How to Promote Your Business on a Budget
It can be frustrating when you know you have the skills to provide quality work, you’re ready to take on many projects and show what you can do but no one seems to know about your services.Without a boss or a company to work for the marketing is your responsibility. You can of course hire someone to take care of all of your PR and marketing campaigns but this seems excessive when you need to promote yourself to find work for yourself never mind anyone else!
There are numerous ways you can market on a budget, many costing nothing more than time. Here are some tried and tested techniques.
Embrace Social Media
Social Media is amazing for bringing people into your brand. All of the platforms are completely free and if you already use them you will have a captive audience waiting. So you don’t blur the lines between personal and professional open new accounts. With a business page on Facebook you can invite all of your friends and hopefully they’ll invite theirs too. You can share portfolio work or latest achievements while keeping your personal account for wedding snaps and baby photos.
Guest Blog
Guest blogging is a wonderful way to build contacts and if you have your own website you can also trade links which will help with your Google ranking. Simply search for websites with a blog that complements your services (but isn’t in direct competition) such as a copywriting site if you’re a web designer or a business advice site if you’re an IT specialist. Many will appreciate you sharing your knowledge with their readers and of course you’ll also get a mention too.
Network as you Wake Up
Before you even start to attack your daily projects put an hour aside first thing to contact potential clients. In the first weeks this hour could enable you to contact hundreds of companies that are looking for your services and if just 1% takes up your offer you’ve got a new Job! Searching the boards on PPH is also a great pastime as you savour that first coffee!
Go Local
With the internet making any online business a global possibility it’s easy to forget about your local area however even if you live in a sleepy village people will have websites, they will have their own businesses and they will need your services. Simply print off some flyers, take a walk and canvass the area and leave one in every village notice board you find or in your local newsagents for just 24p a week!
