10 Ways to Market Your Small Business on a Budget
Yes, you want more customers. Butttt, marketing and advertising cost money.
Don’t fret! There are tons of low cost marketing ideas for small businesses that can help you bring in revenue without breaking the bank!
🔥Hot take: The marketing budget for a small business doesn’t have to be huge, to make a huge impact.
In this article we share low cost marketing ideas to help you grow your business without emptying your wallet. So, stop throwing money at paid ads, and paying top dollar to boost posts. Start using your small business marketing budget wisely!
FIRST THING’S FIRST: Get your offer in order. You need a clear, compelling offer and messaging to match before your market your business.
Assuming you have this (and you’ve already sold a thing or two), dive into this list of low cost marketing ideas for small businesses and start bringing home the bacon.
Top 10 Small Business Marketing Tools Budget
Let’s dive into ten of our favorite marketing ideas for small businesses with small marketing budgets!
1. Social Media (Free but Requires Time)
When to Use: If you’re just starting out, and you’re ready to build brand awareness and engage with your audience.
Why It’s Effective: Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn allow you to connect directly with your audience at no cost. It’s a great way to promote your business, share content, and engage with your community while showcasing your brand values. You can use it to nurture prospects over time and build trust. Small businesses with small marketing budgets can use social media to connect existing customers (and friends and fam!) who may become repeat customers, or share your content with other folks.
What to Consider:
Be in the right places. Choose the social media channels that make sense for your customer base. Think about where your target audience hangs out, and show up there. If you’re a wedding planner, Pinterest might be a good fit, while you’d probably avoid LinkedIn.
Post good sh*t (and be consistent.) Social media is about quality over quantity. Yes, posting a lot helps you show your face more often, which has obvious perks. BUT, instead of throwing crap up just to show up, post valuable, educational content (bonus points if it’s entertaining.) Choose a cadence that you can keep up with, without burning out. Get ahead by batching, and upcycling content with COPE: create once, publish everywhere, AKA build one big, bad piece of content, and then splice and dice it across your channels.
Interact with your audience. Social media is for socializing. By all means, post, promote, and use it as a space to share. But, don’t forget to actually, like, hang out with people. Engage with your followers through comments, polls, and stories to create a sense of community. Expand your reach by connecting with people who follow related brands (or even competitors!) and interact with others in your industry. Tag them, ask questions, be present. Give folks a chance to see behind the curtain and learn what goes on backstage.
2. Start a Blog (Content Marketing)
When to Use: If you have time (or the resources to outsource) create valuable, written, long-form content. Answer common questions, explain and educate about your products, and share thought leadership on the hot-button industry concepts. This is a portfolio for folks who visit your website to see if you know your stuff, or if you’re just another boring voice in the crowd. Use your content to showcase who you are, what you do, and the why behind it.
Why It’s Effective: Blogging not only boosts your small business SEO (helping you rank higher on search engines) it also positions your brand as an authority in your niche and industry. It’s a powerful, long-term strategy that can drive organic traffic to your site, and does double duty of answering FAQs for prospects who land on your site.
What to Consider:
Provide Value. Don’t write or publish crappy, half-@$$ content just to say you have a blog. (Spoiler alert, that will not do anything for your brand or SEO. In fact, it could penalize you!) Share content that gives your prospective clients real value. Educate customers on the ins and outs of the products, give information that helps them solve their problems, or sends them in the right direction to better understand their problem and possible solutions. Or, best of all, helps them rule out all the other possibilities leaving your offer as the obvious choice to solve their problem. A blog is your chance to show how intimately familiar with their problems you are, and how you have the expertise and know-how to fix them.
Have a Plan for Promotion. Even the best blog won’t get traction if no one sees it. Share the nuggets from your blog post across social channels, link it in your email newsletter, and encourage your audience to engage with or share it with others who can benefit. Blog traffic often comes from amplification, not just organic search.
3. Referral Programs (Word of Mouth)
When to Use: If you already have a book of customers: existing and past, and want to leverage that to get even more customers (with minimal investment) a referral program for your small business is a great choice.
Why It’s Effective: Referrals are a cost-effective way to market your small business (even if your marketing budget is low) and get new customers right away. Why? Because happy customers are usually willing to share their positive experiences with friends and family, which leads to new business. So, instead of just waiting around hoping people will tell their besties about your amazing business and why they should get while the gettin’s good, you can ask them to spread the word, by developing a referral program and giving them an incentive, like a bonus marketing strategy session!
PRO TIP: If you’re ready to take it to the next level, ask your customers for testimonials to promote your small business and make even more sales. Testimonials are another low cost way to boost your marketing efforts even on a small business budget.
What to Consider:
Track and Thank. Make sure you actually track who referred who, and always, ALWAYS follow up with a thank-you. Aside from the incentive or referral reward, a genuine “thank you” makes people feel appreciated, acknowledged and valued. Then, they’re more likely to refer again.
Promote Your Referral Program. Don’t assume customers know you have a referral program…tell them! Mention it in your email signature, newsletters, checkout page, or even in person after a great experience. The more visible it is, the more likely people are to take advantage of it.
Quality Over Quantity. Referrals are great, but a thousand referrals that don’t convert… not great. We want qualified referrals. Clarify exactly who is qualified by defining your ideal customer and setting expectations for what qualifies for your reward.
4. Email Marketing (Low-Cost, High-Impact)
When to Use: If you’re ready to start building an email list of prospects, or already have one, and can offer something of value to stay top of mind, and grow sales. Email marketing includes drip and nurture campaigns, and newsletters.
Why It’s Effective: Email marketing allows you to communicate directly with your warm leads so you can turn them into paying customers. It’s an effective way to nurture leads, promote special offers, share industry insights (and your expertise!) and keep your audience engaged. It’s also easy to automate (or hire a team to do it for you!) and it’s considered one-to-many marketing, so you create the email or campaign once, and reach tons of people. Plus, you can personalize it so folks feel special, like you’re talking just to them.
What to Consider:
It Doesn’t Have to Cost a Lot. Use free or low-cost email marketing tools (Mailchimp, MailerLite, etc.) for automation.
You Can Talk To The Right People. Segment your email list to tailor messages to different customer groups (so it’s extra personalized!)
Opening the Email is the First Step. Focus on crafting compelling subject lines and clear CTAs (calls to action).
5. Offer Free Resources or Samples (Lead Magnets)
When to Use: If you have a product or service with a clear value that could attract potential customers. (or can create a mini version of a product/service) that drives immense value and showcases how good your sh*t is!
Why It’s Effective: Offering a lead magnet, sometimes called a freebie, (e.g., an eBook, a trial, a mini-course) helps build trust and can convert prospects into paying customers. It’s a great way to capture email addresses for your list, then nurture them over time (with great email marketing, see above!) You get bonus points if your lead magnet can solve a small problem and in doing so reveal the bigger more complex problem that your paid product or service can solve, since now they’ve had a taste of your goods, know that it’s top quality and valuable, and thus trust you and would be more willing to buy in.
What to Consider:
Does It Pass The Straight Line Test? Make sure your free offer aligns with your product or service, and solves a problem that attracts the right audience.
You Can Follow Up. If prospects do snag your freebie, now your job is to follow up with a series of nurturing emails that help them learn more about your business.
6. Partnerships and Collaborations with Other (Local) Businesses
When to Use: If you’re a small local business or working within a niche market.
Why It’s Effective: Collaboration allows you to cross-promote to each other’s audience without the cost of paid advertising. You could team up for joint events, co-branded promotions, or simply share each other’s content. This is great when there is overlap in your audiences, and the services or products compliment each other, like a marketing agency and a printing company, or a personal trainer and supplement company.
What to Consider:
Work Smarter, Not Harder. Find businesses that offer products or services that add value for your customers, but aren’t direct competitors.
Be Creative. Look for local events, fairs, or pop-ups where you can team up and share costs. Everyone can win when you partner up, just think outside the box about when, where, and how to do it.
7. Host Virtual Events or Webinars
When to Use: If you’re a service-based business or have expertise that could help others.
Why It’s Effective: Webinars and virtual events give you an opportunity to showcase your knowledge, engage with your audience in real-time, and build credibility in your field. They can also generate leads without the cost of travel or venues. Make sure you have a compelling CTA and special offer that can help convert attendees into customers. Plus, collect their email addresses, and build a nurture campaign to follow up with.
What to Consider:
Tell Everyone. Promote your event through social media, email lists, and digital, and local networks. Plus, this is a great time to tap those collaboration or partnership relationships you built!
Remember to Close The Deal. Offer a limited-time special deal at the end of the event to boost conversions. Yes, you want to share valuable ideas with people, but you also want to build your business.
8. Optimize Your Google Business Profile (And Manage Your Digital Reputation)
When to Use: If you run a local business or have a physical storefront.
Why It’s Effective: Google Business Profile (GBP) is an essential tool for small businesses, especially those with a physical location. It’s free (YAY!) and helps you appear in local search results, improving your visibility to potential customers who are looking for what you sell.
What to Consider:
Keep it Fresh. Ensure your GBP profile is fully optimized with up-to-date info (hours, services, photos, reviews) and check in periodically to update and refresh for accuracy. Make this page as useful and valuable as possible to prospects with great pictures and videos, resources (like a menu of services…or food!) a link to your website, options to contact you, and more. Bonus points if you respond to reviews and engage with customers…yes, even the unhappy ones.
9. DIY SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
When to Use: If you’re looking for a long-term, low-cost way to increase website traffic.
Why It’s Effective: SEO for your small business can provide high returns for little investment. By optimizing your website and content for search engines, you can attract organic traffic and improve your search ranking over time.
What to Consider:
Rank High. Pay Low. Use free tools like Google Search Console and Ubersuggest to research keywords.
Meta Data is Everything. Optimize your website with targeted keywords, meta descriptions, and quality content.
It’s a Long Game. Don’t expect immediate results. SEO is a long-term game. But if you are building a sustainable business and plan to keep being in business for the next 5, 10, 20, 200 years, it’s a good choice. Just make steady efforts.
10. Network (And Sell Yourself!)
When to Use: Always. Whether you’re at a formal event like a Chamber of Commerce meeting or just chatting with someone at the gym, networking opportunities are everywhere and you never know who’s uncle’s boss is looking to hire someone who does what you do!
Why It’s Effective: Word-of-mouth and personal connections are still some of the most powerful (and free!) ways to promote your business. People are more likely to trust and hire someone they’ve met and connected with in person and bonus points if they came highly recommended! Networking isn’t just selling. It’s about building relationships that can lead to referrals, collaborations, or future opportunities.
What to Consider:
Practice. Be ready to talk about who you are and what you do in a way that feels natural. Think of every conversation like an elevator pitch that’s clear, confident, and conversational.
Make it Easy for People to Follow Up. Keep business cards or a digital contact option handy so people can easily follow up.
Practice Again. It’s okay if you feel cringe talking about your business at first. With practice it becomes natural, and you’ll find a seamless bridge to tell folks what you do without trying to sell them something. That way, when their cousin’s best friend mentions it, you’ll be top of mind!
Small Business Marketing Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune
Marketing your small business on a budget doesn’t mean sacrificing quality. By using these low-cost strategies and staying consistent, you can build brand awareness, engage with your audience, and increase sales without draining your wallet.
Start small, test what works, and keep refining your approach for the best results. And for ongoing FREE marketing ideas to help grow your small business, sign up for our email newsletter.
