Acquiring new customers can be very expensive, which makes it that much more difficult to choose the right marketing strategy when you have a certain budget in place.

So, how do you choose a customer acquisition strategy when resources are limited?

There are a few options that can accommodate any budget. And below we have put together some proven ways to acquire new customers when you don’t have a huge marketing budget or are just looking to gain the biggest bang for your buck.

#1 Adjust Your Current Marketing Efforts

First you need to take a look at what strategies have and have not been working or worked in the past. Or if your business is just starting out it can be beneficial to do some research on successful marketing strategies. This will help you weed out any strategies that won’t benefit your company, result in wasted money or won’t generate a higher ROI.

Is your PPC campaigns not creating enough clicks? Have you seen little results from your retargeting display ads? Is your direct mail campaign not reaching the right audience? Questions like these will better steer your path to better customer acquisition. If a certain marketing campaign isn’t working or isn’t working as well as you would like, you may want to restrict or pause your campaign so you can increase your budget on a different effort that can do a lot more for your company.

#2 Use Resources You Already Have

Your current and ideal customers are the perfect tool to acquire new customers. How can your customers be utilized as a marketing tool though? There are a few ways this can be done. Starting with the less expensive strategy, Proximity Mailing, you can use your ideal customers addresses and reach potential ones based on a certain radius and limiting to the nearest X number of households starting at only $0.96 per postcard. You can even filter your audience based on your company’s rules and demographics.

This is especially beneficial in boosting the success of your customer acquisition because it is an affordable way to reach potential customers who are likely to have the same interests, needs, and preferences as your customer they live nearby.

For example, let’s say you own a roofing company. Your customer’s neighbor is likely to have the same age home, has the same geographical issues and is in need of a new roof or roof repair as well. Now imagine mailing to 50 of that customer’s neighbors. You are reaching 50 households who could use or are in need of your roofing services for only 96 cents per house while generating $1,000s of dollars of revenue.

Not only can you use your customers’ addresses as a marketing tool, but you can also use your company’s address when utilizing Proximity Mailing. This is a useful and affordable way to reach new customers if your products or services locality could be an advantage for consumers when they decide on moving forward on your offerings.

Another way you can use your current customers to acquire new ones is through Look-Alike analysis. This marketing solution isn’t right for everyone and requires a slightly larger budget than proximity mailing does, but those who it is right for it is an extraordinary way to gain more customers. Look-Alike analysis—also known as Look-Alike Mailing or Look-Alike Reporting—is a customer acquisition strategy where data from your most successful customers is analyzed to determine the key characteristics of you customers. This unique approach creates a mailing list of consumers who match the same key attributes of your best customers.

#3 Saturate an Area with Your Brand

Saturating an area with your brand is a great way to get your company’s name out there and to acquire new customers. Reaching out to a large audience may sound expensive, but depending on the marketing strategy you choose, can be an extremely cost-effective tactic.

One of the most affordable ways to accomplish saturating an area with your brand to gain more customers is EDDM or Every Door Direct Mail. This direct mail service is focused solely on simplicity and affordability making it the perfect marketing strategy when on a budget.

EDDM is a bulk mailing option that allows you to reach potential customers without knowing their addresses. All you need to do is choose a mailing route of ZIP Code you feel would benefit your company and your marketing message will be sent to every household on your chosen route. EDDM is one of the most low-cost direct mail strategies because there is no need to purchase a mailing list and the post office does not need to do any sorting or preparations for your mailers, resulting in less work for them and lower costs for you.

#4 Choose the Right Materials for Your Budget

Choosing the right marketing materials is crucial when looking to acquire new customers on a budget. If you have a limited budget you should consider materials such as postcards or brochures.

Postcards are low-cost advertising materials that deliver your message in a concise and easy to read way. Because of their low cost, you can even mail them out to a targeted audience multiple times instead of to a large audience once, resulting in better brand awareness and results!

Brochures are another effective and incredibly low-cost material that provides your audience with an organized and professional medium. You can promote key components about your offerings or introduce your brand to potential new customers in an interactive and intriguing way.

Although one of the more expensive marketing materials, there are some ways to create really affordable catalogs. Using catalogs to acquire new customers is worth mentioning when on a budget because when produced and mailed out by the right printer can truly show success in generating a higher customer acquisition. This is because catalogs help drive your sales and increase awareness about your product or services and shows potential customers that you care about providing them with the necessary details about your brand.

#5 Combine Digital and Direct Mail

If you use a company social media account to post content or you send out marketing emails, you are already using low cost, if not free marketing tactics. The problem though, is that social media is flooded with other content and consumers become distracted resulting in your online marketing efforts not generating enough responses. Combining these online strategies  with a low-cost direct mail campaign, you have a better chance in gaining the attention of potential customers by sharing your message online and offline. This customer acquisition technique requires only a small budget and has proven results in bringing new customers in.

Leveraging the integration of email marketing and direct mail marketing is also a highly impressive way in acquiring new customers. If your company sends out automated emails through a CRM or marketing automation platform, you can install a simple and cost-effective plugin that can send out triggered postcards along with your emails.

Seeing an advertisement online once doesn’t do enough for your marketing results. But, seeing your marketing message online and offline, your potential customers have a better chance of remembering your brand when they are ready to act on your product or service.

#6 Offer Irresistible Discounts

Offering a discount may sound like it’s in the opposite direction of what you are striving for when marketing on a budget. But think about it, a discount is intriguing and makes consumers interested. We all love deals and getting the best possible one at that. So, providing an offer your audience can’t refuse will give your company leverage when a consumer chooses between you or your competitors. Discounts don’t need to be outrageous to generate a high ROI either.

You can provide a cheap business card sized punch card to persuade new and potential customers to keep coming back to receive a deal. You can offer a free demo on your provided service or you can use variable data printing to provide your direct mail campaign audience a unique QR code to receive 20% off their first order. No matter what your irresistible offer is, discounts are an acquisition technique that helps you bring in more customers quickly.

#7 Enhance Your Current Campaigns

Chances are by simply enhancing your current marketing campaign, you can acquire new customers. For example, freshening up your catalog design or creating a more enticing postcard design could be the juice your marketing campaign needs to bring in new customers.

If you are using a standard mailing list, you could enhance your mailing campaign by filtering your audience according to key rules and demographics that align best with your company. This is a great and affordable way to reach a targeted audience instead of wasting money on sending mailers to uninterested individuals.

At Conquest Graphics, we already offer low prices on high-quality marketing materials and strategies and we can help you choose the best option for your budget. Click below to explore our affordable marketing materials and cost-effective marketing strategies to start acquiring new customers today!