6 Simple Marketing Stratigies for Your Business

You've just launched your new home-based business, and now it's time to start promoting it to attract new customers. As a first-time business owner and entrepreneur, I know how difficult it can be to market your business on a shoe-string budget, but there is hope.
Here are seven inexpensive marketing strategies to increase your business's visibility and reach.

1. Social Networking

From Facebook and Twitter to Pinterest and Instagram it seems everyone, everywhere is involved in some type of social networking. The great news for business owners is that you can create a profile on any of these mentioned social networks and promote your business for free.
You can write about your area of interest and include links to your website, or feel free to create or join a group that revolves around your particular niche. Facebook alone has over 1 billion active users, and Twitter sends out tweets from powerhouse celebrities and business owners like Oprah, Jessica Alba, and Katy Perry. With this large of an audience imagine what social networking can do for your business?! Also, Facebook has many, many groups on many different topics from dogs, children, running, travel, teenagers, wine, sports, celebrities, etc, etc, etc. You can join groups that you are interested in, interact with others and post your opportunity.

Cost: Free.

2. Business Cards

 Face-to-face networking is not dead by any means, and having a memorable business card to hand out is very important. One it conveys an image of professionalism, and secondly, it reminds people of your business. Your business card should look professional and include your logo if you have one. A great way for your business card to retain some of its life is to add some additional value to it; such as displaying a calendar, tip chart, or appointment reminder of the back. Another option is to create promotional items like magnets, small notepads, or coffee mugs with your business information on them. Also, when I am out, I look for bulletin boards and place my business cards on the boards along with taking other cards that are on those boards and reaching out to those people.

Cost: $20 for 500 business cards or cheaper on www.vistaprint.com

3. Blogging

A blog is a fantastic way to keep customers coming back to your site. For a blog to be a successful marketing tool it will need to be updated on a regular basis, usually 2 – 5 times per week. You will also need to have interesting and thoughtful content about your subject. But once customers know that you provide regular articles of interest they will stop by more frequently to see what the latest news and happenings are. There are many free blogging platforms available, but I highly suggest paying a little extra for your own domain name, hosting company, and a premium template or custom design. It is especially important to include your company's logo for branding purposes, which I will discuss further next week.

Cost: Free to a few hundred dollars.

4. Online Classifieds

Yes, classifieds still work!  They are still one of my favorite, tried and true places to look for leads and share my opportunity. There are dozens of classifieds online. You can do a google search, I also have a list you can find here.

Cost: Free.

5. Free and Purchased Leads

There are a lot of sources online where you can obtain free leads. Most of the leads are generic work from home leads and some are probably aged but nonetheless they are still workable. I use these leads in an email blast and generate new leads for my business. It's one of my favorite methods! I use Group Mail to send the email blasts. You can also purchase leads for for very inexpensive. There are also leads you can purchase that are very expensive. I prefer the least expensive. I purchase leads on a daily basis and work them into my other leads.

Cost: Free to $100's of dollars for leads

6. Market Your Business on Craigslist

No money for advertising? No problem. Sites like Craigslist allow you to post an ad; you can even include your business logo and link to your website and social networks. The best thing about Craigslist is that it actually receives a lot of traffic, so your business will get exposure.

Cost: Free.

What marketing strategies are you using to promote your home-based business?

If you need help with marketing your business, feel free to contact me directly at 612-208-9434. I would love to help!

Wishing you nothing but success in your home business~