Free Advertising Ideas for Small Businesses

Free Advertising Ideas for Small Businesses
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Free Advertising – Why Do We Need It?

With the recent economic downturn, many businesses are cutting costs and many are trimming their advertising budgets. However, this is not the time to cut advertising budgets, but is time to re-evaluate the advertising budget. Small businesses should understand that money spent on advertising is an investment and not an expense.

The word “FREE” opens all ears and arouses interest. Read on to know about free advertising ideas for attracting new customers. However, remember that not all free advertising strategies would work the same way as they did for others. Neither would they always work the same way as they did earlier. It is best to keep rotating these strategies and take advantage of the thousands of opportunities that are available.

The next section offers some easily implementable free advertising ideas.

Free Advertising Ideas for Small Businesses

Some of the best free advertising ideas for small business promotion are described in the following paragraphs:

  1. Send a press release or a monthly newsletter to promote the small business. These releases can also be submitted on various websites. The newsletter can be emailed to customers and prospective customers. It is also a great idea to involve some success stories that customers may have had by using the product or service. The newsletter could describe new products, offer coupons and also provide links to articles that involve the business.
  2. Write articles about the product and service you offer and post the articles on different websites. Make sure to include a link to the webpage of the business. Other places to submit these articles are local newspapers, magazines, trade journals and industry specific websites.
  3. Register the business website on free listing directories like DMOZ which would help increase the online traffic on the small business website. Make good use of free Yellow pages and classifieds. Use Google Maps Listing and Yahoo Local city listing.
  4. Use social networking websites like Facebook, Orkut, and Twitter, etc. Register, build a profile, add friends and prospective customers to begin advertising. You could also consider making a group, community or business page for your small business.
  5. Join industry forums and contribute to the online community. It is best to search industry keywords in online group websites like MSN, Google and Yahoo. It is a good idea to check if these forums would allow you to advertise as not all forums are built for business promotion.
  6. Use Wikipedia, Wiki travel or other wiki sites where you can upload information about the product or service. Use eHow and other websites to write how-to articles related to your products. Make a slideshow/video of your products and upload it to web sites like YouTube, Google Videos, and MetaCafe.
  7. Start blogging with free services like Tumblr, WordPress, and Blogger. Include the blog/site name in your email signature or IM status.
  8. Free advertising can be done through your own personal vehicles. Put a company logo on the license plate or place a window sticker on the rear of the vehicle. Make sure it contains contact information, which is clearly visible.
  9. Use Craigslist, Backpage, Kijiji and other free online classified boards. Craigslist is one of the top 25 websites that are visited in the world. Backpage is simple to use and reaches most of the NYC population.
  10. Attend as many meetings, presentations, trade shows, and industry specific events as you can to know competitors. Such events are also attended by various prospective customers. Thus, these events could work as a platform where you can do some direct advertising for the business.
  11. Offer free seminars at libraries, hotels, marketplaces, or at your friend’s office and let prospective customers know about your products and services. It is a good idea to carry out product demos.
  12. Use affiliate marketing with attractive rewards for referrals.

These are but some of the free advertising ideas. You too can create several free advertising ideas by thinking over the resources at your disposal.

With networking becoming easier and easier, thanks to the Internet and email, free advertising for small businesses has become much more easier than it was some years ago. The above mentioned free advertising ideas can be easily and quickly implemented for enhancing the productivity of a small business.

This post is part of the series: Top Business Startup Ideas

This series intends to offer you the best business startup ideas in different fields. For example, it gives the top business startup ideas in the fields of green computing, Internet based businesses, and more. It also provides information on the best places to start a business.

  1. Free Advertising Ideas for a Small Business during Economic Downturn
  2. What Are the Best Online Business Ideas with Minimum Investment?
  3. Top Five Green Business Startup Ideas
  4. Business Startup Assistance for People Without Experience
  5. How to Start and Run a Computer Repair Business