Paying for advertising and marketing is hard.

[You2mesoosoooo]

I am tired of paying all these people to send to my business. How do I do it for free and get more people to my shop?

[TheRealChipA]

Hi there @You2mesoosoooo.. This is the eternal conflict for small business owners.  In order to reach a really broad market and keep finding new customers, it is sometimes necessary to do some paid/conventional marketing and advertising.  But the trick is finding the right mix, the right balance.

I'm going to recommend that you Google "guerrilla marketing."  When we started Piper's over a decade ago, we used many of these grass-roots principles to market our business for free or at least for much less investment.  It's not a small amount of work, but remember that when you pay for advertising you are paying for other people to work for you.  Therefore, if you don't want to pay so much, you have to work more.  There is no other way.

Other things we did?  You don't say what kind of business you are in, which is important.  But we spent a lot of time getting our website noticed -- SEO, reciprocal links to other local small businesses, etc.  Now, anyone who searches for "ice cream near me" finds us at the top of every list in all search engines.  Anyway, we don't rely on internet sales, being an ice cream shop.  But it you do rely on internet sales, you need to invest the time and effort into making your website professional and appealing, and doing everything you can to get the search engine bots to notice you, index you and drive people to you who are searching for businesses like yours.

We also did spend some money to engage the services of a local marketing company who were starting up, like us.  They used their connections and contacts to get us lots of free exposure with local TV stations and other local new outlets.  That was well worth the money we spent.

One final suggestion.  Look for a local chapter of an organization called SCORE.  They put it better than I can on their home page -- "SCORE can help you start, grow or successfully exit a business. Small business owners who receive three or more hours of mentoring report higher revenues and increased growth."  They have tons of free resources, seminars and business counseling opportunities that are geared toward each local office and business environment.  And the ones that aren't free are very reasonably priced and, again, well worth it.  

Those are very general things.  Definitely read all you can about guerrilla marketing.  And if you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to come back here and ask.  Good luck!

[DinaLRosenberg]

@TheRealChipA  EXCELLENT advice.

Without knowing what industry we're talking about- I would suggest experimenting with social media... sure it takes time- but it has made an unbelievable difference for us.

[Ink-jar]

SEO, Google ADs, the right website. We used a human that knew how to navigate these at a good price point and then it's hand off... https://www.sageandcrane.com is their email and people like this are dedicated to smaller companies so fit us well. I tried Upwork and was burnt too many times so luckily we found a good inclusive fit ✔️✌️😎

[doc_choc]

Sometimes for a smaller businesses its good to build up a local customer base and work from there out using more traditional and cost effective marketing techniques. As you generate some critical mass some of the more tech based marketing methods may become interesting. 

But as mentioned in the feed it depends on your business, market and product. 

[CareyJo]

I would add to what @TheRealChipA has said.  SCORE is fantastic and it's found through the SBA.  However, I would add several things.

I've been self-employed over 35 years.  I've owned/operated 10 different businesses.  In each and every one, networking has been the key and in case you're wondering, all but two of them have been different types of products.  I'm a HUGE fan of networking.

Networking means a lot of different things to a lot of people and more often then not, it has a negative connotation.  It doesn't have to and it can be incredibly beneficial for your business.  We do not use marketing.  Let me repeat that, we do not use marketing in our business.  We just had our biggest year ever in 2024.  I spent over 20k trying radio a number of years back.  All I ever got from it was people quoting our commercial to me.  I realize that this is just my experience and I cannot speak for everyone, but I can tell you what has worked for us and what I will forever do....

Join the Chamber.  Stay a member.  Get involved.  Join more than one if you have the means.  It's always worth it.

Network.  Join groups, free and not free.  Make connections in your community.  Get involved in your community.  Volunteer.

Do social media yourself.  If you don't have the time, hire someone IN HOUSE to do it for you.  Don't outsource, it will cost more.

Be consistent with whatever marketing you're doing.  Don't try something new each month.  Do it for at least a year.

Make flyers.  Hand them out, post them around town.  Take them to groups.  You can print them yourself much cheaper.

Offer to sponsor things that get your name out.  Doesn't take much.  $100 means a lot to some groups.

Since we don't know what your business is, I don't know if this applies but teach a class.  Offer something through your Chamber.

On your business anniversary, celebrate by doing something for the community.  Invite everyone.

Can you cold call?  Can you ask for referrals?

Put a referral option on the back of your business card.  Put a Google review on there too.

Can you partner with other businesses that support yours?  For example, if you make cookies, can you sell them at a local coffee shop?  Make stickers for people who come in your shop to go to the other business that supports yours.

If you're a 'something to do' kind of business, have you checked out all of the local places to get listed?  There's a tourism board in every state.  Your Chamber will know how to plug into that.

Can you offer a discount service to a business that partners with you in trade for referrals?

I'm sure I can come up with more, these were just off the top of my head.  I hope there's something useful in there for you but tell us about your business!

[DinaLRosenberg]

Great advice- the Chamber is often overlooked!

[CareyJo]

YES!!!!  And they have soooooooooooooooo much to offer!!  Especially big city ones!!