Place free ads on sites such as Craigslist.
If you don't have an advertising budget for your business you can explore a number of methods to effectively advertise your business for free. Be prepared to spend more time organizing and executing free ad campaigns than a paid campaign ad takes. Measure the effect the free ads are having because they may not be as effective as a paid campaign Track the estimated value that the free advertisements generate, consider whether paid advertisements might generate more value and use that to budget for a combination of free and paid advertising next year.
Instructions
1. Create press releases for major company announcements that can also promote name recognition and reinforce the company's brand. Follow press release format guidelines carefully and distribute the press releases using services that will post your press release on their site for free and will send your press release to news organizations and other websites at no charge. Target one press release per month.
2. Create a blog on your website and consistently post at least three items per week that relate to your industry, products, services or expertise. Encourage comments from readers and create a dialogue with customers about key issues or product features.
3. Use social media outlets to advertise your products and services. Create a Facebook page for your company and recruit people to "Like" the page. Create a Twitter account and tweet comments about events in your industry or happenings with your products and services. Post the blog articles on Facebook and tweet a short summary of each article on Twitter.
4. Subscribe to key industry magazines and publications. Look for opportunities to have your products and services mentioned for free in these publications; for example, look for a section that discusses new products and services. Obtain the editorial calendar and contact one or more publications about writing an article on a particular topic from the calendar that will also serve to showcase your expertise and advertise the company's capabilities.
5. Ask your satisfied customers to mention your products and services to their colleagues -- word-of-mouth advertising is the best kind of free advertising you can get.
6. Get involved in local community service and charity events to get free advertising that promotes your company and your company's brand as events are covered in the news media.
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