Starting a business has always cost a lot of money and been hard to do. Almost 30% of startups fail at some point because they run out of money. Only a skilled and smart entrepreneur can compete with dozens of big-budget companies in the same niche.
No matter how big or small your business is or how long it’s been around, you need to tell people about it. This means advertising.
But you don’t need a lot of money to spread the word. Free advertising ideas can help business owners of all sizes, but they are especially helpful for those who are just starting out.
Small businesses have always had a hard time competing with big businesses, whose advertising costs are three times as much as what they make in a year. No matter how much or how little you spend on advertising, the goal is to get noticed, gain customers, and grow.
Ideas for free advertising that e-commerce stores can use
Email marketing can be very effective and is free to start if you use a platform for sending emails. You can get people to sign up from your social media profile, and then you can send them emails regularly. Sending personalized messages to your subscribers will help you get to know them.
Content that users make
Marketing on a website is all about making content. Your content can make or break your business, so take the time to make and share high-quality content.
Consumers don’t want to read posts that only last for a short time because they don’t add any value. More than 80% of people want brands to make and share content that entertains, tells stories, solves problems, and creates events and experiences.
More than 2 billion people use social media every day, making it the best way to promote your business around the world. Keep in mind, though, that some social media sites, like Instagram and Twitter, need more attention than others, so you shouldn’t cover them all.
- Instead, you should find one or two options that fit the way you work. Among entrepreneur favorites are:
- Facebook is one of the biggest social networks and most companies’ top priority.
- LinkedIn: Most B2B companies use LinkedIn to reach out to prospects.
- Instagram is the perfect channel, especially for businesses that sell things.
- LinkedIn is the best way to stay up-to-date on trends in your field and grow your professional network.
Here’s what you can do:
- Promote your blog posts to get more people to visit your website.
- Talk to your followers directly to share your brand’s voice and get more people involved.
- Ask for feedback and take polls.
- Use parts of longer pieces of content to make posts that are quick and easy to read.
- No matter what you want to do with your social media accounts, they should always be active and helpful. Pay attention to consistency, community, working together, and commitment.
If you use hashtags, it’s also a free way to market on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook, which can help you reach more people.
Using popular or broad hashtags can help your brand stand out, but they shouldn’t be the only ones you use. When you want to share resources or tips, you should use more specific hashtags, like long-tail keywords.
Hashtags need to be used by local businesses based on where they are. Hashtags made just for you are also important! Use a variety of hashtags in your posts so that they can be seen by the right people.
Repurpose Your Content
When you repurpose content, it’s easy to get more mileage out of what you already have. Repurposing lets you reach a whole new audience, whether you’re updating an old blog post or turning any e-book into an email course.
Help out other blogs by writing guest posts
Guest posting on a blog that has been around for a long time has a few big benefits. By interacting with the blog’s readers, you can show that you are a leader in your field.
Most of the time, guest posting on a popular blog is better than posting on your own blog because it gives you access to a large audience and a high domain authority.
You can also link back to your website from your article. This gives you an inbound link that raises your domain authority and can help your website rank higher.
Give things away for free.
A product giveaway or contest is a great way to get new people to check out your website or social media pages.
Also, giving away cheap branded items like T-shirts or mugs is a great way to get your name out there. When it comes to word-of-mouth, a little coolness can go a long way.
Ask happy customers to write online reviews.
Word-of-mouth is the best way to get people to buy your product. When there are a lot of good reviews, people tend to believe what other people say.
It’s a good idea to ask happy customers to write reviews about their experience on sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp. If you want good reviews on Facebook, you need to make a Facebook Business page if you don’t already have one.
Answer questions asked on Quora
When people on the internet have a question, they often go to Quora. Several businesses have had a lot of success by answering questions on Quora. Doing this can help you become an expert in your field, add backlinks to your website, and bring people to your site.
Make sure your posts are helpful and not just ads for your blog. Don’t just post links to your blog and call it a day. Look for questions about your industry, especially if you’ve already written a blog post or made a video about it. Give a brief summary of the answer and a link to more information if you can (if desired).
Get the most out of local SEO.
The goal of Google’s algorithm is to give searchers the most useful, accurate, and high-quality results. Since this is not a pay-to-play model, it levels the playing field and makes it possible for small businesses to compete with big businesses for a spot on page one.
- Local SEO is free, but it takes time, so start now and keep working. Over time, you can get a lot out of it. Here are some tips for SEO near you:
- Make sure that the main pages of your website have location-based keywords.
- Make sure the information about your business is the same in all online directories by putting it in them.
- Publish pages and blog posts about your neighborhood
Take part in events in your area
To take part in local events, you don’t need a big budget for sponsorship. Your team could volunteer to work at an event, or you could give the event space, refreshments, your product as auction items, or a service related to your industry (for instance, a sound company could assist with sound).
You don’t have to hire a professional to make and upload a YouTube video because video is such a popular medium. With smartphones and social media apps like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, it’s easy to make your own videos and market them.
Talk at a Special Event
Join a panel or give a talk at a conference to share what you know. By choosing an event that is closely related to your business or industry, you can position yourself as a thought leader and get in front of an audience that is (hopefully) a good fit for your business or product.
Join in the conversation.
You might even find that people are already talking about your business in forums and chats about your industry.
Don’t forget that a clear ad and a link won’t get you anywhere. Try to add value instead by answering questions, sharing your knowledge, or helping a customer who is unhappy. Because forum threads can be searched for years, a single thread can bring in passive income for years.
Become a Volunteer
Donating to local nonprofits is a great way to build goodwill and make valuable connections in your community. It can also help your business get noticed. If you are a leader, you can be on a board of directors or work with your team on a service project.
Trying out products to find the best ones
Most dropshipping stores will only make money on a few items. So, it is important to test products. You have to get your hands on one of these “winning products.”
The best products are ones that your target market loves and that sell like crazy. You will have the confidence to keep going and not give up because of these products.
Right now, you might think that everything is easy, but I’m here to tell you that it’s not. Dropshipping takes time and work to be successful. Last but not least, you have to keep going even when your body tells you you can’t do it and you should give up.
Why it’s important to test things quickly
Time is money, is the answer. Every day you let unproductive advertisements run, you lose money. If you don’t have a lot of money, you should not get this. You shouldn’t waste your money on something like this. Even though you are afraid of losing money, tests are still important.
What’s going on? Most people have to try out a lot of products before they find one that sells, especially if they haven’t sold products to customers before.
In this case, it’s important to test products quickly. Using this method, you can quickly find out if a product works or not without spending a lot of money.
After you’ve tested a product, made some sales, and thought, “Hey, this is working,” you still have to test a lot in future campaigns.
Think about these things:
- Low prices might lead to more sales (get you more sales).
- You might be giving a 50% discount right now, but you could also give a $10 discount or a 60% discount.
- You could do a regular retail discount offer now, or you could try something like “buy one, get one free” or “buy this and get a gift!”
- You might get better results if you:
- Adding a picture or video (or if using an image, maybe trying a video)
- A caption is needed to get people to click on your store (text that appears next to your image or video).
- Different targeting means using a different Influencer or going after a different Facebook audience.
- Places to put your dropshipping products to the test
- Imagine that you have found both a product and a supplier. Now it’s time to put the products in your store and see how they do.
You can add products to your store by hand, or you can use a Shopify App to save a lot of time and make things much easier.
Emails
Email marketing is the best and least expensive way to find out if the people you want to buy your product will like it or not.
It’s free, and the results are similar to what you got from your other campaigns. Make a newsletter about “New Arrivals” or something similar, send it to your subscribers, and track the click-through rate (CTR) and number of sales.
You can find an Instagram page in your niche or the niche of your product by using Instagram. Then, get in touch with the site’s owner or “influencer” and ask how much shoutouts cost.
If you have more than one influencer lined up to test a product, don’t do them all at once! You shouldn’t use that page if you already know how it works for you. This is because you won’t be able to tell which Instagram page sent the traffic.
So, you can see if the product or niche is working for you and if you want to do more with that Instagram page.
Facebook can make you a lot of money, but it takes time to figure out how to use it right.
Use a Facebook Marketing campaign to try out your new products and see how well they work with your target audience. Find out how much it costs to get a new customer, and if you see a chance, stock the products and keep adding to your stock.
- If you want to go even further, contact the customers who bought the test products and ask them what they thought.
- You can say that you’re trying out new product ideas to see if they’re worth it.
- If you validate your products this way, you won’t have to worry about whether or not it’s worth your time and money to stock them.
Conclusion
You can run a dropshipping business if you have a nice website and are willing to put time and creativity into coming up with free ways to market your business.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to market your business online because there are so many useful tools out there. Make sure the products are what your customer wants and that your supplier can fill the orders.