When you own a small, local business, it can be difficult to find the right balance between marketing and budgeting. However, in order to get more customers or clients to your door, you have to have at least some kind of marketing plan. On the bright side, not all effective marketing ideas require a lot of money in order to be beneficial. For you small business owners looking to attract more of your local audience, here are three inexpensive marketing ideas to help you reach a large number of people in your area.
Advertise on Clothing
Creating custom, branded clothing is one of the easiest ways to get your name out to your local demographic. Not only do you only have to make the investment once, but it’s also an advertising channel that keeps on giving for a very long period of time.
According to Cameron Herold, a contributor to American Express’s Open Forum, using clothing to advertise your business is like having a walking billboard. Anyone who sees the clothing will be marketed to in a subtle, non-threatening way. People have to wear clothes in public; they might as well be wearing clothes with your brand name on it, right?
Cross-Promote with Other Local Businesses
One of the best things you can do as a small business owner is to team up with other business owners in your area. Not only can you learn a lot from their journey, but they can also help you to find a larger audience by cross-promoting together.
Charlene Jimenez, a contributor to TheAmericanGenius.com, shares that there are plenty of avenues you can use for cross-promotion with other local businesses. Some of these ideas include displaying ads in each other’s stores, offering incentives at the other’s location, sharing a workspace and more. By taking advantage of the work another entrepreneur has done and sharing in each other’s success, you can find a lot of benefits by cross-promoting.
Sponsor or Support Small Local Events
On a slightly more expensive note, a great way to advertise and market your local business is to be involved in your community by supporting or sponsoring a small local event. While this doesn’t have to be a huge ordeal for you, you’ll likely get out what you put into it.
For those who are unsure if supporting a local event will really be that beneficial, Darlene Willman, a contributor to Examiner.com, tells small business owners that sponsoring local events is a great marketing strategy because it builds trust and credibility, gets you more exposure, targets the right demographic, gives you opportunities to create contacts and so much more. If you can afford it, your company would definitely see positive growth after sponsoring or supporting a local event in your area.
To really get ahead of your local competition, you have to take full advantage of the small but simple marketing options in your area. By using the tips mentioned above, you will see just how much more success your small business can have by exploiting inexpensive marketing ideas in your local sphere of influence.
Originally posted on November 27, 2015 @ 7:10 pm
