Free Marketing Ideas
for Small Businesses
Anne has worked in entrepreneurship
for the past 30 years. She has set up
and grown successful e-commerce
businesses, including a trip in the
UK Dragons’ Den with her iconic Gift
in a Tin business. She has also held
board-level positions in a number of
dynamic organizations in the United
Kingdom. Anne is currently guest
lecturing at three UK universities and
providing 1-2-1 business coaching
to entrepreneurs and group training,
specializing in marketing.
© Business Expert Press 978-1-94819-833-2 (2018)
www.businessexpertpress.com
Anne Livesey
Abstract: This article provides all the information you
need to market your business simply and free. All it
takes is your time. Every business needs customers.
You need to keep the old ones and constantly find new
ones. You can have the best idea in the world, but if you
don’t tell your potential customers about it, they won’t
know you’re there and they won’t buy anything. So you
­constantly need to market your business and its o
­ ffering.
Marketing can be all time-consuming, and h ­aving a
strategy that targets exactly who you need to market to,
when, and how is the backbone of a successful business.
With a careful plan, you can make the most of all the
free marketing that’s out there. So read on and get your
business out there without paying a dime.
Keywords: business, customers, marketing, sales,
social media
Introduction
To own a successful business, you need to have paying
customers. You need to let customers know who you are,
what you sell, and where they can buy from you. As a
business owner, you’ll be bombarded with daily requests
to place ads, boost your online presence, take space at
an exhibition. All this marketing costs a lot of money,
and doesn’t always guarantee sales and brand ­awareness
growth. You may like to have a strategy that sets out
an advertising spend for the year in a trade magazine,
for example, or a national glossy, or it could be a local
magazine posted through local houses. You may feel
this brings you enough business. But isn’t it much better
to pay nothing for marketing your business? Wouldn’t
it be great to reach your potential customers without
­spending a dime? It’s going to take some time and leg
work, but read on for some great marketing ideas for
your business, which won’t cost you anything.
Expert Insights
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 Free Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses
Understanding Your Customer
Before we start, let’s be clear, for any mar-
keting to be successful, you need to know
who your customer is, what they want, and
why your business has the solution. For
example, a dog walker might think it’s a
good idea to have a flyer printed and post
it through 200 local houses. Sounds like a
good idea? A cheap flyer, and some shoe
leather? But what if only 10 of those houses
own a dog, and 5 of them already have a
dog walker, and 2 of them walk their own
dog? Doesn’t sound like such an effective
marketing strategy now, does it?
What if the dog walker went to a l­ocal
puppy training class and handed out
­leaflets. First, the dog owners get to meet
the business owner and the person they
are trusting to look after their cherished
member of the family. All the people there
have a dog. This is clearly a much more
targeted marketing strategy.
If you can produce your own leaflets that
look professional, then you don’t even have
to pay for design and print; it’s ­really ­costing
you virtually nothing other than some
­paper, ink, and your time ­handing them out
and meeting the new puppy owners.
The trick is to understand who your t­ arget
audience is—this is called segmentation.
Targeting and segmentation are part
of a three-part process referred to as
STP. STP stands for segmentation,
targeting and positioning, processes
that involve taking a close look at
your potential customers in order
to determine your marketing mix.
Targeting and segmentation help you
narrow down the market into more
manageable groups so you know
which segments to pursue in ­growing
your business. (Small ­Business Chron,
2017, online)
Before you start marketing, take some
time to understand who your customers
are, where they are, and how you provide
the answer to their problem.
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PR
PR stands for public relations. There
are plenty of specialist consultants and
­agencies who offer PR services, using
their ­knowledge and contacts to boost
your ­business, for a fee. But you can also
do some PR yourself.
Hard copy publications are a great source
of information for customers. They sell
advertising space, which can be expen-
­
sive. Try and leverage this PR opportunity
yourself by contacting the publication—­
­
local, regional, and ­national—depending on
your business’s ­geographical spread. P­ rovide
them with a really ­newsworthy story. Per-
haps you’ve just launched an amazing
business, solved an ecological problem, en-
gaged with a ­hard-to-reach community, etc.
­Journalists are always looking for ­unusual
stories, and if you can provide them with
some ­ interesting news and offer them an
interview, with some great images, you
­
might just land a great story and some great
free PR.
If the publication is reluctant—they would
rather you take paid advertising—­offer them
a competition for their r­eaders—come up
with a free giveaway for the five readers who
answer a question correctly, for example. In
exchange for this ­attractive offer for their
readers, you can often ­negotiate a free story
on the business.
Blogs
You can take this idea a step further and
write your own blog about your business.
Make sure the news you’re writing about
is interesting and newsworthy. Publishing
your own blog is free on a number of blog
sites, simple to set up, and it doesn’t take
long to write a blog of about 400 words.
Blogs provide free marketing in a num-
ber of ways:
■■ Build brand awareness
■■ Improve your credibility
■■ Create trust
■■ Develop links back to your website and
social media sites
Expert Insights
 Free Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses
Ask people to follow your blog and sign
up; build your own community. Offer them
interesting free news; then when they’re a
happy community, you can softly introduce
more about your business and start to redi-
rect them more frequently to your website.
Images
Take some time to gather together some
really good images for your business. The
cameras on our mobiles are great these
days for taking good photos, or maybe you
might have a friend who is an ­ amateur
­photographer and could help you out.
Having good images in stock will make
promoting your business easy. Images
are much more engaging than words,
and p ­eople will share images they like.
­Whenever you post on social media, use an
image. Make sure it’s clear, in focus, and a
really good shot.
If you’re running a completion in a
­publication, often they will do some ­product
shots for you—ask if you can use them.
You might just have to take the plunge
and have some professional shots, but try
that at your local college or photography
society first. A student may be building up
their portfolio and would be happy to gain
the experience free.
Brand Image
Getting your logo and brand right is all so
important. Using a professional designer
to do this for you will require some initial
­investment, but once you have the designs,
use them everywhere. Put them on all your
social media pages and at the end of your
e-mail sign off. All the places it’s free to use
an image of your design. Again, if you have
some funds, you could have w ­ orkwear
printed up with your logo or have some
made for your vehicle. Every time you
wear the clothes or drive around town, it’s
free advertising!
Competitions
Entering your business or yourself as an
entrepreneur into an award is u
­ sually free.
© Business Expert Press 978-1-94819-833-2 (2018)
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Once you’ve entered, you’ll ­often ­receive
free coverage on the award w ­ ebsite (so
people can vote for you, for example).
­
You can promote your entry on your
own w ­ ebsite and social media ­platforms,
making this a really nice joined-up
­
­marketing tool.
Even if you don’t win, you can raise your
profile, and if you do win, you can shout if
from the rooftops and the award will also
heavily promote you.
Filling out the entry can be time
­consuming, but well worth the effort for
the free exposure for your business. Search
online for current awards in your sector or
area.
Networking
Some people groan at the thought of
­networking. Taking time out from running
your business at 6 a.m., eating breakfast
with a bunch of strangers isn’t everyone’s
cup of tea. But if you become involved with
an active, referral-based, friendly group, it
can pay dividends for your business. Once
you become integrated into the group and
members trust you and your business, they
will be happy to make referrals to you, and
you can do the same. Some groups do make
a charge, but if you select the ones where
it’s a pay-as-you-go system, they are really
good value.
Many networking groups offer the
­opportunity to speak for a minute or two
about your business; polish up that ­elevator
pitch.
There are also online free networking
groups too, such as LinkedIn, or there may
be specific online groups for your business
sector.
Some business networking groups are quite
aggressive with a lot of rules about r­ eferrals.
These groups often suit ­professional services
such as lawyers and accountants. If you’re in
that industry, it’s the place for you. If you’re
a freelance ­artist, not so much. Pick your
networking groups carefully; otherwise you
will loathe going and your business won’t
get anything out of it.
Expert Insights
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