How to Advertise Your Business for Free

Most marketing experts recommend that businesses spend anywhere from 2 to 5 percent of their gross sales on advertising. If you're just starting out, you may not have the budget to place ads in television, radio and print, or start a direct mail campaign. Even if you are spending money on ads, the following are ways to advertise your business for free through traditional methods and online channels.

Steps

1. Offline Promotions and Advertising Ideas
   
   
   
   
   • Submit a press release to local media outlets to encourage positive media coverage.
   • Make sure the story is newsworthy and not merely an advertisement for your business.
   • If you're just opening, the story could be about how you are building the business and how many people you employ locally.
   • Established businesses can draw attention to themselves by supporting local charities and community organizations.
   • Start a word-of-mouth campaign by offering a discount or freebie to current customers who send you referrals. You might want to be specific about the type of business you are looking for.
   • Team up with businesses that offer complimentary services and refer customers to one another. For instance, if you sell greenhouses, network with fertilizer suppliers and floral shops.
2. Use your car as ad space for your business. You can put the company name on the license plate, place a poster in the window, slap on a bumper sticker or affix a decal to the door or rear of your vehicle. Also, don't overlook the effectiveness of a large door magnet with your business name, phone and/or website or email. Vistaprint.com has literally thousands of cost effective designs to choose from.
3. Choose a memorable phone number. Even if you don't have an 800 line, you can choose a simple local 7-digit number or one that spells a word related to your business.
4. Host seminars, workshops and other educational events. For instance, wine shops can host tastings and craft stores can host workshops on any number of crafting techniques.
5. Advertise Your Business for Free Online
   
   
   • Develop a 2 or 3 line bio with a link to your business's Web site that you can use as a signature for all email correspondence, informational articles and forum postings.
   • Post on Internet forums that host topics related to your business. This is a good way to show off your expertise as you build relationships with a potential client base.
   • Write articles as an expert in your field and submit them to sites that publish articles for free online. Doing this consistently is a great way to get attention.
   • Use social media to promote your business, communicate with customers and get feedback.
   • Facebook, MySpace and Twitter can be great ways to reach people online, if that's where your market is.
   • Make sure your logo and message are consistent across points of contact, and always provide a link to your company's Web site.
   • Register your business's information with directories like Yahoo, Google, Craigslist, MySheriff and others.
   • Include a tracking code with your business's URL to find out where people are clicking through.
   
   

Tips

• Offering good information and advice through social media, print or seminars, without constantly promoting your brand, is a great way to build trust with your client base.