10 Low-Cost Small Business Marketing Strategies That Work
by Robert Clough
Marketing is vital to help your business to grow, but the catch 22 is that as a small business you may not have the money for expensive marketing campaigns. All is not lost; grow your company for less by making use of these 10 low-cost small business marketing strategies.
One of the most difficult parts of starting a small business is getting potential customers to realize that your business exists in the first place.
Unlike large businesses, small businesses don’t have the capital needed to plaster their names all over the place. Instead, they have to turn to more affordable means of marketing.
The question is: how does a small business market itself on a small budget? The answer is: in a lot of different ways. Here are 10 low-cost small business marketing strategies that work.
1. Maintain a Blog
In the digital age, the vast majority of small business marketing occurs online. How do small businesses market online? One of the most common ways is with the use of a blog.
By maintaining a blog on your business’s website, you not only pique the interest of people who visit your website but help your website to rank higher in search engines such as Google. Ranking high for relevant keywords in Google allows for your business to be found by those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to find it.
The best thing about maintaining a blog? It doesn’t have to cost any more than around $10 a month.
2. Utilize Google My Business
Google My Business is a Google program which allows business owners to manage the identities of their businesses on the Google search engine. By utilizing My Business, you can set official hours, clarify your official business address, and even speak with customers who review your business.
Utilizing this program will ensure that your business is more easily found when online users go searching for your respective product or service. For instance, if you own a pizza place in Indianapolis, and someone types in “pizza places in Indianapolis” into the search engine, your business is more likely to show up toward the top of search results if you are using Google My Business.
My Business is entirely free. If you own a business, you should sign up and claim it on the program right now.
3. Be Active on Social Media
Social media has allowed businesses to interact with their customers and clients on a near constant basis. This has allowed businesses to grow stronger relationships with customers and clients than they ever could before. And, as you may know, strong relationships result in greater sales.
It’s for this reason that your business needs to be active in social media. Not only should your business be on Facebook and Twitter, but Google Plus and LinkedIn as well.
Need help posting on these different social media platforms? There are various tools available to help you do so. Discover more about these different tools by clicking on the link.
4. Make Educational Videos
While written content is still hugely important to marketing, video is growing in importance by the day. It’s for this reason that you should think about making educational videos which paint your business as an authority in its given industry.
While neat, expensive, and polished videos will normally get the most views, you can still reach a fairly large audience with a cheap and quick video clip. Make a video of you discussing something about your industry, and post it on your social media channels.
5. Create Infographics
Infographics are a near-perfect marketing material for the digital world. They are capable of getting a lot of vital information across, but in a way that will actually attract human eyes.
Posting relevant infographics on different social media platforms can result in them being shared and going viral. If this occurs, your business’s name can gain exposure to thousands upon thousands of potential customers. Just make sure to include your business’s name somewhere on the infographic.
6. Engage in Guerilla Marketing
If you’re looking to market in the physical world, one great tactic to use is guerilla marketing. Guerilla marketing involves using unconventional means in order to get your business noticed by potential customers.
This can include a number of measures, from writing your business’s name in chalk on the sidewalk to hanging a poster from a public wall, placing a provocative art piece in a buy walkway and much more. The point is to get your business noticed in a creative and cost-effective way.
7. Take Advantage of Email Marketing
When marketing, you’re not only trying to lure in brand new customers but retain past customers as well. What can you do to keep past customers coming back? Email marketing is the answer.
Email marketing allows you to constantly remind past customers that your business still exists and that it still has plenty to offer. There are plenty of affordable tools available to help make the task of email marketing an easy one.
8. Create Car Magnets
They might seem too simple to actually work, but the fact of the matter is that car magnets and bumper stickers get noticed. By inscribing your business’s name upon a magnet or bumper sticker, and driving around town with that magnet or bumper sticker on your vehicle, your business is bound to be exposed to someone who’s interested in doing business with you.
A bundle of custom car magnets can generally be made for well under $100; a small price to pay if new customers are snagged.
9. Take Part in Local Contests
Another small business marketing tactic which works is having your business take part in local contests. Perhaps you can agree to give one of your products away as a prize on the condition that your business’s name is mentioned by the contest holder?
If you can strike up some type of partnership with a local radio station, you can gain huge amounts of exposure within your community.
10. Write Guest Posts
One last strategy is to write guest posts for other business’s websites. Doing this not only exposes your business to the customers and clients who frequent those websites, it also greatly benefits your SEO, supplying ever-important backlinks to your website.
The best thing about guest posting? It’s 100% free.
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