Have a small business? Congrats, what’s your major challenge? It’s promotion of course. Here promotion is considered as a challenge because sufficient amount of money is required for active promotion and sadly small businesses have a shortage of funds. In the very beginning, most of that money is spent on renting an office space and buying necessary types of equipment for your operations. Little money is left in your pocket to promote your business.
So, that means with little money there can be no advertising? No, that is not correct. In this article, I will discuss 8 ways which can help you promote your small business even if you are on a tight budget.
8 Ways to advertise your business on a small budget
Try networking
Sometimes word of mouth advertising can be the best technique for your business. Go out and meet new people. Advertise (word of mouth) your business by attending various events/seminars. This will help you to connect and talk about your business with like-minded people. This is the cheapest advertising technique that you can follow. Hustle Cowork organizes various events every week. So come and be a part of a growing network.
Start a blog
You can write blogs about your products/services. Give unique features about your products/services in your blogs. By reading your blogs people will get to know about your products/services and they will be motivated to buy them. It is an effective marketing tool.
Develop a website
A website acts a major marketing tool for your business. You can post all the important information related to your business on your website. Nowadays, customers expect every business to have a website. Customers can explore our website to find out all the relevant information regarding your products and services. Your website is functional 24*7. A normal 5-page website cost around $5-$20/month which is pretty cheap. Many businesses have increased there revenues from there websites.
Email marketing
It means communicating with your customers via emails. With the help of email marketing, you can easily reach your audience at a rate which is equal to buying a candy. If your business is on a limited budget then, email marketing is the perfect choice for you. Atleast you won’t have to spend loads of money on advertising on television and radio to reach the same amount of audience that email marketing can easily do at a very affordable cost.
Referral program
What’s wrong with getting referrals? Actually, it is the best way to gain more business. You can start a referral program where you can give incentives such as a product/service, discounts etc to those customers who bring you referrals. By doing this, you keep your customers motivated and loyal towards you. Just make sure whatever gifts you offer to your customers are used to them.
Be a part of online directories
Include yourself in online directories. Being a part of favored review sites will help to increase your visitors. Motivate your satisfied customers to give reviews about your business and interact with them in the comments section. Many people trust word of mouth publicity. Before buying a product they prefer to check the comments from it’s existing users. I also do the same. More positive reviews you have more people are going to buy your products.
Use social media
Today, social media is one of the cheapest advertising options on the planet. Many small businesses such as Sevenly and Airbnb are rocking on social media. To get started, you can make an account on various social sites like Twitter, Facebook etc and share/post information related to your business. With the help of social media, you can easily stay in touch with your customers by interacting with them in the comments section.
Support a charity
You must have heard this, in other words, i.e. Corporate Social Responsibility. It is a great way to promote your business. You can support a charity which matches with your audience and brand values. You can choose the terms of exposure which are generally in 2 ways. Either presence of your banner at the occasion or mentioning your brand or logo on social sites. For example, Brixio donates regularly to the Livestrong foundation.
Promotion takes a solid hit when you are on a tight budget but nevertheless, these 8 cheap ways will definitely help you to promote your small business. If you want to grow your business, make sure to go through why your business needs social media for growth.
