How To Promote A Business Online Without Spending A Penny?

“Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.” – Henry Ford

But, then again, thrifty entrepreneurs would love the idea to save on their marketing expenses without compromising on the accompanying benefits. 

To make such a dream possible, entrepreneurs can consider a few cost-effective branding strategies that go a long way and don’t necessarily need you to take out a business loan. 

Take a look at the following and pick a few that are worth incorporating into your sales and marketing plan. 

Top Ways To Promote Your Business Without Spending Money!

Save on your marketing and advertising expenses like a pro with the following tips –

1. Use Your Loyal Customer Base

A loyal customer base is undoubtedly the best brand ambassador any business can have. 

The best thing about them? 

You needn’t pay them to brag about your product online. Maintain your product and service quality, also provide lucrative incentives from time to time to retain their loyalty. 

For instance, discounts, cashback offers, and rewards help businesses hold customers’ attention and make them feel treasured.

After all, A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all. – Michael LeBeouf 

2. Benefit From Affiliate Programmes

Affiliate marketing is one of the most cost-effective strategies for promoting a brand and its products.

This marketing strategy’s beauty is that businesses do not necessarily have to shell out money or seek a business loan to pay affiliate marketers unless their endeavors generate profit. 

However, the key is to pick influential personalities or businesses with a reliable and robust market presence to make this strategy work in your favour. 

3. Leverage The Power Of Social Media

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Snapchat, among others, have become the most preferred means to increase brand visibility and free publicity. Thus, most businesses embed videos & social media feeds on their websites. Additionally, learning how to embed videos on WordPress sites.

But then again, its success depends mainly on the content you share and how efficient it is in engaging your target audience. 

Often businesses miss the mark of social media marketing and end up talking about just themselves or their offerings. 

It’s imperative to realise that most people are interested not in the products themselves but in how it solves their problems. Focus on those and provide relevant solutions to pique the interest of your audience. Moreover, leveraging text to speech voices within your videos can add an extra layer of accessibility and engagement, ensuring that your content is accessible to all audiences, including those with visual impairments or those who prefer auditory learning.

4. Optimise Business Website 

“93% of online experiences begin with a search engine”, as per an article in Forbes. 

So, make sure your website is optimized correctly to secure the best spots on result pages.

Start with following the basics of SEO to secure a good ranking on Google.

For instance, ensure that your website is informative and caters to the user’s search intent. A few other SEO tricks include proper keyword placement, quality content, and incorporating a strategic approach to internal link building, along with the generous use of external links.

5. Get Your Venture And Products Listed On Business Directories 

List your business in Google Local to attract potential customers based in your locality and nearby areas. 

Similarly, you can use business directories like Indian Yellow Pages, Just Dial, Trade India, Ask Me, and IndiaMart to your advantage. 

The best thing about this strategy is that you can enlist your products on such directories for free – no need for unnecessary outlays or a business loan.  

However, the efficiency of this measure often depends on the target’s willingness to go through the directories and reach out to you. 

6. Use Email Marketing And Influencer Marketing To Your Advantage

If you think email marketing is a thing of the past, THINK AGAIN!

Around 23% of e-commerce sales are driven by email marketing, and an E-consultancy report revealed. Plus, email is a preferred means of promotion for 60% of total customers. 

You can use free email marketing tools and develop effective marketing strategies to use the medium to reach out to more customers in one go.  

However, problems like spam filters kept in place for email security still haunt email marketers. 

Besides these, businesses can resort to answering popular questions on internet forums like LinkedIn Groups, Yahoo Answers, Quora, etc., to boost brand visibility for free. 

You can also leverage the influence of Networking Events and Professional meetups to expand your network and attract a customer base without any added expenses.

Bottom Line

Marketing and brand promotion are indispensable to survive in a competitive market like ours. This is why successful industrialists often recommend both big and small businesses to be generous while allocating resources for ads and marketing. Many entrepreneurs resort to a business loan to account for similar expenses, while others go thrifty.

However, with alternative funding options like invoice discounting, businesses now do not need to add to their existing debts. They can use their unpaid bills to raise substantial funds to meet working capital expenses and finance a significant share of marketing costs successfully.