Do you own a small business? Then you know how hard it can be to advertise your business when your budget is tight. Fortunately, there are lots of great ways you can market your small business even if you are working with a limited amount of resources.
Keep reading to learn some great tips on advertising your business while working with a tight budget.
1. Get Social
One of the easiest and cheapest ways to advertise for your business is by creating business accounts on the various social media platforms. The biggest social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, are used by roughly two-thirds of American adults daily. These numbers are expected to continue to increase as the population continues to grow and age over the years.
Each popular social media platform is unique and offers your business a different type of population to market your business too. These sites offer different styles of engagement with the users so you may want to begin with using one platform you are familiar with and mastering it before moving on to a new site you might not know as well.
Reddit is another great social networking site that you can use to your advantage. Users are tech-savvy and weary of any obvious marketing schemes so you will have to be just as savvy as they are by sharing only the best content and posting to your niche subcategories, known as subreddits. There is a subreddit for just about anything, and once you find your target niche you can really gain some quality business.
Social media is a great way to get your small business out and in front of a large audience.
2. Create Fresh and Valuable Content
Your future customers are always looking for really fresh content that is not only great but also eyecatching. You can create great content by starting a podcast, blogging, and creating videos for YouTube. You can also design infographics for webpages or submit articles to online sites about your business. This is also a great way for you to get your business to appear during Google searches.
If you aren’t interested in creating your own podcast or YouTube videos you can also be interviewed or a guest speaker to help get your name and brand out there. There are also plenty of freelancers who can help you create new content by writing, graphic design, website creation, and even personal assistants to keep everything neat and organized.
Of course, if you run out of new ideas, you can always reassess old content and put a new spin on it or update it to keep up with the times.
3. Make Partnerships
As a small business owner with a budget for marketing that is limited, it is beneficial to partner up with larger businesses that complement your own. Manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers will benefit from the success of your business and will add credibility to yours when they recommend your products or services.
For instance, if your company sells custom window treatments you can partner up with a larger company that sells windows. Whenever the larger company sends out literature regarding their windows, they can include a flyer for your custom window treatments. You can offer the larger company to cover a portion of the cost of postage for including your flyer with theirs.
If the larger window company has an office you could also ask to put your business cards in a visible location in their customer waiting area.
4. Hand Out Freebies
If you are wondering how to get your name out there, one of the easiest ways is by doing some in-person marketing and handing out free gifts. Think about some items that are related to your business that are fun or desirable and allow you to connect with those who can be future customers.
A great way to build a business from the ground up is by advertising within your own community first. A great way to get some cheap advertising is by entering your town’s next holiday parade. You can create a banner promoting your business and hand out items along the parade route.
If your business is in custom kitchen cabinet design print your business logo on some kitchen utensils, people love getting items that are useful and every time they use the measuring spoons you handed out they will think of your business since your information is printed on it.
Conventions are another great way to create some brand awareness by having a booth with some flyers and physical gifts, such as refrigerator magnets, pens, or key chains printed with your company logo. Attending conventions is a great way of promoting business with patches, people love collector’s items and will want to add your patches to their collection.
Each convention you can create a new unique design that will add urgency and excitement to your potential customers who want to collect your patch and also create a buzz about your business.
5. Get Media Attention
Anytime you can get your business featured by the media you are getting free advertising. This can be achieved in various ways, but the best way to help your business is by helping others. New customers love to see when businesses are generous and they also appreciate it when they help others in their time of need.
You can start by sponsoring an event and donate your business products for use during the event. You could offer your goods or services for help within the community during a charity drive, help at local events for children, or offer assistance after a natural disaster.
Your business will likely be interviewed by your local radio or news station to recognize your acts of service and this is a great opportunity for you to raise brand awareness.
Learn More About Advertising Your Business on a Budget!
Advertising your business when you are on a tight budget doesn’t have to be difficult. With a little creativity, you will find ways to get your business name out there, gain new clients, and even have fun while doing it.
For more great business and marketing ideas be sure to visit our blog daily!
