When I first started Charlie Moo’s back in 2008 I had a young family, time and money were considerably lacking. To promote my small business I had to become creative and learn new skills. Fast forward over 10 years and more children and I still don’t like to spend money on marketing to promote my small business. There is seriously nothing wrong with bootstrapping your small business, in fact, it makes perfect sense and increases your profit margins. I’m a big believer in outsourcing things you can’t do yourself BUT there are so many ways you can promote your small business for free why wouldn’t you be doing it!?
10 Ways to Promote Your Small Business For Free (Or On a Small Budget)
1. Get Social
Social media is a free tool for promoting your small business the only outlay is your time. Social media is a great way to engage with other small business owners as well as potential customers/clients. Social media can help your business to attract customers, get customer feedback and build customer loyalty.
Read more here 
21 Facebook Business Page Tips To Turbocharge Your Following
2. Use a Mass Emailing Service
Grow your email list having a customer’s email address enables you to send out offers, previews, and discount codes specific to them. Your emailing system will enable you to track how successful certain offers, and discount codes are.
3. Press Release
Write and send a press release about your small business to local newspapers and magazines.
4. Referral Programmes
Reward loyal customers with discounts, freebies, or money-off vouchers, either way, keeping customers happy will mean they tell all of their friends.
5. Networking
Meet and build relationships with other small business owners both face-to-face and online. Networking helps you develop new skills, grow your business but also eases the loneliness of working from home.
6. Promotional Advertising Leaflets
Not strictly free but certainly low cost. You can get 1,000 flyers printed for under £50, or why not team up with another small business? You take the front they take the back saving yourself some money plus you only have to deliver 500. Do a leaflet drop door to door, put them out in libraries, and hang them in schools, cafes, and local notice boards.
7. Blogging
Writing a blog is a great way to give your small business personality and make you relatable to your customers. It’s also the perfect platform to promote upcoming events, achievements, award wins, and new products.
8. Reviews/Testimonials
Ask your customers to leave your business reviews on Facebook, Google, or your website. Reviews play a big role in building a brand, developing credibility and loyalty, and customer service but also for SEO (search engine optimisation). Reviews and testimonials provide customers with a voice, by allowing and enabling them to express their voice you increase customer engagement/interaction as well as loyalty. Both Facebook and Google favour businesses with reviews. According to MOZ’s Local Search Ranking Factors Survey (2018), online reviews could make up 10% of how Google (plus other search engines) rank search results. You can then use customer testimonials as social proof within your social media. 
9. Free Online Listings
Especially good if you organise events you will find lots of local websites that provide a free listing section – Netmums, local newspapers, Raring2Go!
10. Display Your Products and Service
In the early years of Charlie Moo’s I used to take my wares as a display to many a toddler group, I could advertise my business, maybe sell a few products, and hand out some promotional leaflets but I could also take my children to play. Or make up baskets where products can be purchased or ordered and organise them being put in staff rooms/offices etc.
If you are feeling the pinch this month then why not try a couple of these suggestions out? If you have any more to add do leave them in the comments below. ⤵️⤵️
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Great list thanks, I am always on the look out for ways to promote my company. I think I might get some leaflets printed and take the kids out delivering them with me.
These are great tips thank you. I run several businesses and am always looking for ways to boost and promote them. Kaz
Mass email services are a powerful tool for any business. Would highly recommend!
I agree with you on social media being #1 free way to grow your business.
Excellent tips! I like how you provide plenty of practical advice, especially networking as it is important to build those relationships with other businesses, professionals and customers, which require trust and also to help others first.
Of course all the other ways you have mentioned are important too, especially social media!
Word of mouth is also very powerful and is free! I have been to many networking events in my spare time, and find them useful to promote my blog and share what I have learned with many others.
If you would like to follow my blog, you can find many examples of what I have learned from networking events.
Thanks for sharing!
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You did right by putting Social Media on top. Because nowadays people spend more time on social media as compare to sitting before TV screens.
20th Century has gone. Now advertisers are targeting social media and YouTube to promote their businesses.
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I am much like you. I also don’t like to spend money on marketing to promote my small business, especially when there are free and more effective ways if doing it like Social media marketing. There are other methods on this list that I hadn’t even thought about! So thanks for that. This is a great list for every business owner out there. Thanks!
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