If you have no marketing budget, you are not alone. Many businesses suffer from lack of flexibility to invest in unproven marketing tactics. Even at established companies, there is never enough funding to go around with pressure on growing sales and cutting costs.
After working with several small-to-medium businesses, these are the free marketing ideas that are most effective.
Ask your early customers for online reviews
I cannot stress enough how important customer reviews are for new or relatively unknown businesses. In today’s economy consumers are feeling the strain of high prices and uncertainty. Social proof that your product or service is worth the money is the best marketing you can get. In focus groups and other marketing studies throughout my career I have seen prospective customers express a natural skepticism of what companies say about themselves. When praise comes from another customer it can feel more authentic.
Whether you are a local business with a Google profile, an e-commerce business or a B2B business you should invest the time required to get your first few customers to support you publicly.
There are several ways to solicit a review. If you sell physical goods you can put up an in-store sign or a card in your packaging to encouraging reviews. For goods or services, you can incentivize reviews by giving a discount off a purchase. You can directly ask a customer that you’ve built rapport with to leave you a review. Usually happy customers are willing to support a new business they like.
Don’t forget to tell them exactly where to leave a review that benefits you most. List what platforms you are listed on or provide a QR code to directly link to your profile on Google, Amazon, Yelp, Nextdoor, etc.
If you are a B2B company you’re not off the hook. Ask for a quote or a case study to place on your website or in your pitch materials. Business clients can be reluctant to partner with a new B2B provider that doesn’t have a track record. Being able to highlight even one or two existing or past clients can give comfort to prospective clients deciding if they trust your service.
Request coverage from your local news
Local newspapers and news stations are often willing to highlight businesses in the local community. Research your local news outlets online. They will likely have a contact us link on their website. Reach out! The worst that will happen is they say no or don’t respond. Sometimes, they will say yes.
When you reach out make a compelling pitch by sharing who you are, what your business does and why it is unique. Are you solving a particular problem for your community? Are you a veteran, woman, parent, or born-and-raised local owned? Tell them more about who you are and why it’s significant to you to open this business. Highlight the impact you make on the community like creating jobs, bringing in new business to the area, or improving a local issue.
Consider hosting a grand opening if you have a physical location, or another celebration event if you are online or B2B. Invite friends and family to show up to support you. Invite your local news to join to be on the morning or evening show. You could also submit a photo with a write up to your local newspapers to ask for a feature.
Don’t forget about student newspapers. Even local high schools or colleges will profile community stories. Those students or parent readers could be your potential customers!
Start a basic email marketing program
All modern day POS software will have an option to collect customer information. Many will have emailing features built into your subscription or available as an add onfor a small monthly fee.
Start building your email list early and grow it over time. Collect the information for your customers when they purchase from you. Provide digital invoices or receipts so that this is a more natural information exchange. Put an email submission block on your website for a small discount to encourage potential customers to subscribe.
Running an effective email marketing program is an entire marketing discipline that we can’t cover in depth in just one post. However, the best thing you can do is just get started. Start small with simple things like emailing your current customers about new promotions, or seasonal offerings. You can also do a referral program by emailing an offer for a discount when someone refers a new customer to you.
The options will get more robust as your email marketing gets more mature. In the early phases focus on the data collection and basic messages to build a relationship with your current customer base.
Importantly, make sure you turn on the consent for marketing settings in your software. There are a variety of privacy regulations in the US, Europe and other countries around email marketing. They anchor in giving customers a choice in who emails them and for what purpose. When consent is enabled it will look like either a check box or a disclaimer next to the email submission form. It sounds like a small detail that many businesses may be tempted to skip, but it’s essential. Nothing is worse than being spammed by a business that you never wanted to be contacted by in the first place. The regulations exist for good reason.
Don’t be afraid to experiment
These three tactics: encouraging customer reviews, contacting local news, and simple email are a few of the easiest self-serve options to get started on marketing. You can start with one, all, or many other tactics. As I said before, there’s no harm in trying them to see what sticks. The chances are at least one of these will help your business.