Promotional and advertising costs can be very high and strenuous for a start-up or a business that is struggling with cash flows. This poses a dilemma because it’s important to advertise while at the same time break even for a company to bring desirable profits. It’s at this point that a manager needs to consider cheaper ways of advertising. Here are five inexpensive ways of promoting your business to keep your commodity relevant in the market.
1. Trial Offers
These trial offers run for one week to up to a month. If you’re aggressive enough, take advantage of these trial offers and get your product promotion achieved in just a month. Choose a trial offer that will add value to your product. The most popular companies that offer free trial services are eCommerce service Shopify, web hosting service- square space and email service Aweber.
2. Free tools for web based products
The free tools mostly apply for people who have web-based products. A good example is Google Analytics that has a whole spectrum of features to help track many aspects of your business. Another one is the Free Keyword tool that identifies the keyword that people use to search for you. Google drive, trello and mail chimp are also effective.
3. Social media and online self-publishing platforms
Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn are most of the overlooked ways of marketing a business. These methods could help promote your business during hard economic times or when you are starting a new venture. The other social media platform is blogging podcasting and self-publication. You could write about your product and publish them on low-cost blogs.
4. Offline promotional tools
In the digital age, most of the offline promotional methods have a tendency of being overlooked. Business cards and fliers can influence a wide audience when created in a professional and creative way. Classified section advertising is relatively cheaper when compared to other promotional methods since it entails paying minimal fees at the classified section of print publications.
5. Free giveaways
Everyone loves free gifts. Once you host a free giveaway online, you could attract a lot of responses. This method works effectively if you set clear goals and objectives for your business. The other way to get people to know about your product is by offering free entries to the free giveaway gifts on social media like on Facebook. How does this work? The more one shares the product and receives likes, the more they increase their chance for the free gifts.
Promoting your business when it’s young or undergoing significant cash flow imbalances can be a hectic task. However, by utilizing these five methods, you’ll draw customers at your doorstep without getting much out of your pocket.