8 Small Business Advertising Ideas

Advertising your small business can be a challenging proposition. Plenty goes into it, and you may need more money to hire a professional marketing company. You'll have to generate many advertising ideas for yourself and then execute them.

However, even if you don't have the budget for a marketing team, there are still plenty of free (or low-cost) ways to advertise your business. It simply requires a bit of creativity and outside-the-box thinking.

1. Print off and post flyers

One of the cheapest ways to get your name and business out there is to use a service to create and print off flyers to post in your local neighborhood. Whether you're advertising a service like lawn mowing or a product like Norwex or Scentsy, it's an easy and cheap way to advertise.

2. Create attractive business cards

Business cards are a necessary expense in the world of business marketing. They're unavoidable and essential to getting your name out there. But they don't have to be your traditional business cards.

Using something unique with your information engraved in some way is an eye-catching way to get your name out there. They're not (necessarily) going to be cheap, but they'll pay off with future customers.

3. Offer free products with a purchase

Another great way to get your name out there is to offer something as a freebie when you launch a new product or when a customer spends a certain amount of money. This incentivizes your customer to purchase from you to get the free thing and is great marketing. They might bring their friends along to enjoy the freebie, for example.

4. Utilize pop culture to your advantage

Sometimes, a cultural fad comes along for a good cause, and businesses latch onto it, partially to promote their business. The Ice Bucket Challenge is an excellent example of this. Find something that's culturally relevant that you can utilize to promote your business. For example, participate in something like the next Ice Bucket Challenge, and encourage your customers to do the same.

5. Word-of-mouth is your bread and butter

Almost every business has to start as a word-of-mouth business; there's nothing wrong with this, as it's all part of business growth. Word of mouth might be the most popular way to promote your business initially, so you'll want to ensure that every job you do is done to perfection, as your reputation quite literally will precede you.

To convince potential customers that you provide the best access door system installation, current customers should believe this and be willing to recommend your company above others.

6. Ask your audience to promote you via social media

Word-of-mouth is okay about the town, but word-of-mouth goes so much farther on social media platforms. Make sure your business has a social media presence, and ask your customers to tag you in any posts they make about your business.

It doesn't matter what your business is. You can promote almost any business via social media if you're creative. Getting your name noticed by a potential audience of thousands or millions is using the power of social media to your advantage.

7. Attend local events

Another way to promote your business is to attend business fairs, job fairs, or local events like farmer's markets. Promoting your business by getting out there among the community is one of the best ways to reach the locals. Ensure also to post your event on social media via live-streaming.

8. Build an email list

All of your favorite brands use email marketing as part of their marketing strategy, and there's no reason why you can't as well. Gather customer emails upon purchasing an item and send them marketing emails once a week or bi-weekly with exclusive offers on products and services.

Building a list of this sort will help keep customers engaged with your product/service and incentivize them to buy. No matter what product or service you're offering, every business owner needs to think of new and creative ways to market themselves and set themselves apart from the competition.

Of course, these ideas are just the tip of the iceberg of great marketing techniques for your small business, but hopefully, they're the start you need to get your business off the ground.