How to Promote Your Business on a Budget

Whether you’re a new business or just trying to bring in more customers, there are a great number of ways to promote your business without spending a fortune and here’s how.

Looking for new ways to promote your business?

Don’t have a big budget for your marketing efforts?

Running a business can be hard enough as it is, but if you don’t have a big budget for promoting your business it can be even more tricky. However, there are plenty of options for promoting a business without spending a lot, if you know where to look.

Below we’ll give you our best tips on how to promote a business on a budget while getting great results and plenty of new customers.

1. Always Be Promoting

When trying to market your business on a budget, the first thing you should do is look for ways that you can always be promoting your business. Always keep an eye out for small ways that you can mention your business when dealing with customers, talking to friends or family, or going about your day.

For example, you likely send a lot of emails out on a daily basis. It’s a good idea to include your business contact information and website in your email signature at the bottom of your email, whether sending personal or business emails. If you have a business vehicle, consider branding it and putting a logo on the side or on a back window.

Small details like this can be a good way to promote your business and increase awareness while doing nearly nothing in the process.

2. Get Involved With Your Community

Another great way to promote your business is to simply get more involved in your local community.

Consider getting involved in local festivals, events, or business conferences in your city. Public events are a great place to hand out flyers or freebies to get some extra attention for your brand.

You may also look into options for giving presentations or speaking at a local college or at a professional event. Many organizations would love to hear about the experiences of a business owner, so look for ways to share your expertise with others.

Building a positive reputation in your community is essential for helping your business succeed. It’s also a very cost-effective way of promoting your goods or services.

3. Promote Your Business Website With Content Marketing

If you don’t have a great website to promote your business you need to set one up as soon as possible. A great website is essential for any type of business, and along with a great blog can help you start getting more interest in your products and services.

Using some content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques can allow you to increase your website traffic. This includes creating great blog content and using relevant keywords on your site that customers will be searching for.

Using these techniques can be a very good way to get more customers for your business without spending too much. It will take time and effort to add quality content to your blog. You’ll also need to spend a bit of time learning SEO techniques, but it can be well worth it in the end.

4. Start Using Social Media

In addition to promoting your business using your website and blog, social media can also be an effective tool. Social media can help your business to customers at a very low cost.

Being on any social media platforms can help. For most of these platforms, you’ll be able to sign up for free and instantly start communicating with potential customers.

It may take a little bit of time to gather followers on social media, but once you do you can then send them promotions at any time and post content that will allow you to build more interest in your business.

5 Try PPC Advertising

Another good way to promote your business online is to try paid search advertising and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. This type of advertising has a lot of benefits compared to traditional ads.

PPC campaigns on Google and Bing or social media ads on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest can all be good options for promoting your business. These platforms can allow you to build and tweak ads to your liking and you’ll be able to target them to only the people most likely to be interested in your services.

PPC ads can be very cost-effective and once you find a strategy that works for you, you’ll be able to scale your success and get even more customers as a result.

6. Create Some Discounts and Special Offers

Creating special offers, promotions, and discounts is hardly a new concept. Yet, some great discounts and promotions can be a wonderful way to get new customers and is still a highly effective strategy.

Limited-time promotions are a great way to get the word out about your business and to increase brand awareness. Consider offering a week-long promotion or sending out coupons for certain items or services.

To be even more effective with your promotions, combine them with email marketing techniques, social media, or other promotional methods.

7. Use Referral and Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Another good option is to start using some referral marketing techniques to promote your business. This can be highly effective because word-of-mouth and referral marketing builds trust. People often believe the opinions of their friends and family members.

With a referral marketing promotion, you’ll give your current customers or clients special discounts if they send more business your way.

Similarly, another way to use this type of word-of-mouth marketing is to make sure you have good reviews for your business on Yelp, Facebook, Google, and other online reviews and business listing sites.

Ask your customers to leave reviews for your business on these websites and consider putting a few testimonials on your website as well.

8. Start Cross-Promoting

It can also be a good idea to partner with other businesses in your area to try some cross-promotions. If a customer trusts the business you partner with, they may like your business as well because of the association.

Consider creating a package deal with a similar business to yours that isn’t a direct competitor or make a deal to hand out flyers or coupons for each other’s businesses during a sale. You may also choose to put up a custom banner or sign in each other’s businesses, such as one made by Custom Graphix Signworks.

There are many different ways to make a cross-promotion work, so contact some other businesses and experiment to find what works best for you.

9. Send Out Press Releases

While press releases may not be as popular as they once were, using them can be a good way to promote your business and get some free press.

If there has been a major change in your business such as a remodeling, an expansion, or a new manager, it’s a good idea to send out a press release. Get in touch with local newspapers and other publications.

As long as you ensure that your news is truly noteworthy it can be a great excuse to drum up some free press, so don’t miss the opportunity.

Final Thoughts

The truth is that there are many ways to promote your business on a budget if you’re willing to think outside of the box a little bit. By considering and trying some of the options above you’ll find new customers for your business while spending much less than you may have thought you needed to.

Looking for more business and marketing tips? Check out our marketing blog now for more great insights.