10 Low-Cost Marketing Tips for your Small Business

The majority of small businesses simply do not have the budget they would like to invest in marketing and don’t know of any low-cost marketing tips to help.

However, there are some effective low-cost marketing tips available that will not break the bank and will help to get your business brand noticed.

Here is a list of 10 Low-Cost Marketing Tips for your Small Business

1. Get noticed! Write a press release
Writing a press release is a great way to get publicity. People will want to read interesting and informative articles – so nothing boring, please!

Think creative. Think about how you can reach your target audience. What will they want to know? Provide the press with easy-to-read content that will attract an audience, as they will be more likely to publish it. There are many free press release sites that you could use to hone your PR writing skills before you decide to pay and subscribe to a mainstream pr newswire service.

2. Create Personal Profiles
Social media sites are an effective way of getting your business more exposure. Create profile pages on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and linkedIn. You’ll be amazed at how fast these will drive traffic. Remember setting up these social media channels for your small business is free and are actively crawled by the main search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo etc.) which will assist your company website’s SEO too.

Start now by visiting BlueFlameDesign on Facebook and hitting the ‘LIKE‘ button or start following BlueFlameDesign on Twitter and join in the conversation.

3. Blogging
Blogging is a huge marketing tool at the moment and will probably continue to be. Blogging significantly increases a business’s presence, especially if you take the time updating posts and interacting with comments left regularly. Platforms such as WordPress and Blogspot are perfect for setting up business blogs. Successful blogs are updated every day with high-quality content. Blog posts should range from between 200-500 words and should always be accompanied by an image to attract interest.

4. Use Video Platforms
If you have added some videos to your website, optimize them and add them to video platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo.com. These will increase your exposure and drive traffic to your site.

5. Have A Giveaway or promote a Special Offer
Once your company social networking profiles and your (regularly updated) blog have been set up, use these platforms to host customer incentives. A great way to generate traffic and interest is to host a giveaway or special offer. It will give your customers something to talk about…something to ‘LIKE’ and ‘SHARE’ with their friends etc.

6. Participate In Relevant Forums
Forums are used by millions of people daily throughout the world. Participate in niche forums and leave comments on relevant posts or if you feel you have an opinion to share, create your own thread. You will be surprised at how many people will participate in the discussion. Make sure you leave a link to your website in your signature.

7. Write Articles
Find quality content sites in your niche market and ask them if they would host an article written by you. Ask them if they will allow a link to your site at the bottom of the article. Another angle would be to swap case studies with clients on how you each benefitted from work with each other.

8. Distribute Business Cards, Leaflets, Flyers
Business cards are an effective and underrated marketing technique, just take a look at our previous post on tips for marketing your business on a single business card for ideas.

You can distribute these to existing customers, family/friends, on noticeboards in local shops, cafes, surgery waiting rooms, public library etc. Are there any local business networking groups in your area? If not then have you thought of starting one? Does your town/village have a Chamber of Commerce? There are many opportunities to meet, greet and swap contact details so get your thinking cap on and try to consider finding places where your target market are likely to go.

9. Free Directories
Only ever submit to niche quality directories.  Never submit to spammy looking sites as they will damage the reputation and credibility of your website. If your website has spammy backlinks, Google will penalise or blacklist your site which can cause serious damage to your rankings.

10. Get Some Link Love
Talk to the locals or others in your industry – this is a great opportunity to request and share some link love.

Although this list of low-cost marketing tips is by no means exhaustive it should give you some ideas on how to start marketing your small business with practically no spend.

Contact BlueFlameDesign if you need assistance in designing, building and establishing a punchy and noticeable marketing strategy for your small business.