Seven cheap and easy ways to promote your business
Looking for cheap and easy ways to promote your business? Read seven simple but effective ideas you can use to spread the word, without breaking the bank.
Advertising is a powerful way to grow your business if you have the money. If your budget stretches to TV advertising, you can expect to pay around £1,000 on ITV, per 30 seconds – although you could head up to Scotland or over to Ireland if you want to advertise on the telly for around £100-£400.
But you don’t need to have deep pockets to promote your business. There are lots of clever, inexpensive ways you can advertise what you do. All you need is a bit of knowhow and some time and effort.
Seven cheap and easy ways to promote your business
To help you spread the word about your business without busting your budget, business writer Patrick Vernon shares seven simple but effective promotional ideas.
1) Social media
Simply tweeting and posting statuses on your brand’s Facebook and Twitter pages are easy ways to advertise your business, with no cost on your part.
But in order to see results, you need to spend time building up loyal and interested followers – and that means interacting regularly and tailoring your content so that it appeals to your ideal demographic. (Find out how to get started on Twitter, and how to avoid 10 of the most common social media mistakes.)
You could also consider adopting more unusual (but no less popular) platforms such as Snapchat or Instagram, which are growing in popularity for brand marketing purposes.
2) Facebook ads
If you know your potential customers regularly use Facebook, it might be worth investing in paid for ads on the site. You can set a small budget on the site per day and for a certain amount of time, as well as configure them to target particular age groups, genders and interests similar to your company.
You don’t have to invest a fortune in Facebook ads to see impressive results. By using tactics like retargeting, you can increase your results while spending less.
3) Guest blogging
If you feel like you have something to say about your industry or some insightful tips to share, look into guest blogging on a similar industry expert’s site.
But pick your site carefully. Find one that is popular with your ideal target audience – not only will it help to send traffic to your site, but it will help to establish you as an expert in your field. (Worried you don’t have anything to say? Read why you don’t have to be interesting to write a great blog!)
4) On page content
The content on your website should scream industry expert when people click through, and if your posts are helpful, they will be found by potential customers searching for guidance. It’s a great way to advertise your brand subtly while improving your status in your industry.
To help your site get found, make sure you understand how to write SEO copy that Google loves. It’s also worth spending time on a great About page to help sell you and what you do.
5) Brochures
Print isn’t dead yet! People still enjoy receiving well written and designed brochures through their letterbox – even if it’s just to give them something to browse when they wait for dinner to cook.
Whether you put yours together yourself or use brochure printing from Helloprint or other local or online companies, ensure it’s high quality and goes out to people who won’t just throw it aside. One way to ensure this is to learn how to find the right target audience (just as relevant whether you are marketing on or off line).
6) Email marketing
It’s worth making the effort to build up a healthy list of email addresses of people who are interested in or need what you have to offer. (We recommend Nathalie Lussier’s brilliant, free 30-day list-building challenge.)
You can then reap the rewards of your efforts by sending out email newsletters and updates, and creating email marketing campaigns to promote your work, share content from your website and boost sales. (You can read 12 easy steps to writing a brilliant newsletter here if you need more help.)
7) Talk about it
And if all that fails, then there’s always old-fashioned hard work, great customer service and word of mouth!
People respond well to recommendations from their friends, so if you ensure you’re doing the very best that your company can and people are talking about you, you can sit back and enjoy the free advertising that comes with it.
