Small businesses often face the challenge of promoting their businesses due to tight marketing budgets. However, there are numerous ways to market a business without spending much money. Some of these methods include creating a free Google My Business account, engaging on social media, tagging people and brands on social media, using hashtags, and utilizing LinkedIn.
Creating a free Google My Business account is an effective marketing strategy for local businesses. This tool allows a business to appear on Google Maps, the local section of Google Search, and the right-side Knowledge Panel for branded searches. However, to rank higher on Google Maps or local results, it’s crucial to optimize the Business Profile.
Engaging on social media is another free way to grow a small business. By creating business accounts and participating on major social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube, businesses can express their brand’s personality and build trust with their audience. Regular activity and proactivity on these platforms are key. Promoting blog posts, engaging in direct dialogue with followers, running polls, and requesting feedback are some of the ways to leverage social media.
Tagging loyal customers, brand evangelists, or even neighboring companies and vendors on social media can broaden a business’s organic reach to a new potential audience. Using hashtags in social media posts can also help reinforce a brand identity and reach the intended audience. It’s advisable to use a mix of broad, specific, location-based, and custom hashtags.
LinkedIn is another platform that small businesses can leverage. By engaging in dialogue with connections, sharing blog posts and offers, and contributing to forums, businesses can build their brand and earn trust and respect in their industry.
Key Takeaways:
- Small businesses can utilize a variety of free or low-cost marketing strategies to promote their brand and reach customers, even with a limited budget.
- Creating a Google Business Profile and optimizing it for local search results is a highly effective free marketing strategy, particularly for local businesses.
- Engaging on social media platforms, tagging customers or related brands, using strategic hashtags, and actively participating on LinkedIn are other cost-effective ways to increase brand visibility and build customer trust.
“Small businesses often have a tight marketing budget to work with, which can make promoting your business a challenge. The good news is, there are plenty of ways for you to market yourself to your customers without spending any (or much) money.”
More details: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2020/12/09/free-and-low-budget-marketing-ideas
