6 Zero Budget Marketing Ideas And Tools For Small Businesses

Many business owners work under the assumption that because they have a zero budget on marketing there is not much they can do to promote their business.

Is it really true?

Of course not.

Marketing isn’t about how much money you spend it is about how much you do. If your budget is tiny or rather zero, you need to be creative & brave. And we are lucky that we have a range of online opportunities available at low cost or no cost, because of that marketing has become actually an easy process than used to be.

Still not convinced?

Well, to be honest even the biggest businesses tend to find it hard to drive their business in the right direction. Sometimes even they tend to break their banks to try to come up with many new ways through which they can gain many customers while at the same time engaging the existing ones.

Remember Google Plus?

Even Google couldn’t get it's Google Plus running and in spite of millions of dollars spent, it has finally shut down GooglePlus.

I literally have no clue which one will work for you because I don’t know you, I don’t know your business, I don’t know your customers.

But fortunately, you DO know your business! You know your customer base! It’s just that you are not taking that step to market your business only because you have no budget.

But I am pretty sure that after reading this guide you will have an awareness of a few marketing ideas and tools even if you don’t have an asset of cash.

Let’s get started.

1. Design a Logo & Get Business Identity at Low/ No Cost

By looking at the above image need I say more?

Yes, you got it right, what I am trying to say.

A logo is the best representation of any brand or business. It is a vital step in your branding. It’s not just a random image. It builds identity, perception. Logo reminds people

• Who you are
• What you do
• What do you stand for
• And how you can help them

Give some thoughts around these points and come up with a vision statement. Use some of the cost-effective or free services to design logo e.g. with Vistaprint you can design Logo for free if you order their merchandise, use Fiverr design service

Tools:

Vistaprint, Fiverr, Free Logo Design, Canva, Spaces’ free logo maker

2. Leverage Your Social Media Connections

If you are looking for a marketing idea that doesn’t even cost a cent then engaging with your followers or connections on social media is a good place to start.

Surprised?

Well, don’t just check your messages, post some content and sign off.

Social media is the first and foremost a platform where your voice can be heard. Take some time and start building the relationship you are connected with. The stronger the relations you build online, the more likely that these connections may turn into something worthwhile in the future.

Tools:

Create business pages using Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin

3. Build a Presence In Online Forums

Whether your business is small or a giant one, whether it sells goods or services but it is really essential to build a strong, focused and relevant online presence.

As far as the zero budget marketing strategy concern web presence is the strategy that provides the best return on investment.

How?

• Join the conversations online by getting active in the comments section and joining relevant groups.
• Answer questions.
• Offer others advice.
• show some support for leads and customers when thy expresses some relevance challenges.
• And most importantly, get to know those who show some interest in your services and help them by sending some content that can solve their problems.

Tools:

Reddit, Quora, Medium

4. Look For Opportunities For Guest Blogs

We all know that blogging on our own site is the best strategy to market your business. But do you know blogging on another site can also help you bring in more traffic to your website?

Awesome, right?

Guest blogging can help you connect with influencers, grow your list and otherwise grow your business.

And the best part is it’s absolutely free!!!!!

The only thing that will cost you is your time for researching the guest blogging opportunities and writing a quality article to post on.

Tool:

Your searching ability 🙂

I will leave it to you. Plan out and research targeted sites.

5. Design Winning Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing campaigns is one of the most effective zero budget marketing strategies. It is still a powerful method to turn a visitor into a paying customer.

Why?

Because it gives full access to connect with your audience and promote your brand. There are a lot of things that you can do with emails like sell products, share some news or tell a story.

By sending personalized emails to subscribers, you can show them that you are a real, live person with their concerns and interest in mind. With personalization, you can get your emails stand out in the inbox.

Don’t be afraid of emails! You don’t need to hire an expensive copywriter or a design firm there are many tools that can solve your problem.

You just need to focus on writing some message. And if you have a website, include a sign-up form on it that will help you build an email list. While doing email marketing is also important to keep a track of how many emails you send, because you don’t want to bombard your email list with communications. But you also don’t want them to forget about your brand.

Tool:

MailChimp

6. Give Out Free Samples Of Your Product

If someone gets an opportunity to experience your product or service for free then the chances are they will want to purchase from you more in the future. A business owner should never hesitate to provide a trial or a sample.

But if you own a furniture business then it is not advisable to give away a free sofa to see if the customer likes it. Instead, you can provide a sample of the material you are going to use to build a sofa. That way people will get to know how the material quality looks in person.

Similarly, if you are a service provider, offer a free trial to the consumers or clients to give a taste of how beneficial your service could be to their lives or business.

People are more comfortable purchasing what they have been able to experience it first.

P.S: Providing free samples or service itself is a powerful tool.

Summary:

Well, that’s the scoop: You don’t particularly need to have a big budget to find success in marketing your small or huge businesses. Sometimes all you need is a little creativity and thinking out of the box.