefs around your work.

Like, one of my core beliefs is freedom.

So every time that I approach something in my business, I'm approaching it from the lens of does this give me more freedom?

Now, freedom could be time freedom, it could be financial freedom, it could just be location freedom.

To be completely honest, I love to Move around.

My husband and I love to travel, so I'm always looking at things from that approach.

And that's also something that you can include in your content as well.

But there's one thing we haven't really talked about yet, and that is your time and your creativity.

And if we talk about creativity and time, they're not unlimited resources, right?

And obviously we need to be mindful of how that time is spent, how our creative energy is spent, because it's not something that is unlimited.

As somebody that went through burnout, it's absolutely not unlimited.

So something that I have integrated from the book the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, she calls these artist dates where you essentially go out and you nourish your inner child, you nourish your inner creative in a way that is completely separate from your work.

It could be going to a movie, it could be going to a boutique that you haven't gone to.

But doing something that is separate from your work can really help you to nourish that creative spirit inside of yourself, which you can't run out of.

Especially if you don't have a marketing budget, you're not gonna be able to pay for amplification, right?

You're gonna have to create that amplification for yourself.

And that requires your creativity and it's gonna require some time.

And if you'll be using content in your marketing, which I think a lot of us will be, if you're watching this video, pick something that can be repurposed over and over and over again.

And here's a little framework to help you with that.

So step one is pick your primary content.

So you're going to choose one.

It could be a blog post, it could be a YouTube video, it could be podcast episodes, it could be long form social posts.

These are especially effective on LinkedIn.

You're then going to take it.

So step two is transform it into multiple social media posts.

Two weeks of Instagram stories, a email newsletter, a lead magnet section, and even you could turn it into a product if you're going even deeper with it, right?

So those are like the two steps is to create one long form piece of content and then get really smart about repurposing it.

Honestly, with AI out there now I work with Claude.

I'll create a blog post and I'll tell Claude to create three different social media posts for it or 10 different social media posts for it.

And that works really well because I don't have to think about my content all the time, which is great and strategic.

Time blocking is also going to be really powerful here to help you get the most out of your time.

So let's say you have 90 minutes a week to focus on your marketing.

That is plenty.

That is an amazing amount of time to focus on your marketing and I'm really excited for you.

So let's say you have 90 minutes.

We can focus on content creation.

So that's writing or recording your primary content like we just talked about.

That could be breaking it down into smaller pieces and then scheduling or queuing into your marketing software, which would be something like Metricool or Buffer or even just using like LinkedIn scheduling tools to do that.

Then 30 minutes every day you should be working on engagement.

So something that I didn't share that you have as a pretty big superpower here is you also are able to focus on your audience in a way that a lot of people or a lot of businesses and your competitors who are, I don't want to say further ahead because it's not really a metric or anything, but you can focus on your people, you can spend time building community, you can spend time in Facebook groups answering questions, you can DM your followers, you can comment with people, you can really build up and engage with people to increase your following, increase your reach and build a community that you are so desperately going to need moving forward.

And then there's always analysis.

So.

So I like to review metrics, honestly on a 30 day rotation, but occasionally it is helpful to go week by week.

So I'm reviewing the metrics, I'm adjusting my strategy and I'm planning next week.

And I do actually look at some of my numbers, especially for my blog posts, every single week to see did something pick up new traffic that I wasn't anticipating it to pick up on?

Because if so, I'm realizing, okay, this could be a trending thing right now.

Maybe I want to double down on it, create some TikToks, create a YouTube video, so on and so forth.

Once you've kind of figured out what sort of content you're gonna create and how you're going to create that content, I really recommend you play around with some AI.

I love using AI for content creation.

You're probably like, okay, what other free or super low cost marketing tactics can I try?

So number one is going to be your community.

And I know I keep saying community, but it is so important because your community is who buys.

This could be in person or local community networking.

This could be walking into complimentary businesses in your town, or it could be online and this is especially good when you are a local business to be in your community, obviously.

But even if you're an online business, there are Facebook groups that you can go drop your two cents in.

You can search on Reddit for conversations to join.

You can also buy your way into communities.

And I don't mean hire a coach and join her mastermind.

No, I don't mean that at all.

I mean sponsor a summit, sponsor a bundle, or you know, sponsor a creator that works with your target audience already.

This could be a podcast host, this could be somebody on YouTube.

This could even be sponsoring a email newsletter, which can be really cost effective.

Also make sure that you have your Google business profile claimed.

So search for your business, claim your business.

And even if you're an online business, this is super, super, super important.

There's a lot that you can do with it even being an online business.

With that being said, once you do claim your business profile, ask your past customers and clients for reviews.

That is like so, so important.

Reviews really give your business like a level of legitimacy that you really can't buy.

Right?

Then there's postage.

So every door, direct mail, those are those massive.

I wish I had one with me.

But those are those like big mail flyers that you get, that your neighbors get, that everybody gets.

They can actually be really cost effective to create and really inexpensive to like deliver.

USPS actually has like a whole service for this.

They literally call it E, D, D M, every door direct mail.

And it turns your mailman into your best marketer for your business.

You also send out thank you cards like postage is so cheap.

Postage is so affordable and it's a great way to just spread the word about your business even if you are online.

Something I actually want to do this year is experiment with, you know, postage, experiment with edgm, because I think it's a really interesting untapped market for a lot of online business owners like myself and Gen Z loves mail.

I'm just going to leave that there.

And you also have past customers.

So your past customers are always your best leads.

So you can send them new offers and they're most likely, or they're more likely to bite because of how freaking good you are at whatever it is you do, whatever you sell.

There's also SMS messages which are like text messages.

There's actually a local plant store to me that will send out a text message that's like 15 off because it's the full moon or they'll even do it if they have a shipment coming in, they'll be like we need to clear space on our floor for more plants.

Come buy something for 20 off use code shipment.

And like it's super fun.

And it also gets me because like I know their plants are amazing, I know that they're well taken care of and I know that I'm going to have that plant for hopefully years to come.

Right?

So SMS is a really great way to stay connected with your audience and so is email marketing.

For both of those things though, you need explicit like opt in and opt out capabilities so you can't just text people from your phone number.

Just like you can't send out email blasts from Gmail.

So you guys know that I love action items.

So before we wrap up, I want to give you three specific action items that you can implement this week.

Number one is do a story and a content audit.

Go through all of your current content list.

So number one is a story and content audit.

Go through all of your current content list.

I don't know three or four key stories from your journey and map out how you can share them across various platforms.

Number two is time blocking setup.

Block out your first 90 minute content session and then schedule your 30 minutes daily for engagement.

And even 30 minutes, like you don't even need 30 minutes.

You can do 15 minutes a day and you will, you'll do great.

Like honestly, you just need 15 minutes a day for engagement.

30 minutes is obviously like above and beyond.

Set up a weekly time where you can go through and last but not least, set up a weekly time where you can review your metrics.

And step three is get your free tool set up.

So claim your business profile on Google, set up your email marketing account, get an opt in created which we can talk about later and create your repurposing template.

If you found this helpful and want to learn more about creating strategic marketing that doesn't break the bank, I have something special for you and it is inside my Conversion Catalyst club where I help business owners create marketing strategies that convert without the overwhelm or without breaking your bank.

We're talking about monthly marketing plans, personal coaching and a community of entrepreneurs just like you and you can learn more at victoria hboy.com/conversion-catalyst and I will of course have it linked below.

I can't wait to see you in the next video.