Are you looking for cheap and effective Small Business Advertising? One of the biggest expenses of starting a small business is advertising. Advertising usually is a lot more expensive because larger companies often have other branches or affiliates to share the cost and have a bigger advertising budget to work with. Since small businesses usually don’t have a lot of money allocated for advertising, small business owners need to be creative in how they advertise. Developing promotional materials can be time consuming and expensive!
Free advertising is always great from a cost perspective, but it’s not always effective. Wasting time chasing down free advertising that isn’t effective ends up costing new small business owners more in the long run. So if you are trying to find ways to advertise your small business without wasting time or spending a fortune try these cheap and effective small business advertising ideas.
Social networking
Many online advertising schemes don’t pan out in the long run, but social networking is free and studies prove it works. Create a profile for your company on sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace and keep them updated regularly. The trick to successfully using social networking to get customers and clients is to not use a hard sell. Post stories and comments that aren’t always about what you’re selling or you’ll run the risk of alienating the friends you have gathered on those sites. Remember that social networking is all about building long term relationships, not just getting a quick sale or website traffic.
Newsletters
Email newsletters are cheap to put out and can be a very effective way to keep your customers coming back as well as getting new ones interested in your business. Many web hosting services give business account holders free email newsletter templates and can send out mass emails for you. Make sure that the newsletter has lots of interesting facts and stories that lead people to your website. Offer discounts and coupons to customers too. You can use your email newsletter distribution list to create targeted ads and promotions for customers and potential customers who are already interested in your product or service.
Form Alliances
Partner up with other small businesses that are complementary to yours and combine your products or skills to attract more customers. For example, if you started a business designing gift baskets make overtures to local party and event planners about hosting a free seminar on party decorations or suggest working together to decorate at a wedding or other event. Working with other small business owners is a great way to get new customers and network. If you have bought a business franchise you may be lucky that your franchise fees pay for the advertising.
Advertising can become a major cost and if you are just starting out it may be a cost you just cannot afford. It is a chicken and egg situation – if you don’t have money you can’t advertise, however you need customers and money so that you can get money to advertise! Be savvy with your money and make sure that you get a good return for any money which you spend on Small Business Advertising.
Small Business Advertising: What About You?
Do you have any tips or personal experience with Small Business Advertising?
If you do we would love to know! Please leave a comment, ask a question or share your experiences below.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Jayne,
I totally agree about advertising being one of the biggest expenses of running a small business. It’s really important to monitor what’s working and what’s not – and also fine tune what is working, so it can work even better. I’ve found Google’s PPC (pay per click) to be a cost effective way of advertising for parts of my business – but this also needs constant monitoring and fine tuning.
Thanks for an interesting post.
Jan Littlehales recently posted..Raising Great Kids – Tryathlon
Hi Jan
Its a catch 22 situation – you need the money to advertise, but you can’t advertise if your business is not bringing in any income. Being smart and cost effective and finding the biggest return on your investment is really important. I use Adwords as well and Yahoo PPC to lassoo in the web visitors
social networks are the best source to advertise your business online. social networks drive much traffic to your website.
Hello Accounting Firm
Great point you have made here about Social Networks – they are definitely becoming the best way to promote your business.
Jayne
I can tell you from experience that trying to advertise for a small business can be a daunting task if you don’t know what you are doing. Sometimes you know who your target audience is, but you don’t know how to effectively contact them. Great read by the way. Social media and newsletters can be quite effective if you use them right.