Did you know that the United States has around 543,000 new businesses opening every month?
With so much competition, it's normal to feel unsure how to best advertise your new business so that you can stand out among the crowd. On top of that, you probably have a small advertising budget after you've handled all your other startup expenses.
The good news is you can find cheap and even free ways to advertise your new business. Read on to explore seven of your options.
1. Use Your Social Media Sites
Creating social media sites for your business and sharing links on community groups and networking pages can help you advertise your new business for free. You can also regularly update your pages with some promotions to attract customers.
Like you might use QuickBooks Enterprise for accounting, you can use a tool like HootSuite for easier social media marketing.
2. Attend Community Events
Your community likely has networking events, festivals, business gatherings, and charity events throughout the year. Find out if your business can set up a booth or even hand out flyers. You could even get creative and make some branded merchandise to share with attendees.
Can't find a community event that works for you? You can always try holding a free or cheap event at a place like a library.
3. Ask Customers to Refer Others
Word-of-mouth advertising can effectively get more customers without any expense to you. Let your high-quality work speak for itself and encourage your customers and other contacts to spread the word to everybody they know.
If you're willing to spend, you might consider offering a small incentive like a coupon to encourage referrals.
4. Issue a Press Release Online
Another low-budget advertising option is to draft a press release for your business that announces its opening, mission, and services. You can then find places to distribute the press release for free online.
Some example sites you can use include PR.com, ClickPress.com, and NewsireToday.com.
5. Have Someone Blog About You
In addition to issuing a press release, you can find other companies and people in the industry who run blogs. You can ask them to write about your company and include links to your service pages. This can help you tap into another customer base easily.
6. Email Potential Customers
Sending emails promoting your business can be a fast and free way to encourage sales. You can make your own email list from people you've worked with in the past or know from the community. You can also put a newsletter signup form on your website to get new email addresses effortlessly.
7. Distribute Business Cards
Don't underestimate the helpfulness of traditional business cards either. You can easily make some using Microsoft Word templates and print them yourself. Hand them out to local businesses and anybody you meet who asks about your work.
You Can Advertise Your New Business on a Low Budget
Don't let lack of cash prevent you from spreading awareness of your business. Use these free and cheap ways to advertise your new business and also explore other options out there.
For example, you can always tap directly into your professional network. Know other local business owners? Suggest that they tell their customers about you!
