Home » Five Low Cost Ways to Market Your Small Business

Let's be honest, marketing can cost a small fortune. Television, radio, print...it's all expensive, and if not done properly can also be completely useless.

Throwing a $2,000 ad in your local paper might seem like a good idea, but if the majority of your target market isn't reading that paper, what's the point? The key to marketing a small business is determining where your target market is, then finding affordable ways to reach them. It doesn't have to be overly expensive. It doesn't have to be overly complicated. Here are five low cost ways to market your small business that will work in any economy.

1) Get Your Employees To Market For You

This one practically costs nothing to implement and can actually be a lot of fun. Whether you have ten employees or two, they all have lives outside of work. Create a contest that will benefit them to talk about your business to everyone they come across in their daily life. Friends, relatives, teachers, everyone. This way you're getting free marketing from people who know your business intimately, and they're getting some type of reward for doing it. One way is to have little cards printed up with your logo etc; and a special offer. Have each employee initial the cards and then start handing them out to everyone they know that's in your target market. Keep a record of all the cards redeemed and at the end of two weeks or a month, the employee whose cards resulted in the most sales wins a prize.

2) Google AdWords

The internet is all the rage these days. Why not take advantage of it and go where your prospects are? You can set up a Google AdWords account for only a few dollars. AdWords are the little text ads on the right side of the page when you search for something in Google. You select certain keywords that your ads will show for, then choose how much you're willing to pay for each click your ad receives. You only pay if someone clicks on your ad. You're also able to target your ads geographically and set a daily budget so your ads will stop showing once you've spent a certain amount. The big benefit to AdWords is that people are already looking for what you're selling. They've typed a search term into Google that corresponds to what your business is selling. How can you beat that?

3) Update Your Website

If you're going to get into Google AdWords, you're probably going to have to update your website. Now more than ever, your website is a reflection of your entire business. If you go to the trouble of sending people to the site and it looks sloppy and unprofessional, that will be the perception of your entire business. Find a professional who has a track record for producing successful websites and let them do their thing. And no, it doesn't have to cost thousands and thousands of dollars.

4) Email Sign Up

If you're going to have a great website, you might as well capture your visitors emails when they get there. Offer e free report, or some useful information in exchange for their email. That way, when you have a special event or sale, you send out an email blast to your list. Qualified, targeted leads with the click of a mouse. Your web designer will be able to set you up or at least point you in the direction of someone who can.

5) Be a bonus For Other Businesses

I like this one. Find businesses who would have the same general target market as you and offer your business as a bonus for one of their promotions. As an example, if you owned a restaurant, go to a day spa and give them a stack of free entree cards or certificates. Then they will offer the free meal at your restaurant as a bonus in one of their own spa packages. They're trying hard to push their own business, and in the process will be marketing yours for free.

These are just a few of the countless low cost marketing ideas that are available to small businesses. Marketing is crucial, but effective marketing doesn't have to leave you broke.