13 Inexpensive Small-Business Marketing Ideas That Actually Work

Want to springiness your tiny concern a selling boost? Try 1 of the ideas below.

They’re inexpensive, and they work.

Here’s the list:

1. Set up your Google Business Profile
2. Get featured connected section list posts
3. Get listed connected directories and marketplaces
4. Get much reviews
5. Target seasonal events
6. Do SEO for your existing pages
7. Run a giveaway of your product
8. Partner with influencers
9. Leverage existing pages and spaces
10. Turn one-time purchases into subscriptions
11. Bundle your products
12. Create a referral program
13. Set up drip campaigns

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is simply a escaped instrumentality from Google that allows you to create, manage, and optimize your Google Business Profile.

Basically, doing this volition amended your rankings successful section hunt queries and Google Maps.

Setting it up and optimizing it lone instrumentality 30 minutes—a low-hanging fruit. If you’ve not done it yet, I’ll urge you bash it now.

Recommended reading: How to Optimize Google My Business successful 30 Minutes

“Best of” lists beryllium for astir thing successful astir immoderate city. You tin find the champion spas successful Singapore:

Or the champion rotation studios successful London:

These pages usually get a decent magnitude of postulation and volition exposure your concern to readers. So your extremity is to look connected these pages, which diagnostic lists that autumn nether topics applicable to your business.

Here’s however to find these pages to pitch:

1. Install Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar
2. Search Google for thing that’s apt to instrumentality applicable lists for your business
3. Look for blog posts with traffic

For example, if you ain a ramen edifice successful Singapore, you tin hunt for “best ramen edifice singapore.” This gives you a database of “best of” pages you tin transportation to. Use the SEO Toolbar to spot which of these pages get traffic:

If you find that you’re not featured connected immoderate of these pages, find the tract owner’s oregon editor’s email address. Then springiness a pitch, requesting them to see your business. But don’t expect to beryllium included conscionable similar that. You’ll usually person to invitation them to illustration your merchandise oregon service.

Google is lone 1 mode radical find businesses online. There are different directories and marketplaces radical usage too. For example, they whitethorn usage Yelp to find restaurants, TripAdvisor to find hotels, oregon Avvo to find lawyers.

Likewise, your extremity is to look successful immoderate applicable directories truthful that radical tin easy find your business. To look for suitable directories, Google “[type of business] adjacent me.” Then look for directories successful the hunt results.

Another method is to usage Ahrefs’ Link Intersect tool, which is simply a instrumentality that shows you who’s linking to aggregate competitors, but not you. Here’s how:

1. Go to Link Intersect
2. Enter a fewer of your competitors’ homepages successful the apical section
3. Enter your website successful the bottommost section

Then, deed “Show nexus opportunities.”

Look done the database and spot if determination are immoderate directories. For example, this tract looks similar it is simply a directory and links to each 3 competitors’ sites.

Go to the website and spot however you tin beryllium added to the directory.

In all, 93% of consumers say that online reviews person influenced their acquisition decisions. So the much affirmative reviews you have, the likelier it is for idiosyncratic to bargain from your business.

Not lone that, typically speaking, if you privation to fertile higher connected directories oregon marketplaces (#3), it is apt you’ll request much reviews. One thing, though: On astir of the large directories, it is against guidelines to connection incentives for reviews. As a result, you whitethorn beryllium penalized for doing so.

So however tin you get much reviews?

The simplest mode is to marque it casual for radical to reappraisal your business. Create a nexus that your customers tin entree easy truthful that they don’t person to fig things out. The less hoops to leap through, the much apt customers volition permission a reappraisal for you.

The timing matters too. Ask them to reappraisal your concern only if they person expressed satisfaction. It whitethorn beryllium aft a lawsuit compliments you connected the delicious nutrient astatine your eatery oregon shares a affirmative Net Promoter Score (NPS) online.

No substance which state you reside in, determination are plentifulness of seasonal occasions and events that radical are consenting to walk bully wealth on. Examples see Valentine’s Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and Singles’ Day (Asia).

Your concern should capitalize connected people’s willingness to spend.

One mode you tin bash this is to find seasonal topics and fertile for them. Here’s however you tin find these topics:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
2. Enter a fewer applicable keywords
3. Go to the Matching terms report
4. In the Include box, participate a fewer vacation keywords (e.g., Black Friday, Father’s Day) and take Any word.

From here, eyeball the database for applicable topics you tin target, past create contented that ranks for it.

Recommended viewing: Holiday SEO Tips to Maximize Organic Traffic

Here’s an absorbing statistic: 53.3% of each website traffic comes from integrated search. Yet, according to our survey of 1 cardinal pages, 90.63% of pages get zero postulation from Google.

One of the reasons is astir of these pages aren’t optimized for SEO.

If you privation to fertile precocious connected Google and get passive, integrated postulation implicit time, you person to optimize your pages for SEO.

First, let’s commencement by identifying pages connected your tract that bash not presently get immoderate hunt traffic. Here’s however to do this:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer
2. Enter your domain
3. Go to Overview 2.0 and scroll to the Organic pages by traffic chart

Click connected the “0” bar, and it’ll amusement you each the pages connected your tract that bash not get immoderate hunt traffic.

Look done the database and enactment down those pages that are important to you. They should beryllium your priority. Then travel the usher beneath connected however to amended your pages’ rankings.

Recommended reading: How to Rank Higher connected Google (6 Easy Steps)

Everyone loves freebies. Give distant your product—and you’ll get to beforehand it, rise marque awareness, and adjacent cod email addresses on the way.

Doing a giveaway is beauteous easy. Set it up with a escaped instrumentality similar KingSumo, and you’ll beryllium bully to go.

You tin adjacent gamify the giveaway by handing retired much entries if participants implicit a acceptable of actions. The bully news? KingSumo does this automatically for you too:

American entrepreneur Tim Ferriss sold retired chaotic sardines and Mizzen+Main’s shirts after 1 podcast shout-out. Kpop vocalist Hwasa sold retired dishes astatine a section edifice successful Korea after she was filmed eating there.

Work with influencers to pat into their audience. Their followers spot them and are blessed to bargain immoderate the influencer recommends.

This happens astatine Ahrefs too. Even without an influencer selling campaign, an endorsement from an manufacture adept has led to a important boost successful sign-ups:

There are plentifulness of ways you tin enactment with influencers. For example, if you’re a edifice owner, invitation them for a tasting session. Or you tin springiness them your merchandise for free.

However, unpaid engagements mean the influencer whitethorn not beryllium inclined to beforehand you. If you person the budget, you tin enactment with them connected a paid basis. You don’t person to enactment with celebrities. You tin ever enactment with nano oregon micro influencers to scope much radical astatine lower costs.

You tin adjacent harvester this thought with different ideas successful this article. For example, you tin get them to articulation your referral programme (idea #12) oregon spouse with them to bash a giveaway (idea #7):

Recommended reading: Influencer Marketing successful 2021: Definition, Examples, and Tactics

Thank-you pages, cart pages, email confirmation pages, receipts, and more. Most businesses conscionable permission them arsenic is, but they’re really underutilized existent estate.

More tin beryllium done with them. You tin adhd upsells, adhd cross-sells, cod emails, inquire for reviews, etc., connected these pages.

For example, aft you motion up for Ramit Sethi’s email list and click “confirm,” you’ll beryllium redirected to a leafage wherever helium offers you a fewer escaped downloadable resources and a nexus to cheque retired his paid course.

Other examples see Amazon showing recommended oregon sponsored products connected its cart page:

Pret A Manger offers a monthly java subscription for lone £20.

If you’re a regular java drinker, this is an astonishing deal. So wherefore would Pret bash this? A fewer reasons:

• Guaranteed income – A idiosyncratic whitethorn not portion Pret’s java each day. That represents a “potential” nonaccomplishment of income. A subscription exemplary gives Pret a fixed magnitude of income per month.
• Habit gathering – There are tons of java options successful the U.K. Pret is lone 1 of them. But idiosyncratic with a Pret subscription becomes much apt to get java from Pret and, therefore, physique a habit.

If you person a merchandise oregon work that is bought regularly, see asking customers if they privation to crook their purchases into a recurring affair. Coffee is 1 specified product, but determination are more.

For example, Onnit asks customers if they privation to bargain supplements connected a recurring basis, arsenic opposed to conscionable a one-off:

If providing a subscription is not applicable to your business, past you tin ever connection customers the enactment to bargain a bundle.

For example, Beardbrand offers customers an enactment to bargain a bundle of 3 beard oils (with a discount arsenic an incentive):

Frank Body upsells its archetypal java scrub by offering a scrub kit:

Some satisfied customers whitethorn people urge your products to their friends. However, astir request prodding. This is wherever you tin usage a referral program—create incentives that promote customers to archer their friends about you.

The occurrence of your referral programme depends connected the incentive. For that, you tin either springiness distant a currency oregon non-cash reward:

• Cash rewards – For each caller lawsuit idiosyncratic refers, you springiness them and the idiosyncratic they referred $X. Neobank Revolut is 1 specified example.
• Non-cash rewards – For each caller lawsuit idiosyncratic refers, you springiness them and the idiosyncratic discounts, store credits, escaped products, oregon more. For example, MeUndies gives distant a $20 discount disconnected the adjacent purchase with each palmy referral.

Which 1 should you choose?

If your merchandise is not thing customers bargain often (e.g., a mattress), past a currency reward whitethorn beryllium much enticing. If the merchandise is often bought (e.g., clothes), past store credits for the customers’ adjacent acquisition whitethorn beryllium much exciting.

Recommended reading: 10+ Top E‑Commerce Referral Programs to Learn From

When idiosyncratic signs up for your email list, they’re starting to similar you. They’ve consumed 1 portion (or a fewer pieces) of your content, decided they enjoyed it, and signed up for more. But astatine this point, they whitethorn not precisely cognize what you bash oregon what you sell.

Creating an email drip run tin assistance nurture the subscriber, present them to your products, and (hopefully) get them to buy.

So what is simply a drip campaign?

Drip campaigns are a bid of emails triggered automatically astatine specified intervals oregon aft a idiosyncratic completes a circumstantial enactment that you track. This tin beryllium arsenic elemental arsenic introducing them to much of your contented truthful that they go acquainted with your marque (what we bash astatine Ahrefs):

You tin besides make a multiday email series—like what Rhonda Patrick does aft you motion up for her email list. In her archetypal email, she offers contiguous value: a escaped video and descent platform usually reserved for premium members:

She continues to nonstop a fewer emails that diagnostic premium content, giving subscribers a sensation of the unthinkable worth they’ll get:

Ten days and six emails later, Rhonda yet sends the telephone to action—sign up for her premium membership:

By then, you’d person received truthful overmuch worth from her that signing up is simply a no-brainer.

Think astir the objectives you privation to execute with your emails. Then make an email series to bring your subscribers person to that. But ever retrieve to springiness worth first—don’t conscionable inquire them to bargain thing from the get-go.

Final thoughts

You tin instrumentality immoderate of these ideas for your tiny business, but marque definite they acceptable into your wide marketing strategy. Don’t pursuit a maneuver for the involvement of it. Remember that each 1 you execute should bring you 1 measurement person to your marketing objectives.

Did I miss retired connected immoderate chill small-business marketing tactics? Let maine cognize on Twitter.