13+ “Quick & Simple” Ways to Market Your Business Without Money

We all know that today marketing is a core part of any business. In order to get visible in the online world, it’s crucial to market your business online. So, in this article, we will discuss some quick, simple and effective ways to market your business online without money.

Marketing is the art and science of promoting and selling products with actionable steps. Some people might think that marketing requires a lot of money.

But that’s not completely true. Yes, if you want quick results in marketing then you need some sort of money. Still, there are some organic ways to market your business.

These methods will not charge you any money but how much effort you are putting in, that’s only matters.

"Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out lots of content and enthusiasm and ideas about how to solve that problem." — Laura Fitton Click To Tweet

So, let’s dive right in.

1. Niche Marketing

This marketing strategy mainly focuses on the specific demographic, psychographic and geographic segments. It means the more specific you go in terms of determining who your customer is, the better the number of sales you make. In this way, you can easily market your business online.

Niche Marketing helps to kill the competition where you capture the small but complete market. It helps to eliminate the competition completely by focusing on only one market.

Many small entrepreneurs today, are implementing this strategy because this strategy is easy to implement. 

Examples of Niche Marketing Strategies:

Casetify

Casetify is one of the best examples of niche marketing. This brand focuses only on one product which is “Phone Cases”.

Yes, I know you might be thinking that this is a super-niche segment. But you won’t believe it if I tell you that their estimated annual revenue is currently $33.4M per year. 

Now, imagine the numbers. Who can even thought that a phone case selling a business can earn this much amount of revenue per year?

But this is the reality of niche marketing and focusing on only one product. 

Soxytoes

Now guess, what is this brand selling? 

Yes, as the name suggests, this online store sells socks online. Yes, socks! And again this is a very very niche segment. But they won!

They first started selling socks only, later they scaled their online store by selling pyjamas and daily wear clothes.

This is again a good example from which you can inspire and market your business online.

2. Referral Marketing

This marketing strategy has been very trending. In the strategy, people join your referral program and refer your product or services to others in exchange for something.

Generally, businesses using this marketing strategy give physical products like mugs, T-shirts, stickers, etc. But I would also like to tell you that digital products like giving eBooks also work equally well just like physical products.

We are also using this referral marketing strategy to spread our “Business Newsletter” business. And this marketing strategy really works well to market your business online.

Why does Referral Marketing work?

Suppose, you see an advertisement on the television about any product. You don’t buy that product. Then, again you see the same ad on TV. You again don’t buy.

Now, your friend referred the same product by saying that “It’s amazing, you should try it.“

Now, would you buy?

Of course, you buy. This is because when someone who is closed enough to you suggests better things as compared to those who you don’t know. Or, the person you don’t have trust upon.

There is data suggested by WordStream showing how referral marketing works in a better way.

Consider these points—

1. A word-of-mouth referral drives at least 5x more sales than a paid impression.
2. Customers acquired through word-of-mouth spend 2x more and make 2x as many referrals themselves.

This data has been shown by WordStream.

3. Freebie Marketing

This is one of the oldest marketing strategies but still, work well in 2021 as well. As the name suggests, you provide your customers something valuable for free, called “Freebie Marketing”.

Most of the biggest and popular brands like Starbucks, Walmart, Proctor & Gamble, and many more use “Freebie Marketing”.

In the online world, you might come across with many people saying “free webinars”, “free ebook”, “free yoga class”, etc. These are all examples of freebie marketing.

When you give something free of cost (which is valuable as well), people would love to buy from you more and more. Because you already overwhelmed their expectations.

One of the most important things in marketing is to overcome your customers’ expectations. If they expect one product, give them two. If they expect a one-hour live stream, give them two hours of live stream. 

Just TRY TO OVERDELIVER every time you give anything.

If you follow this THUMB RULE, all the marketing strategies would start to work automatically.

4. Leverage The Power Of Social Media

As you already read about this in tons of articles that how social media is changing the reality of marketing. How do people make lots and lots of money solely through social media? How are people becoming Instagram Creators?

But I’ll not be going to tell you here the same story again, to put regular posts on Instagram. Yes, it’s essential, but the question is how to create a social media post that will go viral?

Sounds interesting? So, let’s learn something different.

1. Trigger Emotions

Have you ever thought that the social media posts that go viral always touch an emotion? 

Be it happiness, grief, fear or excitement. There is always an emotion that forces people to share and this makes the post viral.

So, try to create an emotion with your social media posts. Create your own brand story.

2. Socially Responsible Brand Story

If you are creating a socially responsible brand story by linking it with your brand, there is a high chance of getting it viral. 

Because there is always a good person inside every person. This is why, when you create a socially responsible story, people also share it with others.

So, create something which adds value in other people’s lives.

3. Use Testimonials 

If you have already those customers who are satisfied with your products/services. Then, ask them to share their reviews as a testimonial. 

Because people want to know what other people are saying or thinking about your brand. Ask them to give reviews on Trustpilot as well on social media. This overall increases your brand reputation to market your business online.

Also Read: 9 Killer Ways To Increase Blog Traffic Fast By 159% In 90 Days

5. Strong and Appealing Call to Action

Have you ever thought that why bigger brands on TV ads use a Call-To-Action at the end? 

Because it helps in reminding the brand name. To understand it properly, let’s take some of the examples of Indian brands and their tagline in Hindi.

Dettol — Be 100% Sure
Sprite — Clear Hai!
Hero Honda — Deshi Ki Dhadkan
Amazon India — Aapki Apni Dukan
Britannia — Have a Good Day
Cadbury — Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye
Close Up — Taazgi Jo Paas Laye
Coca Cola — Open Happiness 

These are some popular examples of brands that you come across in your day-to-day life.

You can take inspiration to create your own tagline. Remember, to stick to only one tagline at a time and use it in your all-over branding campaigns (online & offline).

According to eMarketer, US spending on an advertisement would reach more than $40 billion by 2021. So, by spending so much amount of money, nobody wants to lose it.

Therefore, creating a strong CTA (Call-to-Action) should be your prime focus.

6. Use Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing has now become a buzzword these days all over the internet. You can see tremendous growth in influencer marketing after the pandemic. 

Every other 3rd person using Instagram is a micro-influencer. And that’s how brands are also seeing their increment in sales by using influencer marketing. On an average, businesses generate $6.50 in revenue for each $1 invested in influencer marketing by ConvinceandConvert .

Now, you might be thinking that Influencers take charges to promote the products. Yes, they do charge. But sometimes, it becomes a lot easier if you give them your product for free in exchange for their content.

This means you don’t need to pay them if you are proving your product or services for FREE. Many micro-influencers would love to do that.

Recently, I wanted to promote my digital product with the help of an influencer. But I didn’t have money. 

So, I approach hundreds of micro-influencers on Instagram having followers between 2k-10k. And I asked them to promote my product in exchange I’ll give them that product free of cost. 

Guess what?

Around 10% of them agreed to promote my product. And I become successful to market my business online without money.

This was a very small example of influencer marketing. But you can do even more.

Multimillionaire — Gretta Van Riel 

Another great example is — Gretta Van Riel, who is an e-commerce expert and able to generate multimillion only with an influencer marketing strategy in the last 7 years.

She has worked with over 8000 influencers, spent over a million in influencer marketing till now.

You can see her video about influencer marketing how she was able to do these large things without investment initially.

7. Affiliate Program

What is exactly an Affiliate Program?

When you join any affiliate program and if you make any sales, then you earn a small percentage of money. Be it 10%, 20%, or 50%, it depends on the product and company type.

But how could you start your own Affiliate Marketing Program for Free? 

Simple!

If you run your website on WordPress, you can download a free plugin called “WP Affiliate Manager” which allows you to start your own affiliate network.

There are also some paid affiliate program software such as —

1. Impact
2. Everflow
3. Post Affiliate Pro
4. ClickInc
5. Tracking Desk

These are some popular affiliate marketing software.

How to add people as Affiliate?

1. Make a page on your website, so that people can join your affiliate program. You can mention it in your header or footer wherever you want.

2. Create a Facebook or Instagram post that you are open to work with affiliates.

3. Create a LinkedIn page where you can circulate this notice in the network.

In this way, more and more people would join your affiliate program and spread the word around them. And the best part, you don’t need to put in lots of effort, the other people will work for you.

8. Join Public Groups 

Nothing is better than coming directly in front of the group of people. You can easily market for free by joining Facebook groups.

Facebook groups must be relevant to your business. It means if you are selling handmade goods, then join only those groups that are related to that.

Always, First Give, Then Ask!

One of the most important thumb rule is— to give first, ask then. Most people do just opposite to this, they try to sell every time and never think of giving the value first.

I have seen a ton of times that businesses who believe in giving instead of selling, become profitable faster.

By joining those groups, you can post something that is valuable. Then, after two or three posts, ask people if they are interested in buying your stuff.

In this way, you are building a strong connection between you and others. Because people trust more on those who they know.

So, build connections first, then sell.

9. Use Quora to market your business online 

Quora is the best place to answer the queries of general people. Sometimes people ask about the best products or services. 

You can answer some of those questions and at the end, you can say— “I have built a similar product, if you like, just have a look”.

When you answer the queries, you spread the word of your brand which is the most important thing. 

In this way, you would be able to market your business online without money.

10. Run a Contest

Running contests is an amazing strategy to market your business online without money. You don’t need so much amount of money for giving away the prize.

You can still give away as small as an eBook or as big as a physical product. When people come to know about your contest, they will start to take part. In this way, your brand values increase by spreading word-of-mouth.

Where to host a Contest?

You can host contests anywhere on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. 

If you don’t wanna run any contest, you can also give away some products for free as well. Both strategies will work in a similar way, but the results can be astonishing.

11. Increase Networking on LinkedIn & Twitter

A few months ago, I was not a fan of using LinkedIn & Twitter. But after watching few videos on YouTube, I realised that I’m missing a treasure by not being active on these.

Probably, LinkedIn or Twitter may not be a good option to market your online business without money. But it’s a great place to increase your networking so that you can build a long term relationship with others.

This will eventually help in your online or offline business directly or indirectly. 

You can make a LinkedIn or Twitter profile and start creating some content there. When people see that you are proving a good amount of value, they may follow you as well.

This is a killer strategy to increase traffic or market your business online.

For example, if you own a grocery store, don’t just directly put your fresh grocery pictures, no one is interested to see that.

Instead, you can provide some tips related to eating fresh foods or which food is beneficial for what kind of people.

You can also provide tips related to health-related issues, which is a major problem these days.

So, by solving other people problems, you are indirectly solving your problems as well.

12. Live Streaming

Many platforms allow live streaming including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. You can go live once or twice in a month.

In this way, people will come to know who’s behind the organisation and they would connect with you more.

What to Say in the Live Streams?

Now, the question is what to exactly share in the live streams if you don’t have anything to say. Believe it or not, I was also having the same problem because I was not a camera person.

I did have to face a lot of challenges while facing the camera. But then I thought if I have to grow my business, I need to do this even if I don’t want.

The thumb rule here to face the camera is— “Just think that you’re a superior person among all of the people watching you. Nobody knows things better than you. You are a master in your field.”

This sentence gave me confidence so that I can speak whatever is in my mind.

Simply, share about your business, how and why people will get benefits from your business. Why should they choose you instead of other businesses in the market?

Answering these questions would help people in solving the doubts that they might come across subconsciously.

So, it’s that easy!

13. Start a Podcast

Starting a podcast is a very trending thing these days. Everyone wants to start their own podcast. But the best part is you can market your business without money with Podcasts. 

You can gather warm leads for your business for free as well as you can showcase your knowledge and experiences. 

Tell a story about your brand and give a call to action at the end. People will start visiting your website and eventually you win to market your business without spending much amount of money.

14. Use Reddit

Reddit is one of the best social media platforms to market your business without money. It is a platform where content ranks based on upvotes and downvotes.

You can find like-minded people related to your field and you can increase your connections with them. It is the best platform to find super-engaged people.

According to Neil Patel – “The site has a tough stance on self-promotion, which makes marketing tricky, and it’s easy to fall foul of Reddit’s strict guidelines (including the unwritten rules)”.

But it doesn’t mean that you can’t market. You just need to follow a proper strategy.

Conclusion

With these little efforts, you can actually increase your brand value. Today, it has become super easy to market any kind of business online. You don’t need money, you just need the right strategy to follow.

Building a great business is not by chance, it’s all about the hard work and efforts you put into your business.

Recommended Read:

• 11+ “Quick & Profitable” Online Business Ideas For Beginners In 2021
• Email List Building: Top 11 Ultimate Techniques For Beginners
• 10 Steps To Start Selling Digital Products Online Without Investment
• How To Sell Digital Products From Your Blog? [The Ultimate Guide]