Being a small business owner means that while your community is strong and your supplier-customer relationships are strong, growth and expansion can pose a serious challenge due to smaller economies of scale and strapped budgets.

Staying on a budget when planning a marketing campaign for small businesses can be nerve-wracking. To beat the stress, here are five ways to promote your budget with little to no cost.

1. Create engaging social media content

Social media is the most budget-friendly marketing tool any small business can use, with no additional cost. An active and engaging social media account can help develop your market extensively and tap into new customer segments that may be difficult to reach otherwise.

Pick a platform where you’re confident most of your desired audience exists and engages for maximum impact. Focus on creating content that can educate others or teach something new. Posting informative content, interesting facts about your business, and sharing industry updates can make your content exciting and worthy of watching.

You can upload data-rich infographics as they can make interesting informational content. Additionally, you can also use small business flyer templates on PosterMyWall to create content that will be appealing, eye-catching, and will leave an impact.

2. Optimize your website for SEO

Optimizing your website and using SEO strategies efficiently throughout your website can boost your visibility and enable your customers to find you more efficiently. With an SEO-friendly website at your disposal, you won’t only do better search-wise but will also boost your credibility in the minds of those who find you via Google.

Before incorporating SEO into your website, you must make it as efficient as possible. Focus on ensuring it is mobile-compatible and does not lag. Then, consider incorporating SEO-friendly keywords that focus on your locality to improve your search rankings on Google.

Consider creating a blog to improve your chances of using keywords. If your content is informational, such as solving specific questions, your search rankings can improve, helping you appear more frequently to relevant individuals on Google.

3. Set up a Google My Business profile

Like an SEO-friendly website, a Google My Business (GMB) profile can also help you market your business with little to no cost. Having a GMB profile is almost non-negotiable for a small, local business since it’s highly effective in marketing your business.

You will need to begin by picking your profile, claiming it, and verifying it to ensure your GMB profile is officially yours, and you can do this for free. Verification is essential to help others find your profile easily and is crucial for credibility.

You’ll need to enhance the credibility of your profile by adding in all your details, such as your contact details, your location, real-time photos of your business, your product portfolio, reviews from customers, any certifications, etc. Don’t forget about your profile. Once it’s up and running, you must update it with posts, new deals, and discounts to keep it active and engaging.

4. Leverage email marketing for engagement

With the onset of digital media, many people now consider emails obsolete. However, there has to be a reason why all significant businesses still work so hard to get you on their mailing lists. Contrary to popular belief, emails are still as effective as they were ten years ago, and there are good reasons for this.

Firstly, unlike other resources, emails are direct and can help you reach specific customers without issues. You will likely engage these customers because emails land directly in your target audience’s inboxes.

You’ll need to develop a freebie plan, something you can offer for free in exchange for your audience’s emails. Once you have a mailing list ready, you can create and send out a newsletter containing information about your business, updates, and special offers to continue developing your existing and new audiences.

5. Run a referral program to attract more customers

No marketing tool works as effectively as word-of-mouth (WOM). Referral programs are another form of WOM that can benefit both the people who make the referral and those who avail it, making your business a viable and attractive option for them.

Through your referral program, reward returning customers with discounts, cashback, or free products. Doing so will demonstrate their loyalty and support for your business. Formulate a simple referral program, offering customers a unique code or link they can pass on to friends. For every purchase, give them a percentage off of their next order or some other incentive.

You can further amplify it by offering new customers a certain percentage off if they use a friend’s code. Use multiple formats to promote your loyalty program via emails, social media, website, and your GMB profile, encouraging people to sign up for the rewards.

Just because your budget is limited doesn’t mean you can’t promote your business. Being a small business is a significant advantage because small companies can form better relationships with their customers, helping improve the overall efficiency of the business.

To make it work, you need only an innovative and cost-effective plan, a good marketing strategy, and a lot of effort. Happy marketing!