There once was a very poor man who made very beautiful garments and then kept them in a box under his bed. He told no one about them and hoped one day someone will open the box and see his beautiful garments. No one ever did and so he died with all his beautiful garments still intact in the box. After he died, they were found and sold off for millions. He could have been so rich when he was alive if only he had told people about his beautiful garments.
No one lights a lamp and hides it under a bowl (Luke 11:33). So also if you offer a product or service, you should have an effective marketing strategy to attract your target audience. Today, I will be sharing 12 great tips on marketing your business for free that have worked for me in my business. Please take some notes or bookmark this page.
- Utilise Your Smart Phone Profile Image and Updates – Most people now have the Blackberry App or Whatsapp and other similar phone applications. An entrepreneur friend of mine updates her Profile picture and Profile message constantly with pictures of her products, their prices and what quantity she has left. You can do the same and don’t forget also to always add your contact details. Your profile updates are also a really good way to share real time information with clients and potential customers on the go. Encourage friends and family members to share some of your updates on their profiles and this will help you reach an even wider audience. This really works for me in my business because I am not bugging anyone by asking them to buy my product or service but I am providing them with useful information that they might one day want to take advantage of! Let me know if you need any help in using your profile updates to reach out to old, new and potential clients.
- Create a Newsletter Email Marketing Strategy – We use Mailchimp which is a free Email Newsletter tool to send out weekly emails to clients and potential clients. Make sure when anyone buys anything from you, you get their email details. Also, when you meet anyone who you have spoken to about your business, ask for their email address and tell them that you will add them to your mailing list. On a periodic basis e.g. weekly, you can send them news, updates and useful information about you product or service via your email newsletter. Be careful not to send information too many times as this may be considered Spamming and people do not like to be disturbed in that way. Also, don’t send information to anyone who you have not told previously that you will be sending information to. This is also frowned upon and may get you blacklisted. Let me know if you need any help setting up a Mailchimp account.
- Offer a Free Demo Session – If you have a product or service that you can demonstrate to clients, its benefits, then you may want to arrange a free demo session for potential customers. At the end of every year, we have a Fashion Show event to show off the wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses in our new bridal collections to potential customers. From that show, we get lots of interest on our products and customers feel like you have given them a real treat! For example, a make up artists may decide to hold a free make up lesson session for women who want to know how to apply make up more effectively and then sell some of the make up products to them. This is just an idea. If you would like to brainstorm with me on ways you can offer a free demo, let me know and I’ll be glad to help.
- Hand out Your Business Card to Everyone – When you meet anyone who you have spoken to for more than 10 minutes, find out what they do and talk about what you do. Make sure to hand out your business card to them and invite them to have an experience of your product or service or to tell someone who may be interested in what you have to offer. I have the made the most amazing connections from randomly speaking to people who I have never met before about my business and giving them a business card so they don’t forget me!
- Introduce a Referral Programme –
When a customer is happy with your product or service, they will happily recommend you to someone else. You can make sure this happens every time by giving them a discount or voucher every time they make a referral that benefits your business. This means not only will you get the new business, you will also have that customer coming back to patronise you more and more each time. Let me know if you need any help coming up with an effective referral strategy. - Hold a Contest or Competition –
This has been the most successful strategy for us by far. People love free stuff and every business has something or some items or services that they are able to offer at little or no cost to them. Run a competition for your customers and new customers and offer something free of charge. This will build lots of buzz around your business and also holds a lot of goodwill. Customers will be excited about the prospect of winning something and you will take the opportunity to sell more to them when you have their attention through the competition. Let me know if you need any help putting together a competition.
- Set up a Free Website – There are now so many websites that allow you to set up a free website. A website makes your business look more serious no matter how small you are. In fact, I have been to some businesses and I just could not believe how small their operations were because of how good their websites looked. I set up the first few websites we used in my company using a website called Webs. You have to think of so many things to set up your website but some of these websites make it a very easy and enjoyable process. Let me know if you need any help setting up your free website.
- Set up Your Social Media Pages – Every business should ideally now have a Facebook Page, Google+ Page, Instagram Page and a Twitter Page. These are very easy ways of updating your clients and potential customers about what you offer. It is very important that you keep your business pages professional and also that you try not to have too many selling posts on your Social Media pages. It is better for you to just update pictures of your products or work and other interesting and motivational posts that will keep people interested and coming back for more. I recommend posting on your Social media pages at least twice a day and posting direct marketing posts only once a week or so.
- Update Google Places with Your Business Details –
Google now offers a free business directory for all businesses in most parts of the world through Google Places. This is one of the most important steps you can take for your business as most people search for things on Google before they go anywhere else. When you have a Google Place profile, your business will be featured as one to visit in the area when people search for your product or service. This will leave you better off than your competition who may not know of this little secret yet! If you need any help setting up a Google Place page, please let me know. - Get Listed in Free Business Directories –
Most countries now have business directories that allow you to update your business details and many of them for free. Google ranks entries in business directories highly in searches and so in addition to your Google Places page, you will also come up via your Business Directory listing and this makes your business look even more serious and established to your clients and potential customers. To find business directories for your country or nationality just search on Google. For example, if you are based in England, enter this into the search box ‘Business Directories in England’ and look for the ones that allow you to list your company for free. Be very careful not to pay large amounts of money to business directories that you are not sure of. I prefer the free ones. Let me know if you need any help setting up your business details on business directories. - Offer an at Home Service to Clients –
If you offer a product or service where you are able to serve customers in their own home, then you may be onto something that will put you ahead of your competition. My hairdresser comes to my home to fix my hair and my daughter’s hair and save me the hassle of travelling to her weekly. This means I will always choose her over any other hairdresser that is not able to do so. This may not work for every business and may indeed not be practical for every one but think about other ways that you may be able to introduce a value added service on top of your product or service offering and customers will be delighted to call you every time. For example, if you run a restaurant, you may want to introduce a home delivery service or if you have a clothing store, you may want to set out a day a week when you will visit customers in their homes and sell to them there for their convenience. - Cross Promote and Partner with other Businesses –
This is a really great way of helping other businesses and drumming up more business for yourself. Try to promote other people’s businesses and ask them to do the same for you. In my bridal studio, we display fliers for other related businesses that brides can pick up and then contact those wedding suppliers. Also, we ask brides what else they need to complete their wedding planning and then we make recommendations of other local wedding suppliers that they should speak to and get quotes from. This builds a network of supporters and brings you the type of business that you want. In addition to that, because you have come from a referral, the clients already believe that you are trustworthy!
Marketing is not something that you can decide to do or not do. It is important for the ongoing growth and progress of your business. You need to let customers know about what you offer and then you need to build their trust and make sure you offer what you have promised. Don’t promise the world and then give them a suboptimal service. People do not take very lightly to that. Most importantly, let God be your Guide. Pray about everything and ask for His direction in your business and activities. Ask Him to show you what will work best for you and wait for Him to provide the answers.
Do you have any other free marketing tips that you will like to contribute? Please do so or if you have any specific marketing questions you would like me to address, do please ask and I will provide answers based on my opinions and experiences. May God bless the works of our hands and all our endeavours towards success.
God bless you as you read, learn, share and teach
Omo
No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light (Luke 11:33)
Christian Mumpreneur 