How to Beat Big Brands Using a Small Marketing Budget With Ian Barnard [Ep. 93]

Big brands have large budgets that allow them to harness the power of multiple marketing channels, from digital marketing to mass media. Small businesses rarely have this same advantage, so how can they leverage their limited budgets to compete with industry giants?

Ian Barnard believes the answer lies in targeting future customers. 

Ian is an experienced marketing strategist and the Strategy Director at Creative Business Company, a marketing agency that helps businesses accelerate growth through the power of brand marketing.  

In this episode, Ian explains how big brands succeed by targeting both current and future customers, ensuring they maintain consistent demand for their products. Small businesses, on the other hand, tend to focus solely on in-market consumers. Ian reveals how small businesses can restructure their budgets to mimic the marketing strategies of big brands. According to Ian, 

“The optimal split for your marketing budget is to spend 60% of your money on online video brand-building campaigns. These are wide-reaching campaigns with broad messages that target future customers. Spend the other 40% on digital marketing campaigns targeting existing customers who are in-market.”

We also discuss how to create effective storytelling in modern advertising campaigns, how to maintain authenticity on social media, and the changes Ian foresees in the marketing landscape in the coming years.

If you want to level up your marketing without breaking the bank, then this is an episode you don’t afford to miss out on!

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Ian walks us through his marketing journey and what he’s working on today (02:42)
• The main marketing advantage that big brands have over smaller businesses (04:20)
• How small businesses can chase future customers on a limited budget (07:45)
• Ian walks us through the 2-4-5 digital media framework (11:41)
• How to create great storytelling in a modern advertising campaign (15:48)
• Do consumers have lower attention spans or is advertising not entertaining enough? (18:38)
• Why focusing on organic social media is a waste of time for small businesses (22:13)
• How people can leverage paid ads to boost sales (25:25)
• Marketing elements small businesses can put in place on a small budget (30:50)
• How Creative Business Company helps small businesses with their marketing (33:32)
• The changes Ian foresees in the marketing industry over the next few years (35:30)

Mentions:

• Empire Flippers Podcast
• Empire Flippers Marketplace
• Creative Business Company
• Creative Business Company whitepapers
• Born Social whitepaper
• Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy (1986)
• JWT Planning Guide, Stephen King (1974)
• Scientific Advertising, Claude Hopkins (1923)
• Good Strategy, Bad Strategy, Richard Rumelt (2011)

Sit back, grab a coffee, and learn how to build a big brand on a small marketing budget.