5 free marketing ideas for small business

As a business owner, you probably lack time or resources to manage a marketing department. Hire a professional or spend thousands of dollars on advertising in newspapers or on the distribution of brochures by mail is not a cost effective option. Do not be losing heart however; there are affordable ways to advertise by yourself. Here are five free marketing ideas for small business:

Help your customers to find you. Any company with a physical address should definitely appear on Google addresses, Bing places or Yahoo Local! Increasingly, your customers are looking for business addresses on their smart phones. So to help your target audience to find you, you need whether you’re available :). This service is completely free, it only takes five minutes to take ownership, verify and update your online address, and you have no excuse not to do it!

Have a presence on the web. If the age of your target customer is between 18 and 65 years, they will search you probably online. It is not necessary to have an elaborate website! At a minimum, you need a web page that indicates your name, opening hours, phone number and address. There are free applications for creating simple websites to use as Wix, Weebly or Yola.

Develop email campaigns.There is nothing easier than to gather a list of emails from your customers and send them a monthly newsletter. MailChimp is a great tool for that, again this is simple and free!

Socialize. Nowadays, a presence on social networks is required. You can create a Facebook page and feed there articles and interesting publications but go easy on social networks, users do not like to see aggressive marketing. Submit a coupon and ask your guests to bring it with them on their next visit to your offices, this will help you know the ROI of your “Facebook campaigns”.

Offer a referral program. Word-of-mouth has always been the most effective way to attract quality customers. Your most loyal customers are your brand ambassadors and can help you spread the word. Create loyalty cards and offer your customers a good discount if they refer you to their friends. Set up a commission structure and reward your customer for each new reference. Everybody wins, your customer is happy and you, you gain new customers!