You’ve just launched your new home-based business, and now it’s time to start promoting it to attract new customers. As a first-time business owner and entrepreneur, I know how difficult it can be to market your business on a shoestring budget, but there is hope.
Here are seven inexpensive marketing strategies to increase your business’s visibility and reach.
1. Social Networking
From Facebook and Twitter to Pinterest and Instagram, it seems everyone, everywhere, is involved in some type of social networking. The great news for business owners is that you can create a profile on any of these mentioned social networks and promote your business for free.
You can write about your area of interest and include links to your website, or feel free to create or join a group that revolves around your particular niche. Facebook alone has over 1 billion active users, and Twitter sends out tweets from powerhouse celebrities and business owners like Oprah, Jessica Alba, and Katy Perry. With this large of an audience, imagine what social networking can do for your business?!
Cost: Free.
2. Business Cards
Face-to-face networking is not dead by any means, and having a memorable business card to hand out is very important. One, it conveys an image of professionalism, and second, it reminds people of your business. Your business card should look professional and include your logo if you have one. A great way for your business card to retain some of its life is to add some additional value to it, such as displaying a calendar, tip chart, or appointment reminder on the back. Another option is to create promotional items like magnets, small notepads, or coffee mugs with your business information on them.
Cost: $20 for 500 business cards.
3. Newsletter
If you have a website, a newsletter is a great way to bring customers back to your site and remind them of your product or service. Make sure to include interesting content in your newsletter that is related to your topic; some good approaches are to write product reviews and tips or even invite your subscribers to send in questions and answer them in the newsletter.
There are lots of email marketing services available; if you’re working on a shoestring budget, try a service like Constant Contact — which include access to their email template library, unlimited contacts, and mobile-friendly designs. If you’re looking for a more robust platform where you can create email sequences and segment your list, try ConvertKit (this is what I currently use). They offer a free plan up to 1,000 subscribers.
Make sure to check out the Best FREE Email Marketing Services.
Cost: Free for smaller lists
4. Blogging
A blog is a fantastic way to keep customers coming back to your site. For a blog to be a successful marketing tool, it will need to be updated on a regular basis, usually 2-5 times per week. You will also need to have interesting and thoughtful content about your subject. But once customers know that you provide regular articles of interest, they will stop by more frequently to see what the latest news and happenings are. There are many free blogging platforms available, but I highly suggest paying a little extra for your own domain name, hosting company, and a premium template or custom design. It is especially important to include your company’s logo for branding purposes, which I will discuss further next week.
If you need tips on how to start a blog — this blog post will walk you through the process, step-by-step.
Cost: Free to a few hundred dollars.
5. Participate in Charity Events
Do some good for the community and promote your business at the same time. Find your favorite charity and volunteer for one of their events or offer to plan/host one for them. Gather your family and friends and get them to join in on the action. Many organizations will include your company’s logo on brochures, tee shirts, and their website. This is an excellent way to get exposure for your business and build new relationships.
Cost: Just your time.
6. Press Release
A press release is a written statement that is sent out to the media for additional exposure. A press release can be an ideal way for a local company to promote itself within the community, or to create an online presence. Writing a press release is relatively easy, and free templates and instructions on how to write one can be found all over the internet.
Cost: Depending on your advertising budget you can have one written for as little as $45 or as much as $2,000. If you do a little research and take your time — you can create one yourself and submit it for free to Free Press Release.
7. Market Your Business on Craigslist
No money for advertising? No problem. Sites like Craigslist allow you to post an ad; you can even include your business logo and link to your website and social networks. The best thing about Craigslist is that it actually receives a lot of traffic, so your business will get exposure.
Cost: Free.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are lots of different ways to market your business, and many of them cost little to nothing to get started. Pick 3-4 methods from this list and incorporate them into your daily routine. Yes, it’s that easy!
What marketing strategies are you using to promote your home-based business?
Great info as always. I mainly used Social Media when I set up my business. Luckily then through word of mouth and connections it grew. Thanks for sharing on Bizsugar.com
Glad you enjoyed the tips!
Interesting!
I feel like there is a scarcity of good marketing today. Good marketing means which can convert the leads into sales. The only marketing that has moved me in the last couple of years is Social Media Optimization.
What great ways to market your at home business. Personally, I love the Newsletter idea or even an Ezine – both offered FREE. You MUST have a website and/or a blog. What better way to gather names and followers than by offering a free product. You begin to offer your valuable insight, build trust, build your brand, and become the ‘go-to’ guru in your industry…hopefully. Now the trick of course is 1) having meaningful content, 2) engage the reader – ask for questions, participation, feedback – show that you care, 3) lastly and maybe most importantly–keep in touch with your group OFTEN! One time or once a month just won’t do. You should keep your brand, message, product or service fresh in the minds of your prospects. To this, you may want to send your newsletter or ezine weekly with updates on what you’re doing or product updates a couple of times a week. One to two ‘touches’ weekly is great and keeps you relevant! When they decide to buy, it will be from you…
Thanks for the information!
Thanks for the tips Holly! I never thought of marketing business via Craigslist. I really like the charity idea. Supporting a cause is definitely part of my strategy not only for marketing purposes, but because I want to give back and do good towards those who definitely need it.
LeNesha’s last blog post..Giveaway: Little Lamb Design – 25 Birth Announcements, 40 Party Invitations or 250 Business Cards
This is a great post. Covered everything I need. But can I have more detail article????
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Thanks for your comment!
I was actually thinking that I needed to cover each marketing strategy more in depth, so yes I will write some more detailed posts on the above mentioned marketing strategies.
Great information. I am a graphic designer and i make craigslist ads to promote your business or product. I totally agree on with promoting your business via craigslist. Image ads on craigslist get noticed more then just text ads. Image ads also portray a more professional image then just plain text ads. We get most of our business via craigslist and our customers also get 70% of their business via craigslist. If your not promoting your business on a site that gets 3billion hits per day then your missing out. Let us show you how to increase your client base and portray a more professional image online. Contact us @ http://www.whitebuffalodesignstudio.com
Thanks for the great info. I always like to read about ways to market your business, especially since I own my own. Never thought about craigslist…going to look into that.