Owning a business isn’t easy, and you might find yourself looking for new or better ways to stretch your dollars just a little bit further. You want people to know who you are, but you still have to make payroll, so how do you get your name out in the community without breaking the bank? We have six ideas that can get you started on the path to marketing your business for free.
1. Get on Social Media
The odds are high that you have a personal social media account. What about your business—does it have a social media account? More importantly, does it have the right social media accounts? Find out where your audience is most likely to be in the social media world and set up camp there for your company. This may mean you have to do a little research—tracking where your audience sees most of your posts will mean going through some trial and error. But putting in the work now can mean big payouts later.
2. Start a Blog
A blog is a great way for you to establish yourself and your business as an expert in your field. Create a blog that addresses industry updates, answers frequently asked questions, or shares important information with your audience. You can even reach out to colleagues to ask them to write a guest blog or offer to write one for them. There are also multiple reputable blogging sites have the tools you need to make your blog look professional without any additional costs.
3. Optimize Those Search Engines
Have you ever heard of SEO, or search engine optimization? It’s a way to identify and use specific words or phrases to ensure that if someone comes looking for a specific service, your website will show up at the top of the list. Do some research on this one, because it’s an art form—too few keywords or phrases won’t help enough, while using too many can actually cause your website to be lower in search results. But finding the magic formula for your website can go a long way in letting people know you’re there.
4. Send Some Emails
You might receive dozens of marketing emails a day, and you probably delete most of them. But, much like SEO, there is a technique to sending emails—and the best part is you can do it for free. Different companies will find success through different methods, so now is your chance to look up some ways to ensure that your next email blast will be opened by a significant percentage of the recipients. Once you find what works, you can use email to make a name for your business.
5. Make it Pretty
Do you have interesting industry info to share? Try putting it on an infographic to gain some follows and shares through social media and beyond. This is another area where you may need to go through some trial and error before finding out what works best for your company, but once you home in on the style that attracts the most viewers, you can begin to make all sorts of interesting images to share.
6. Say It In a Video
Similar to infographics, videos are paving the way to increasing engagement for many companies. While the elusive Facebook algorithm doesn’t follow a consistent pattern, videos are often given a little more airtime on Facebook news feeds. Videos are also a fun way to show others more about your business, while offering up some useful information at the same time. You can create a free YouTube account to share all the videos you make.
Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive—you just have to do the right research to learn what your target audience will respond to best. So join social platforms, search for tips on writing that email, ask a colleague for a book recommendation on best blog practices, and start letting everyone know why you’re the best at what you do!
