When you are a small business, spending a hundred thousand dollars for TV-ads or thousands on social media and search engine ads does not make sense. What you need in the beginning stages of your business is free advertising. Though you do not need to invest money into free promotion, you still need to put in some time to get this to work.
Ways to Promote Your Business for Free
Here are eight free ways to promote your business online to reach much larger audiences:
1. Organic Search Traffic – Appear in Google and Bing Search Results
Search traffic is probably the best free traffic that you can get. That’s because, with search traffic, you show up in front of your customers when they are searching for your services and are ready to buy.
Assuming you run a housekeeping services company in Houston, here’s how search traffic works:
- A customer is searching for “Housekeeping services in Houston.”
- You have a page on your website that talks about the housekeeping services that you offer in Houston, Texas.
- Google or Bing identifies that your website is relevant to what the user is searching for and displays the site to the customer.
- Since the customer is already interested, she clicks on your page and books a call. The question then is, how do you show up in Google? That’s where things get a little tricky.
- Begin by creating individual pages on your website for each location that you cover for your services.
- Add a list of all the services you offer on the home page in a well-organized manner and add a swift and straightforward call to action.
These two steps would be a perfect boost to your website to start showing up on Google.
2. Engage with the Q&A Communities
Next to search engine traffic is attention from question-answer communities. People make an effort to ask questions about the services you provide. Thus, providing a good and detailed answer will make a positive impact in the inquirer’s mind about your brand. You can also use an ad maker to create a more visual pitch. It will garner attention from not just the person who asked the question, but also those who come across it.
3. Create a Compelling Google My Business (GMB) Account
Google gives a lot more attention to local businesses who have a properly set up Google My Business account. So, create your account. Add good quality images, working hours, high-quality reviews, your phone number, and your website.
Also, look at what your competitors have done for the GMB profiles, and do it better. This is probably the easiest free advertising you can get. There is no technical expertise required with taking up this task.
4. Speak at a Local Event and Network at In-person Events
Local businesses require a local presence. There is nothing better than the founder of a company being present and speaking at events. It automatically enhances your brand value and makes you stand out as an authority.
5. Create Videos of Your Services or Products in Action
Videos are a fantastic way to get massive amounts of attention. The benefit of creating videos for Youtube is that your potential customers get to see the services or products being used by someone.
So, create a professionally shot video of your employees performing the services at someone’s house or demo it inside your premises. If it’s a product, ask someone to do a product review for Youtube.
6. Offer Giveaways to Local Influencers
Local influencers are the sweet spot of influencer marketing. They are not well-known enough yet to charge a lot of money. Yet, they are known just enough for you to be able to profit from their audience.
Unless you want to market in an expensive city like New York, a local influencer in a smaller city is not getting a lot of offers for promotion. That is where you come in. Ask the influencer to take your product or service for free and share their opinion on Youtube in return for the product.
This marketing strategy is completely free of cost. In exchange for the free product you give away, you will end up making at least a few sales from the influencer’s audience.
7. Social Media Traffic – Receive Some Love From Social Media
Many businesses could use social media. With the right approach, the attention you can get from there is immense. Instagram is one of the most popular social media channels at present. Thus, you can try Instagram marketing to boost your brand presence on social media.
In case you cannot use visual media to promote your business, go for Facebook marketing. Engage with relevant groups through your business account.
As more people see your brand and the services you provide, they will end up associating your services with your brand name. The next time they need the services you provide, you are much more likely to be approached.
8. Create a Beautiful Email Signature with a Call To Action (Cta)
Active businesses send and receive over 100 emails per day. For every email that goes out without a signature, it’s a missed free marketing opportunity. Create an attractive signature for yourself and for all of your employees to use.
Ensure you add your services and offer a CTA for the readers to act upon. It could be your phone number, or an option to book an appointment directly. As the number of employees increases, you will end up with a lot of free marketing for your business.
Conclusion
These are some of the most potent free methods for marketing your business online. As with everything, nothing is free. Hence, this marketing also requires some time investment on your part. However, with consistent efforts on all of these marketing angles, you will establish yourself as a trustworthy brand in the long run.
