Running a small business comes with a lot of challenges, top of it being cash flow. As such, many small business owners must find ways to keep the operational costs low while not affecting the staff morale or lowering the quality of products and services they provide.

Marketing is one aspect of operations that is important but can also lead to the ballooning of the operational expenses. So one must find a way to market their business to ensure they get a suitable return on investment and also getting more customers who bring in the revenue to justify the expenses.

Here are some low-cost marketing strategies for small businesses.

Have a website

Every business must have a website regardless of its size, but it’s more important for small business with little-known brands and which are yet to make any headway in the market.

You need a website for when people search for your business or relevant products and services. More importantly, don’t just have a website for the sake of it. You should have a professional website that contains useful information about your business if you expect consumers to take you seriously.

Also, learn ways and strategies to get your website ranked on the first page of search engine results if not at the very top. This improves your visibility which if you leverage on can lead to an explosion of new customers for your business.

Be active on social media

The most popular social media sites are free, so you must not have a budget for it, but you must have the creativity and time to make work for you. Alternatively, you can hire a social media manager.

With billions of people on social media, it’s a cost-effective marketing channel that could be the most rewarding if you utilize it well. Create social media accounts for your business. You don’t have to be on every social media platform ever created but at least be active on the most popular ones like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and maybe YouTube. It all depends on the nature of your business.

Your social media profile need to be active and engaging for you to build any meaningful online brand.

PPC marketing

PPC (pay-per-click) marketing is good news for every small business. You pay for the results you get and you can always modify the campaign or stop it altogether if it’s not performing to your expectations.

With PPC marketing, you set the deliverable you want and you are only billed when it’s realized. To make sure you get valued for your money, put in place Click Fraud Prevention measures so that the metrics you get are real.

Referrals

Referrals are a powerful way to market your business. People are more trustful of those they already have a relationship. After successfully providing a service or selling a product to a customer, politely ask them to recommend your business to their family and friends.

Existing customers are your number one marketers if you treat them well.