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Promoting a new business can be an expensive task
but it doesn’t have to be! With a little creativity and
thought you can promote your business without having
to spend a fortune. Here are a couple of ways to market
your business on a shoestring.
1. Start a Business Blog. You may have heard the word
but you may still be wondering what a “blog” actually
is! A blog is basically an online communication platform
where you can post articles, photos, ideas and thoughts
as often as you like. Visitors to the site can then
comment on what you have said and you can choose to
review the comments before publishing them to the site.
Essentially, blogs can be extremely powerful PR tools
and a great way to communicate with both colleagues
and clients. There are many free blogging platforms
out there where you can create your blog and have it
hosted for free! Try blogspot.com,WordPress, Blogger
or LiveJournal. In order for your blog to be successful
in promoting your business you need to ensure that
you post regularly (at least once per week) and that
you promote your blogs on blog directories or blog
carnivals as they are often called.
2. Join a Networking Group . These clubs are a
great way to meet people and network within your
community. They usually take the form of monthly or
weekly business breakfasts or lunches where you have
the opportunity to tell others about your product and
vice versa. Many networking groups also try and help
you to better your business by teaching sound business
principles as well as sharing ideas on marketing and
business promotion.
3. Offer Freebies. Why not offer free talks or
presentations at industry events. Get in touch with the
event organizers and ask whether they can fit you into
the event schedule as a speaker. Often, these people
need speakers and if you can offer your services free
of charge then you have a win-win situation. If you are
an expert in your field then your knowledge and advice
will be valued and appreciated by the attendees and
you may find this a great way to get new clients.
4.Write Articles for RelevantWebsites and Publications.
Websites, community newspapers and magazines are
always looking for fresh content to publish.Your article
should be interesting and newsworthy otherwise it’ll
never be published so ask friends and colleagues to read
the article and get their feedback before submitting
it. Also make sure that the spelling and grammar is
correct and perhaps consider submitting a photo with
the article as this may improve your chances of getting
published. Always include an author by-line at the
end of the article that includes your name as well as
your contact details so that readers can contact you if
necessary.
5. Send Out a Monthly Newsletter to Clients. It is
important to remind your clients that your business is
alive and well and ready to do business. Remind them
about your product or service through an e-newsletter
but make sure to also supply them with useful
information that will be valuable to them. If you just
punt your business and supply promotional messages,
your e-newsletter will soon be seen as spam and will
get deleted faster than you can say “Junk Mail”.
Send your newsletters out consistently ie. If you decide
to send out newsletters every month then make sure
that you do that. This type of business promotion will
never work if you send out one newsletter and then
another one a couple of months later and then another
one a year later. You get the drift? Build up an email
database of all the clients that you have ever dealt and
keep the list up to date, adding new clients every month.
Try and keep your newsletters short, simple and easy
to read and you’ll find your subscriber base will grow
and hopefully your clientele too!
With those affordable marketing ideas in mind, try and
think of a few more ideas and start to implement them.
Remember, it is all about thinking smart and promoting
smart. You don’t always need to have an enormous
budget to get your name out there!
Affordable Marketing Ideas
for Small Businesses
Tips to promote your business on a shoestring