No Money? No Problem. 25 Low Budget Marketing Ideas for Your Business

If you want your business to scale exponentially, you may think of setting aside a considerable amount of money and time for its marketing. After all, marketing boosts the visibility of a business and helps it get discovered by its target audience. But, several small businesses are tight on budget and have a little amount of time, restricting their marketing activities. If you own a small business and currently face this predicament, then fret not! We have a list of low-budget and some absolutely free marketing ideas for your business.

From leveraging the potential of social media to hosting a webinar, these simple yet effective marketing ideas prove to be immensely useful. Let's start:

1. Publish Amazing Content

Do you still don't own a blog? Stop everything and take every step to get your blog rolling! As per the latest statistics, 77% of internet users read blogs on a regular basis. Hence, a blog helps you market your business in the best way possible. Begin with composing instructional guides, best practices, and top 10 lists.

2. Team Up With Other Businesses

When you collaborate with other businesses from your industry, your business gains high exposure to an entirely new audience. You can collaborate offline via an exclusive event or online with a webinar to team up with another business.

3. Host an Event or a Class

In case you notice no upcoming speaking opportunities for you to market your business, just go ahead and create your own. All you need to do is host a class or announce an event at your local library or coworking space.

Tip: When you plan the event or class, ensure you print some flyers and put them on different bulletin boards of nearby coffee shops or libraries.

4. Apply for Business Awards

It is not uncommon for organizations and industries to have business awards. If you apply for and ultimately win a business award in your industry, it will definitely generate free buzz. Plus, you can display it in the form of a badge on your site. Winning an award in your field means free marketing for your business and a boost in credibility.

5. Repurpose Your Content

If you already have some old content, consider recycling it. For instance, if you have a collection of blog posts on a particular topic, you can breathe new life into it by converting it into an eBook. Similarly, convert a study you conducted into an infographic. All in all, make the most of the work you have already done.

6. Live Stream Workplace Activities

Live stream events with the help of YouTube and Facebook. Here are some ideas on what you can live stream:

• Sneak peek of a new product
• “How it’s made” videos
• Instructional videos
• Live coverage of a local event

7. Start a Podcast

As per the latest statistics, about one-third of Americans listen to podcasts at least once a month. Hence, we strongly recommend that you start a podcast.

Now, you may think starting a podcast is expensive. However, all you require is hosting and a microphone. This initial spend also comes with multiple benefitsāit will help you create awareness, humanize your brand, and showcase your expertise.

Tip: When you start a podcast, ensure you invite other experts and business owners to join in. Doing so helps promote your business to their audiences as well.

8. Answer Queries

Dedicate some time to respond to questions on platforms such as Quora. Also, stay active on different online forums associated with your industry. Being active on Quora and online forums enables you to establish yourself as an authority figure. Moreover, your business also gets discovered by new audiences.

9. Leverage Pinterest and Instagram

Pinterest and Instagram are amazing platforms to tell your brand's story in a visual manner. As per the latest social media statistics, there are over 1 billion active users on Instagram.

The best thing is - it's free. You just need your phone's camera to click photos and know how to make tiny edits to them.

Here are some suggestions on the kinds of photos you can publish on both Pinterest and Instagram:

• Image testimonials
• Behind-the-scenes of your business
• Asking your customers to share images of how they use your service or products

10. Make It Personal

Dedicate some time to appreciate and acknowledge the support of your existing customers. For instance, you can give a shoutout to them in a video or write a personalized handwritten “thank you” note and send it to them. These kinds of gestures will make your customers feel wanted, and they might even do some free marketing for you by recommending your business to others.

11. Give It Away

Don't hesitate to give a free sample of your product or a free trial of your service to people. If they like your product or service, they will definitely consider purchasing more of your offerings.

12. Host Informative Webinars

You can always consider organizing webinars to promote your business and offer useful information to interested customers. If the latest statistics are to be believed, one webinar can get you over 500 leads.

Use webinar platforms such as GoToMeeting and WebEx to broadcast your webinar in seconds! Ensure you promote your webinar via an email newsletter or on social media platforms one to two weeks before the start of the event.

13. Create and Post Helpful Videos

According to the latest video marketing statistics, 66% of people said they prefer watching a short video to know about a service or product.

Videos have the ultimate power to engage people. It may come as a surprise, but 1/3 of online activity is spent viewing videos. Now, you may think you need to hire a professional to create and post videos on YouTube. But this isn't the case. With social media apps like Facebook and Instagram and a personal device, DIY video marketing has become pretty effortless. Try it, and you will know for yourself!

Tip: Here are some videos ideas that help create a connection with your audience:

• Product demos
• Instructional videos
• Interview with industry experts and your staff

Note: In your videos, add a personal message or branding message accordingly. Also, end with a strong CTA (e.g., Place your order today!). Once done, distribute the video in emails, on your website, on YouTube, and on other social media channels.

14. Make Use of Employee's Email Signatures

This is one of the most simple and cost-effective promotion ideas for small and big businesses alike. Inform your team to add a brief sentence with a CTA in their email signatures. Now, whenever they send an email, your potential customers will see a marketing message. Pretty cool, isn't it?

15. Utilize LinkedIn

LinkedIn is often overlooked while searching for marketing ideas for a business. You must utilize LinkedIn in different ways in order to market your business. For instance, enter into dialogue with your connections, contribute to forums, share your offers and blog posts, and share quality content posted by others.

Tip: Encourage your employees to stay active on the platform as well.

16. Create Infographics

One of the best small business promotion ideas, infographics can get you free organic traffic and help increase your search rankings.

If you have engaging data handy, share it in the form of an infographic. An infographic showcases important information visually and attracts a lot of interest and even “backlinks.”

Tip: To translate data into infographics, you can always use tools such as Canva and Infogram.

17. Create a Free Google My Business Account

Particularly for local businesses, a Google Business Profile is a free yet effective marketing strategy. The listing makes your business appear in Google Maps, the Knowledge Panel for branded searches, and the local section of Google Search.

Listen Up: You need to optimize your Google My Business profile for it to appear higher on local results and Google Maps (this means, you need to have verified ownership of it, which can be done via your Google My Business account.)

18. Tag People on Social Media

Tag your loyal customers on social media and reach a new potential audience, increase your following, and get more clients. Also, make it a point to encourage your followers to tag your business in their posts.

19. Use Hashtags

Want to know how to advertise without money? A free marketing idea to expand your reach is to use relevant hashtags in your social media posts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram.

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Tip: Apart from using trending or broad hashtags, also incorporate more specific hashtags (similar to long-tail keywords). Additionally, make sure to incorporate location-based hashtags if you are a local business.

20. Get Some Snazzy Business Cards

Get some awesome business cards, then give them to everyone you meet. The more individuals know about your business, the better.

21. Attend Networking/Industry Events

Industry conferences and trade shows bring together business minds from every industry. Make it a point to attend these events, as it will help you develop new contacts and learn new marketing strategies for your business. Moreover, these events also have seminars that teach you how to enhance your skills in social media, sales, advertising, etc.

22. Start Small

When it comes to marketing, the thought of a large-scale national campaign comes to mind. However, you can always start small. What we mean to say is - you can take steps to get involved with your community to market your business.

Think about things like - Is there a non-profit or charity where you can volunteer? Can you create bookmarks that promote your business and leave them at your nearest library?

23. Offer to Speak

Look for opportunities to speak in front of an audience to promote your business. Local business groups, libraries, industry conferences, community colleges, and volunteer organizations frequently require speakers.

24. Craft an Impactful Elevator Pitch

For those new to the term, an elevator pitch summarizes what you do in one or two sentences. Create and hone your elevator pitch in a way that you can easily explain what you do to anyone you meet for the first time or when you are networking.

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Tip: A good elevator pitch should talk about solving a problem and intrigue the listener. Also, when you are at a networking event, make it a point to use your elevator pitch as an icebreaker.

25. Look for Guest Blog Opportunities

You can always think of blogging on other websites to reach new audiences. The best part about doing this is, it is completely free! All you need to do is dedicate some time to research guest blog opportunities and then, eventually write a quality article for the guest blog.

Conclusion

From creating an impactful elevator pitch to repurposing your content, these marketing ideas go a long way in marketing your business. Armed with these ideas, you get to make a considerable amount of impact when it comes to promoting your business to your potential customers.

The bottom line? You don't need a huge budget to get results with your marketing. You can always think outside the box and put in a little creativity to make the most of your limited marketing budget.

Now, it is our turn to ask questions. Do you know some other low-budget marketing ideas? We would love to know your suggestions!