No Cost Marketing Ideas!
(10 Marketing Ideas You Can Implement for Free)
So, you don’t have a budget for the marketing you should be doing? It’s kind of a catch-22. If you don’t market your company’s brand, you won’t get business. And without marketing, you can’t get new business. It is a vicious cycle for many small local businesses. When you’re already stretched keeping inventory and making payroll, here are some tips to help you:
Facebook Live Video
Even if you don’t hire a professional videographer, you can do your own Facebook Live Video for free. No need to worry about creating a script, simply talk to your customers about your products, create a behind-the-scenes tour, or use the video to answer your follower’s questions. You can get directions from Facebook for free on how to shoot your own video. When the video is done, edit it and post the video to your website blog or YouTube channel.
Hashtag Expert
Hashtags are signposts in the Social Media world, and they are free! They give your potential clients directions to your content, so you need to use the best hashtags that will attract people that buy products and services like yours.
Community hashtags are ideal, like #givingback or #ThrowbackThursday. They should have your company name or the product or services that are popular right now. Use them properly with a locational tag to reach your local audience.
Regular Blogging
No, this isn’t anything new, but it is a marketing strategy that many businesses have quit using. They don’t have to be long, just relevant, and interesting to attract new clients to your website. Choose topics that are useful to the type of clients you want to attract, like a series of blog posts that answer common questions about products or services you prefer. Add some images and tags that are relevant to the topic and without any money spent, you’ll attract traffic!
Cross-Post
There are several outlets where you can post the content you create, and you need to use more than one of them! It isn’t ideal to use the same content over and over, so take some time and create more content and try these cross-posting strategies:
- Include a quote from your blog post on Facebook and include a relevant image.
- Share your visual content from Instagram and Pinterest
- Share quotes from images with a shorter URL on Twitter
- Use images from your Instagram to create a Pinterest board
There are multiple ways to repurpose your content from social media to other places. The key to making this work is keeping track of what you posted and where. And don’t forget to use hashtags on Instagram and Twitter.
Create Free Graphics
Graphic images and infographics are popular on social media, and while some businesses may hire a professional designer to create images, there are free tools that you can use to do this for you, like Canva or Venngage. They offer many different templates and tools for creating infographics and social media posts.
Encourage Reviews and Respond
Online reviews are important, every business owner knows that. Potential clients are reading reviews before they purchase anything these days, so use those reviews to your advantage. Reviews are right there, and they are free!
But first, you need to get your existing customers to leave reviews. Yes, we mean ask them! Ask them while they’re in your store or follow up with emails and link to your website review pages in those emails. After some reviews are posted, reply to the reviews, both positive and negative. This lets your customers know that you’re interested and act on those opinions.
Customer Testimonials
There isn’t a better type of marketing tool than customer testimonials! They do the same work that reviews do in a less formal way. People like to give opinions these days and you probably have some clients that are eager to be part of a short film or write you a testimonial.
Then share those testimonials on your blog, social media accounts, and more. These are helpful in informing other people about your business by demonstrating what your company can do for anyone that purchases your products or services.
Newsletter
Creating an email for your marketing is affordable and easy. If your email list is small, there is free autoresponder software that can help you keep your clients and potential clients updated about your business.
Keep your newsletter articles short, between 100 to 150 words is ideal. This is just enough to keep them updated on things that are going on with your business or preview any new products and services and make them curious enough to go deeper into your website.
Buddy Up with Other Business Owners
Every type of business has the chance to connect with other business owners that offer and sell complementing other products or services. By buddying up with them, you can help each other cross-promoting. The best thing about this is it is free! Work together to attract more business by creating joint packages.
Local Events Involvement
Last but not least, by getting involved in local events you can attract new customers. From the annual holiday tree lighting to a charity ball, participate to give your company’s profile awareness and earn goodwill from potential customers in the area. Some things you can do that local people like to see include:
- Sponsor a Little League team
- Raise money for local charities
- Help with local street fairs – many hands make light of the work!
The key here is finding things that won’t cost you anything but maybe some time. And what marketing budget you have, spend it wisely. Marketing doesn’t have to be a huge expense, especially when you utilize these ten tips.
