It’s no secret that there are a lot of ways to promote your business online. You can create an email list, use social media platforms, or even invest in paid advertising on google. But what if you don’t have any budget? That’s where this post comes in to get your brand out there! Here are the 10 most effective ways to market your business online without spending any money.
1. Start a blog
Blogging is a great way to tell your story and get in front of your target audience. Part of marketing your business online is to establish yourself as a reliable industry expert and a voice of authority. In order to build this authority, take the time to contribute to relevant forums and blogs.
Offer genuinely helpful insight and answer questions that are being asked. People will appreciate your input and, with any luck, will convert into a customer. Just make sure to provide value.
Blog posts don’t have to be lengthy 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.
2. Maintain your social media accounts
If you don’t use social media for business yet, it’s time to start. Social media is the best free way to market or promote your business online without any budget. You should maintain all the social profiles such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc., and post interesting content relevant to your business on a regular basis such as news updates, links to your latest articles/blog posts or product launches, etc.
3. Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization is an important aspect of blogging. You can easily increase the popularity of your blog or business website by writing content that has the right keywords and phrases. When you optimize for search engines, you are creating a language that facilitates readers to find this content on popular search engines such as Google.
The best way to rank higher on search engine result pages (SERPs) is to have lots of quality, unique content and link back to your site consistently in order to build your domain authority. The links are what show Google that your site is credible, and this is why building high-quality links from other sites are essential for SEO success.
4. Find influencers in your niche
You can promote your business online by finding influencers in your niche to create affiliate deals with. When you create an affiliate or partnership relationship with an influencer, you split the profits from any product sales that are generated via their social media account.
There are two main benefits to partnering with influencers: Firstly, it is much cheaper than other forms of advertising because you only pay them when they drive sales; secondly, because they are already reputable and trusted within your niche, it’s much easier to convert customers than it would be without the influencer association.
You can use tools like Influence.co to make money.
5. 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 you to add rich details about your business and your different locations, upload photos, videos, and other content through a simple dashboard. It also lets you connect with customers and keep them updated with your store hours, Facebook notifications, Yelp reviews, or even that newsletter that you send out monthly.
To get started on Google My Business go to https://business.google.com/create
6. Tapping into Free Traffic using Infographics
Infographics are one of the best tools to get your message across visually. Custom-made infographics are being used by many for promoting their products or services online. They are shareable and can be easily embedded into any site to drive traffic and build backlinks.
Use this effective strategy to promote your business using infographics. Start by running a keyword search related to your industry. Use a keyword search tool like Ubersuggest. Then go to the content ideas report in the left-hand navigation. You’ll see a list of all the popular articles within your industry.
You can then go create infographics based on some of those topics and you can use tools like Canva to help you create those for free. Then reach out to all the people that link to that article, which shows you in the content ideas report, right?
There’s a little drop-down that shows backlinks.
So, you go hit up all those sites and ask them to link to your infographic. Because if they’re already linked to the original article, why wouldn’t they link to the infographic as well?
7. Guest Posting and Cold Outreach
Guest Posting and Cold Outreach are two incredibly valuable tools for promoting your business online without any budget. With Guest Posting, you can reach a host of audiences just by submitting an article to websites that publish it on their site. You can get free access to thousands of website visitors, and quickly grow your visibility as well as influence online. Cold Outreach is just like traditional networking in real life: you contact companies who interest you and request to have your guest post considered in exchange for exposure for their company on your site.
For example, if you can guest post on popular sites that have your audience already, you can generate sales. For example, in the marketing space, there are blogs like Moz, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, which all take guest posting.
And when you’re doing guest posting, don’t do it for links to try to boost your search engine ranking, do it for the referral traffic. Go after the right, exact audience.
8. Facebook Groups
If you are looking for a platform to promote your business, Facebook groups are perfect. There are so many Facebook groups on literally everything.
One of the most important things to do is to participate – be engaging and exciting, don’t be too promotional, and be genuinely interesting… You will need to post regular posts, comment on other posts, and be an active member of the group.
For example, if you’re selling pet-related products, go to the pet-related groups and participate by answering people’s questions. And then, whenever you have a product or service that’s related, then you can mention it, but make sure you’re participating first and giving more than asking.
You should also share pictures and videos when possible.
9. Leverage Email Marketing
There’s a saying that goes in the marketing industry, the money’s in the list. It’s your digital ATM machine. So, collect emails.
Email marketing is a convenient and cost-effective way to communicate with your existing customer base. If you’re a small business with few customers, then this will be an efficient way for you to promote your products or services. When you decide on email marketing as your strategy, consider using a website like Systeme.io. The free plan comes with 1,000 contacts, three sales funnels and unlimited emails, one membership site, and marketing automation, among other features.
The most successful affiliate marketers understand that the best way to scale is to build their email list. This allows them to drive repeat visitors back to their site to buy products over time.
10. Video Marketing
Video marketing is the newest form of marketing that we are all aware of. Any time you create a video, upload it to YouTube, Instagram, Instagram Reels, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Twitter, the possibilities are endless.
The best time to put up a video on your social media is in the morning and again at night. Add a branding message or personal message, whichever is appropriate. Be genuine and transparent.
Because you already have followers and friends on all these social sites, uploading video content to promote your business online just does so well. Here are some additional benefits that illustrate how video marketing helps small businesses.
If you plan to use video marketing, we suggest Invidio. It’s a do-it-yourself (DIY) video creation platform that comes packed with 5000+ templates, iStock media, a music library, automated voiceovers, and much more. The best part – is it’s free!
To Wrap Up
All of the techniques in the article are relatively free and simple to use, with incredible results. Your success in this arena doesn’t depend on how much money you have, but rather on what you can do creatively without any cost at all.
I hope this blog helped you get started thinking about how to promote your business online without breaking the bank with paid advertisements. If you are interested in learning more or want help implementing a strategy, please reach out and we will be happy to chat about how our team can support you. What great free marketing tactic does your company use? Let me know below so I may feature them as well!
