When it comes to marketing your new start-up business there are many ways to do it. Most of these options depend heavily on how much funds you have left over for marketing. In this article we will cover some of the most common marketing methods and concentrate on cheap and free ways to market your business.

Social Media

Social media, particularly facebook and twitter are essential marketing tools in the 21st century. Most people in the western world use one of these platforms and the first rule of marketing is getting into where your customers are, so that makes these the perfect tools. The fact that they let you advertise your company for free, and actively interact with potential customers also for free makes this a real no brainer.

Offering your products, linking to them on your website, discussing news items relevant to your industry and trying to engage with your customer base are all must do’s. Likewise spamming and doing anything possible to get views and likes that are irrelevant to your business are no-no’s.

The ultimate social media level would be to have either your post or business to go viral, but that is maybe best discussed in more detail in an article on its own.

Social media is also a good way to get a head start on your already established rivals. Many businesses run by owners who have ran their business for many years, before social media came along often overlook social media as a marketing tool. This gives you a chance to get younger customers who may not know about your rivals yet!

In our business packages we create your social media accounts and get them started for you so all you have to do is post of them when you have a spare minute in your day!

Talk About Your Business

This may seem a bit obvious, but I am always amazed at the amount of people that don’t tell other people they meet about their business. Now I don’t mean you go onto a train and shout on a loudspeaker about your business, there is a fine line between promotion and provocation, but if you are talking to someone why not slip it in there.

Even in a social media world word of mouth is still important and carries more weight with potential customers than a random post on facebook. If a customer personally knows the owner of the business and they like that person they are far more likely to buy from that business, and far more likely to recommend it to other people. So get your name out there and be proud of your new business!

Our packages come with 100 business cards, designed and printed so you can pass them onto people you meet!

Let The Local Community Know

There are many ways to do this, but as stated at the start let’s focus on free and cheap ways. Leafleting is a great way to do this, it’s reasonably cheap to print leaflets and can either be passed to a leaflet distributor or if you are fit enough to save money you can deliver them yourself.

Joining local groups and clubs is also a great way of letting the local community know if you take the above route of talking to people about your business. You can also join local pages, groups and lists on social media with your business account which will help to get brand recognition in the local area.

Using car decals are also a great way of getting attention for your business. Whenever you drive you are essentially advertising your business which would otherwise cost thousands if you went to an advertising agency to do it for you.

Our packages include 5,000 leaflets designed and printed ready for you to promote your business with. We also include car decals for you to put on your vehicle!

Add Your Business Website to Directories

This is one of the most time consuming tasks invented by mankind! Ok, that is maybe a slight over exaggeration; however it does take a long time to upload your business and website information to hundreds or thousands of separate directories. It is also one of those tasks that destroy morale. That is why when we do it for our clients we take turns in the office on who does this job for our client. If you haven’t bought one of our packages unfortunately you will have to do this yourself. It is very important for your website and business though, so there’s no way around it. Clear a couple of weeks in your diary, stock up on the coffee and bite the bullet.

Our packages include 1,000 directory listings as standard!

Branded Clothing

This may not seem worthwhile but just as the car decals work; advertising on your clothing works the same way. While you are waiting in a queue, walking down the road or anything else it pays to advertise on your clothing. This also gives you a much more professional look, but we will cover how to be professional in its own article.

Our business packages all include £200 worth of clothing branded with your logo!

If you follow these basic steps you can’t go wrong with your start-up business marketing.