Free & Low-Budget Marketing Ideas for Any Business

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.

Now as a business owner, you probably don’t have the time to research and identify these free marketing ideas, so we’ve taken care of that for you.

So let’s get started on these marketing strategies that won’t put a dent in your wallet.

 

Free and fast marketing ideas

These strategies are 100% free and don’t require a ton of resources or time (since we know that time is money).

1. Create a free Google My Business account

For local businesses especially, a Google Business Profile has become one of the most effective free marketing strategies available. This free listing allows your business to show up on Google Maps, the local section of Google Search, and the right-side Knowledge Panel for branded searches.

But in order for your Business Profile to show up higher on Google Maps or local results, you need to optimize your Business Profile, and in order to optimize it, you need to have verified ownership of it—which is done through your Google My Business account.

Find out how our Google My Business Management Service can help your business!

 

2. Post (and engage) on social media

Increasing social media engagement and building a community online is a free way to grow your small business while expressing your brand’s personality and building trust with your audience. Create business accounts and participate in the big social media sites—Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and more. This is something you can do whenever you have a few minutes to spare.

You can:

• Promote your blog posts, which drive traffic to your website.
• Directly dialogue with followers to express your brand voice and garner more engagement.
• Run polls and request feedback.
• Take excerpts from longer forms of content and create quick and informational posts that are easier to digest.

Whatever your motivation, make sure you are regularly active and proactive on the social media accounts you create. Think: consistency, community, collaboration, and commitment.

Perhaps our social media marketing services can help you!

 

3. Tag people (and brands) on social media

Tagging your loyal customers, brand evangelists, or even neighbouring companies and vendors on social media can broaden the organic reach of your business to a new potential audience, help you grow your following, and potentially even attain more clients. You should also encourage your followers to tag your social media handle or business location in their posts.

 

4. Use hashtags!

Another free marketing tactic that can broaden your reach is to incorporate hashtags into your social media posts—on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for sure but also for Facebook and LinkedIn.

Broad or trending hashtags can help you reinforce your brand identity, but they should not be the only hashtags you use. More specific hashtags (sort of like long-tail keywords) are good for when you’re providing resources or advice. Location-based hashtags are a must if you’re a local business. And don’t forget custom hashtags! Apply a mix of hashtag types in your posts so they can reach the people for whom they are meant.

 

5. Don’t sleep on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a major social media site that is often under-utilized. Don’t just add network connections and sign out; enter into dialogue with the connections you make, share your blog posts and offers, join and contribute to forums, and share others’ quality content.

By enabling other professionals to grow and educating your potential customers, you can build your brand and earn trust and respect in your industry. Also, encourage all your employees to get active on the platform too!

 

Free marketing ideas that require a little more effort

These strategies are still free, but they do require a bit more of an investment of time and/or effort. But the good news is that usually, the more effort required, the more effective the strategy and the more sustained the success.

6. Do some local SEO

The best part about Google’s algorithm is that it is designed to serve up the most accurate, high-quality, and relevant content for any given search query. It’s not pay to play, so this levels the playing field and enables small businesses to compete with large competitors for page one real estate.

Local SEO is free, but it can take some time, so start now and keep working; the benefits over time can be huge. Here are some local SEO must-dos:

• Add location-based keywords (think: “Turkish restaurant Auburn”) to the titles, headings, and body content of your main website pages.
• Get listed in online directories, making sure your information is identical across platforms.
• Publish pages or blog posts specific to the neighbourhoods you serve.
• Add your business to Top4 – our all-in-one location-based marketing platform.

Let us help you rank on the first page of Google with our Local SEO Services!

 

7. Develop an email marketing plan

Email marketing is a great way to get new visitors engaged with your business, as well as maintain relationships with your existing customers. And though email marketing isn’t new, it’s still one of—if not the—most reliable ways to achieve a strong return on your marketing investment. Here’s how to ensure that:

• Put thought and creativity into your subject lines.
• Make sure every email has an offer that encourages your readers to take the next step.
• Track your performance and run A/B tests to see what copy and offers resonate with your list.

Ready for your next email marketing campaign?

 

8. Create data-rich infographics

Infographics are insanely powerful as marketing tools. They’re visual eye candy, easy to digest, and people love to share them, so they’re a great way to drive up referral traffic and links. If you don’t have any original, proprietary data to use in an infographic, you can find existing data and breathe new life into it. Ultimately, you’ll have to find source data that relates to your industry and audience interests. But there’s a ton of freely available data out there!

 

9. Claim free ad promo credits

While massive ad campaigns may be out of your budget, there are often discounts and coupons floating around for Facebook or Google Ads. Some web hosting services offer advertising discount codes as part of their membership offerings. Check and see if yours does. Of course, receiving the promo is easy, but you’ll still want to brush up on your PPC skills to get the best results and audience insights.

Get started with our PPC Advertising Services today!

 

10. Apply for business awards

Most industries have business awards you can win, providing you with an online badge you can place on your website. Badges like these can boost credibility, and as a result, increase sales.

If there aren’t any awards for your industry, host your own! You’ll get attention from other industry businesses who want to apply for your award, which means even more connections and more possible future collaborations!

 

11. Publish great content

Content marketing, if done with care, is a highly effective tactic that doesn’t require a huge budget. Not only does this serve to demonstrate your authority, expertise, and genuine desire to benefit your audience; but also, Google prioritizes high-quality content that best answers the questions its users are asking. So it makes your website more visible on Google and brings in more free traffic.

Think writing isn’t your strong point? Remember, good content helps educate your audience through simple, easy-to-understand language—not fancy jargon, but rather the terms your audience uses to obtain answers to questions related to your products or services. So don’t try to be fancy, just share your expertise!

And remember, most things that are second nature to you are often foreign to your customers. You are the expert! Original, authentic, and useful content is the key here—how-tos, top ten lists, tip collections, best practices, data insights, thought leadership pieces, and the list goes on.

 

12. Start a blog

One great way to make content a regular part of your marketing efforts is to start a blog.

Small businesses use blogging to drive traffic to their website, increase user engagement, improve their online visibility, and strengthen their overall SEO. It’s a completely free way to promote your small business online, through tales about your business and useful information your potential clients are seeking out.

Blog posts don’t have to be long and complex—speak in simple terms, target a different topic with each post, and incorporate the keywords you’re targeting into each post in a natural way.

Find out how our Copywriting Services can help!

 

13. Post helpful videos

Video is a highly popular medium for consumers, and while it can cost you a lot to get a professional video produced and uploaded to YouTube, you don’t have to hire a professional. DIY video marketing is easy with today’s personal devices and social media apps like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

 

14. Recycle your old content

Make the most of the work you’ve already done. If you have a content hit, repurpose it for other channels! Turn a successful webinar into a video tutorial. Transform a group of related blog posts or other content from your site into an ebook that you can promote through site popups or your email marketing program.

Never be afraid to mash-up and re-promote your old content – chances are there will be a ton of people who never even saw your old stuff, so it’ll be a fresh, 100% new content piece for a large segment of your audience.

 

15. Run a Facebook campaign

If you only have a tiny advertising budget, it might still be enough to run some Facebook ads! The cost per click for Facebook advertising can be very low.