3 Ways To Grow Without A Marketing Budget

If you’ve started your start-up, you’ve probably realised that it’s costing you a little more cash than expected. There are two metrics that I only started me assuring about 18 months into building Collabosaurus, but they’ve changed the way we do everything, and marketing in particular. They’re called the UAC & LTV rates - confused? So was I. Here’s a quick run down:

UAC or User Acquisition Cost

is essentially how much it’s costing you to acquire a new paying customer

LTV or Lifetime Value

is how much revenue you generate from that paying customer

I’m no maths whiz, but if you did some quick calculations and you spend $100 acquiring a new customer who buys your one product at $30, you’re going to be out of business very quickly. That is why building multiple revenue streams and focusing on establishing TRUST and VALUE in your business’ community is necessary as you grow.

Here are my top 3 ways to achieve effective, free marketing (and help you bring down that UAC significantly)

1. Collaboration Marketing

Partnering up with likeminded brands allows you to double your marketing reach without spending a cent. You could collaborate for social media content or competitions, events, create an online or physical product that’s co-branded, or set up key referral partners to send each other ongoing clients. All the cool kids are doing it, from GoPro x Redbull, Spotify x Uber, to Moccona x Peter Alexander - and there’s no reason why you can’t collaborate too. You can get started for free on collabosaurus.com or take a free 5 day masterclass on all things collaboration marketing here.

2. DIY your own PR

Hiring a publicity agency or freelancer can cost upwards of $15,000 as standard [ouch!] But achieving press exposure means you’re building credibility, reaching new people and getting some fabulous, offshooting SEO benefits. It’s easier than you think to pitch to press yourself and get the same result, securing thousands of dollars worth of advertising. Try Sourcebottle to get started, or reach out to key journalists that you admire! If you’re keen on taking a course, we’ve got one HERE too.

3. Lead Capture & Email Marketing

It’s more important than ever to be building your email list, and it’s also more affordable than ever with platforms like Mailchimp. A ‘lead capture’ is a page that is able to capture lead information, or potential customers' email addresses, in exchange for a high value freebie. They’re relatively easy to set up [have a peek at BitBlox, Squarespace or Instapage], and you can automate an email sequence to keep in front of your new leads. For example, you could have a competition entry form, or ‘enter your details for an INSTANT free marketing ebook’ - when a vistor enters their details, they automatically enter a Mailchimp list and automation sequence that sends them the ebook on autopilot. I’ve actually done this one myself and designed the ebook from a Canva template. I was able to grow my list by 500 people with no advertising spend whatsoever - win! And you can do it too!

Start taking notice of your numbers and marketing more cost-effectively, you’ll have a bigger marketing budget before you know it!