You may have heard at some point how it takes money to make money, and while it’s true that starting a business will require an investment, that is not necessarily going to be a financial investment. Plenty of successful businesses started out with very little in the way of cash, but they invested a lot of time to get things going, so although it may take you a little longer, it’s perfectly possible to bootstrap your business and market yourself on a low budget.
With the tips below, you’ll get some ideas as to how you can do this.
Online Presence:
If you’re running a business nowadays, then having a website is imperative to ensure you reach a wider audience. To make sure that your website is functioning well and looks great, you can outsource to a web application developer to help you get up and running. A good next step to marketing your business is to add your social media links to your website.
However, making the most of social media can be a challenge for many people, and they can struggle with knowing how to navigate social media which can lead them to throw money at Facebook ads that don’t even work because there’s no strategy behind them. The good news is, you don’t even need paid ads to grow your business on social media. As long as you create a plan for yourself and create content that people actually want from you, then you can see very effective growth quite quickly.
Blogging:
Even if budget isn’t a concern, blogging is something that’s highly recommended for business owners who are looking to build authority and trust online. Blogging takes time no matter how you do it, so it’s worth doing it right, and the best way to do it right is by properly planning out and automating your content.
Aside from the fact that you’re building trust with your audience when consistently posting quality content on your blog, the other great thing about it is that you can repurpose the blog posts you create into other things such as videos, podcasts, social media posts, and even digital products that you can later sell.
Cold Outreach:
This is certainly not something that most people think highly of, but the truth is, when cold outreach is done well, it’s nothing like the sleazy cold calling and annoying people that you’re perhaps imagining. Cold outreach is simply reaching out to people who fit your target market and starting a conversation with them about what you offer. A good way to go about this is by making sure you’re giving value up front instead of just talking about what you offer and asking for a sale.
Networking:
Networking in-person may not be your idea of a fun way to spend your time marketing your business, but if you think about it, social media is about networking – maybe just in a different way. The advantage of networking in-person rather than from behind a screen is that you’re able to build that human connection much faster and actually allow people to get to know, like and trust you easier, and this is pretty important because building a business without the trust of your ideal clients is going to be pretty impossible for you.