20 Free Ways to Market Your Small Business

If you’re looking for FREE Ways to market your small business, you’re in luck.  

Today I will be sharing a list of 20 inexpensive marketing activities that you can do right away to spread the word about your business.

What Are the Most Efficient Yet Free Ways to Market Your Small Business?

To be completely honest, there are a ton of ways you can market your business today. However, since most small businesses are operating on a tight budget, it is important to make use of tools and methods that require minimal or absolutely zero cost. For me, these twenty free marketing strategies include the following:

1. Blogging

If you love and know a lot about your niche, you can easily start a blog to share your thoughts and product reviews. You can either create a free blog (e.g., with WordPress, Blogger, and Blogspot) or make a paid one with your unique domain and theme. Check out my post on How to Start a Small Business Blog

2. Guest Blogging

This is similar to blogging, except you will publish your articles on other people’s blogs. Of course, it’s necessary to find blogs that are focused on your niche as well.

3. Blog Commenting

If you’re not into creating long posts, then blog commenting is the best free marketing method for you. Similar to guest blogging, you ought to find blogs relevant to your niche and then leave informative comments before leaving your link. Otherwise, you might be marked as a spammer.

4. Press Release

No matter the size of your business, I’m sure there are always new things coming up such as new niches being covered as well as new products and services being offered.

5. Article Submission

there are many reputable article directories you can submit informative posts to. Aside from providing you with useful backlinks, they can also paint you as an authority in your niche and a reputable business to transact with.

6. Directory Listing

Always make sure that you submit your blog address to search engines and blog directories, such as InCityLife to reach as many people as you can.

7. Forum Posting

This free small business marketing strategy is most similar to blog commenting since you don’t need to create long posts. You just have to find relevant forums, create meaningful threads and posts, and make sure that your blog link is featured on your signature.

8. Social Bookmarking

This is probably one of the easiest marketing strategies ever. With this method, you only need to submit either your website link or the link to a particular blog post to your chosen social bookmarking site. The best choice for this strategy would have to be Delicious, Technorati, Digg, and Reddit.

9. Videos

If you want to engage your target audiences better, creating videos is probably the best way to go. Videos allow for multimedia and even let you get closer to your audiences. You can upload your videos to popular sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion.

10. Email Marketing

Before, people would go door to door to offer new products. Email marketing is quite similar in that you try to present your business and offer your products and services to customers individually, through their personal email addresses.

11. Newsletter Marketing

There are two types of e-newsletter. One is published on a website while the other is sent to people via email. A newsletter can have anywhere from1-5 pages and may cover a wide array of relevant topics, with a specific portion dedicated to advertising.

12. Facebook

This is pretty much the most flexible and versatile social network since it allows you to create different posts, start various contests, and really interact with your prospective and current customers.

13. Twitter

Do you like to create short but witty posts? Then market your business with Twitter. This social network is also connected with Vine, which you can use to post short but interesting videos.

14. Pinterest

If your business revolves around visually appealing things such as food, crafts, clothes, or furniture, then you should never fail to create a Pinterest account. Even if it doesn’t, you can still pin and re-pin relevant images or videos.

15. Instagram

This is probably something you ought to use only to tease your customers. You can use it to post work-in-progress, “Coming Soon” flyers, and the like.

16. LinkedIn

If you’re into a B2B business, then LinkedIn should be your best comrade. Aside from easily connecting with possible partners, suppliers, and customers, you can also use it to acquire mountains of information about your niche.

17. Promotional Business Cards

Who says you can only market your small business online? By designing and printing calling cards, you can easily introduce people to your business, no matter when and where. Moo.com has great mini business cards that you can use for this purpose.

18. Local Boards

Many public places such as groceries, city halls, and theaters have bulletin boards. Use them to post a flyer featuring your business.

19. Local Meet-ups and Conferences

This type of event will not only allow you to market your business for free but also help you gather pertinent data and find prospective business partners and clients.

20. Local Media

Mass media remain to be great marketing and advertising tools since they allow us to reach thousands and even millions of people at once. Instead of paying for an ad slot, however, it’s best to contact local publications and stations and tell them that you’re available to discuss subjects related to your niche, especially at opportune events (e.g., a new trend in your niche emerged).

As you can see, you have a lot of choices when it comes to marketing your small business for free. If you’re not using the tools and platforms mentioned in this post, then you better start doing so today. You never know; fame and fortune might just be around the corner and waiting for you to reach it!

Annika Bansal
 

Annika "The Chick Geek" is the founder of AnnikaBansal.com. Small Business Sense shares small business ideas, tips and resources for independent Entrepreneurs and Small Business owners.

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