Spending thousands of dollars on marketing can be frustrating, especially if you are not seeing any return on your investments. One of the biggest mistakes many business owners make is paying for advertising without first exhausting their free ways to market their business.

When I started my business, I used only two forms of advertising to launch my company. I didn’t spend a single penny on advertising. As a startup and a company on a budget, I didn’t have money to spend on marketing, so I had to exhaust all my free options first. Guess what? It worked just as well as all the paid advertising I did in the later years of business.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a small commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.

5 Free Ways to Market Your Business

I found that these 5 free ways of marketing have been the most effective way to advertise a company.

Email Marketing

Do people read emails? Has email marketing died? Nope! You would be surprised how many people still open their emails. I made a big mistake by not doing this earlier in my years when I opened my business.

I personally use the Kit email marketing platform to collect emails and send newsletters. Your first 10,000 subscribers are free, and built-in templates are ready to use. Try out KIT here.

People love a good email—content that brings value to the reader. How can you give through your emails rather than just asking them to buy your product or service?

Here are some examples of a good email that will help you market your company well without investing any money:

Share your story! People want to know that you are human, and they can relate and connect with you.

Run a sale! Everyone loves a discount. It doesn’t have to be much, just a sign of appreciation.

Educate! Tell people about your product, its origin, and what it is good for. If you offer a service, share a skill or concept to help them.

Share about the latest product or service! Are you launching a new product? Share that in your emails. And maybe it’s a fairly new product. Talk about that as well.

Company Updates! Are you updating something? Are you adding new hours? Are you hiring a new team member? Let your customers know about your team’s growth.

Try KIT here for free.

Social Media

Yes, social media is not what it used to be, and organic growth is harder to achieve. But it is not completely a dead-end marketing option. Instagram and Facebook are constantly updating their algorithms and making them user-friendly. If you use keywords in your comments and create less sales content on your page, you can effectively grow your social media accounts.

Keywords are words that people use when searching for something. For example, someone searching for a vegan cafe will use the word vegan and cafe in the search box. That means you should use those keywords in your comments. Hashtags are still a thing, so use those keywords in the hashtags as well.

Influencer

When I think of influencers – fashion, appliances, and vitamins come to mind. Those are the ads that I have seen most. That’s what I associated influencers with until I started researching about influencers specific to my industry. At that time, I owned a food company with a retail space. I wanted to bring in local traffic in an organic way. When I started scrolling Instagram, to my surprise, I found 5-7 local influencers who were willing to work with me in exchange for food.

I didn’t go for the most popular influencers, either. They had an average Instagram following at the time, which would help expose my business to a new group of people, and that’s what I was looking for.

Start slow. Look for influencers with a good Instagram following but not as big enough to ignore your message or request. These influencers are willing to work in exchange for a product or service.

Local Newspaper

If you have a brick and mortar, this is for you.

When a new business opens, local newspapers advertise it. You would be surprised how many people read the paper. There are also digital versions of the newspaper, so you are reaching a variety of customers. Typically this is a free option as you are a new business or have something new happening.

Word of Mouth

Word of mouth is one of the best advertising types that never fails. That is actually how I started! I didn’t have social media at that time. My friend ordered from me, and she told her friend. That friend told her sister, and the sister ordered. And it went from there. These are actually the most loyal customers you will have.

Conclusion

These are just a few ideas to help you start advertising your company for free or with a small investment. Finding free ways to market your business is the first step before paying the big bucks!

Don’t make some of the same mistakes that small business owners or I made as we grew our businesses. Here is a blog on what to avoid:

Common Small Business Mistakes –

Enjoy your read!