Market Your Business for ‘Free’-ish

Free marketing tips for small business

First, you should probably know that according to the Office of Advocacy, 99.9% of all business in the US is small business. That means there are 33,185,550 small businesses un the US. Which means there’s a lot of competition out there for the products and services your business provides. But there’s also a lot of opportunities that you can tap into as a small business owner for free marketing tips for small business. Creating opportunities for your business is important and that’s why you do need to market it.

Why market your business?

Because there are other businesses that offer what you offer or something close to it. You must explain to people why they should choose your offerings. If you want to make money you have to market your business.

Can I do this for free?

Sort of, there are several ways you can market your business for free or a nominal charge. But I’ll be honest here – this is a full-time job. Creating content isn’t easy and will require skills. It can either be rewarding or frustrating. You’ll need to decide for yourself if this is something you want to do or hire out for. Marketing, even if you’re the one doing it for your business is going to have a cost, be it time or money.

What’s the Free-ish Way of Marketing?

Understanding Your Market

If your small business is scrappy and saving money is your goal, you can create your own marketing endeavor.  It would be the same as working with an agency like Atomic Dumpling. However, you’d need several things in your marketing toolbox to get started. First, you’re going to make mistakes. This is a way for you to grow – so just accept the mess-ups and look ahead. Second, you’re going to evolve your plan – so be flexible.

All marketing and advertising have budgets and goals in common. If you’re going the DIY route, then you need to know HOW TO do this. Here’s the list of what you need:

1. A product,
2. Pricing,
3. A location or place,
4. How you plan to communicate a promotion.

So far so good, right? This is commonly referred to as the 4Ps of Marketing. You’ll need to flex your creativity for this as you think about each of the Ps. Each P represents a component of marketing for your small business you’ll need to be able to address.

Why are each P important?

Well, each is a component of thought that surrounds your business. Let’s break it down into bit sized chunks.

The Product

When I say product, I’m talking about something that’s either a good or a service. My small business, Atomic Dumpling provides a service. We provide social media marketing and business writing services. Your business might provide a good, such as telescopes or hot peppers. No matter the product, you’ll need to define what it is and why someone needs to have it.

Just as important to what and why, you need to also be able to define somethings lifecycle. Think of it as the birth of your product, its growth, the maturity of the product, then its decline. For example, if you are developing an electronic device, that device will have an introduction to the public, it will then be adapted, that device will mature, then it will reach a point where it becomes obsolete. Understanding that cycle is the first step in understanding your product.

I’ll caution you here, you’ll need to know both the benefits and drawbacks of your product lifecycle. If you aren’t sure what those are, you might want to consider getting external help with this. I’ll recommend the Investopedia article on Product Life Cycles as a good starting point for you.

Price & All-Powerful Buck

What are people willing to pay for your product? If you are making something brand new to the market – chances are you’re going to be setting the pricing based on costs and profit margin. (Yes, I know there’s more to it than that, but that isn’t what this article is about. I’m simplifying this down to cost-plus pricing. If you want more, there are specialist in the field. But for reference, here’s the Harvard Business Review.)

In your DYI marketing, you need to clearly outline your pricing, value, and any discounts you might offer. Now here’s the thing – that pricing should also consider competitors and any other sensitivities to pricing your small business may encounter that could throw a wrench into your marketing strategy.

I’m also going to throw out my own personal pet peeves about pricing because you made it this far into the article. When I go to your website because I saw that cool item or service, I want to know the cost upfront. If it takes longer than 10 seconds to find your pricing or if I have to ‘Where’s Waldo’ hunt for it, I’m going to lose interest fast. Seeing no price, I can conclude it means it’s probably too high. If it’s on there but too low, it’s probably a scam. If you’re looking for a starting point for pricing, here are two starting points: HubSpot and Harvard Business Review.

The Place: Your Product & Marketing

Where your product is located and where you market are both important.

Yes, that sentence needed to be its own paragraph. People need to know where they can make a purchase and where they will want to make purchases. This is a big deal, and I can point to one of the reasons Nike was having so many problems (I’ll ignore lack of innovation for a moment.) You have to tell people where they can buy your stuff. If your product is sneakers, you’ll probably want to be getting those sneakers into stores other than your own (Nike, are you listening?)

You’ll also need to know where your customers are and how to reach them. There are a few ‘free’ and low-cost ways you should be marketing. Obviously, you need a website, that’s the first step. The next steps are easy, which include:

1. Google My Business
2. Yelp
3. Better Business Bureau
4. Yellow Pages
5. Bing
6. Local Chamber of Commerce
7. Other online locations based on the type of product such as Angi, Upwork, etc.
8. Social Media Platforms
9. Email Lists

Each of these methods is not a one and done. They all will have their own variable cost or time consideration. Most will require a level of updating too. These are managed either by someone like me or by the business owner. However, each offer a unique way to reach new and existing clients. So, let’s talk about these for a minute because some are not that well known.

Promoting Your Business

Google My Business is a great way promote visibly easily and for free. This is that side frame you see anytime you Google something like fried chicken. You’ll see business information like reviews, the website address, the map location, and phone number for a business.

Yelp is its own application that great for everything from restaurant reviews to making reservation. Yelp is highly popular and great for local business listings.

For younger people, the Yellow Pages used to be the worst thing to carry home from the mailbox. It was big, heavy, but you could find anyone’s name, address, and phone number in it. It was a household item back in the day. It was everywhere, from public phones to the bowling alley. Today, the Yellow Pages available online for a low cost to get listed and depending on your target audience, it may be worth it.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has been around since 1912 to prevent consumers from being taken advantage of. For service based businesses, the BBB helps build consumer trust, but the cost of membership may not be worth it for your business.

Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms offer different things to different audiences. The largest mixed content platform is Facebook. Facebook boasts 3 billion users, and the reach potential is truly a wonder. Next up is YouTube at 2.5 billion, followed by WhatsApp at 2 billion. Every social media platform has a potential to help your business, but you need to cater specifically to what content you should create to you target audience.  I’ll caution you here that you also can create paid content to get a larger reach, but it can end up cost your business a pretty penny. Start your social media campaigns organically and grow from there.

Email lists are another way to reach existing and future clients. There are a number of different email tools, ranging from Mailchimp to Zoho to Constant Contact. You’ll find a wide variety of price points based on services, number of users, and other options. Brevo offers a starter kit for free.

The Long & Short of Marketing Yourself

In the end there’s more to marketing than just making a TikTok or two. Creating a plan and understanding who your target audience are important. Following that, having a pricing model, an understanding of where to market, and how to promote your business are paramount. Self-marketing your business is possible!