7 Ways to Market Your Business for FREE
Where do you currently market your business? Do you advertise online? Are you paying to be on a lead generating platform? Do you pray the GOOGLE Gods give you organic leads each day?
Now, I want you to ask yourself. Do these leads convert into new sales? Are you keeping track? You can’t manage what you don’t measure!
Think about it, if you are investing blindly, how do you know what to do, where to go, and how to get there? You simply can’t. There needs to be an explicit strategy in place to get consistent results.
Marketing is the process of getting people interested in your company's product or service. So therefore, you must figure out a way to build the KLT (know, like, trust) factor in your business. Without that, your marketing efforts won’t be relevant no matter how much money you spend.
COMMUNITY
First, you need to be an active member of your community. That means, befriending local businesses, venues, chamber of commerce, networking groups, schools, organization, non-profits, and charities. When you get involved on a local level, you will become “top-of-mind” and be sought out for your services. Start cultivating those relationships in the most genuine way so that you can start yielding business opportunities.
COLLABORATION
Next, Collaborate! Reach out to your local community and ask to collaborate on a project of some sort. Perhaps you can do a styled shoot to get creative and create branded imagery for each other. Also, you can host a bridal show at your office or collaborate on showcasing at a show together. Or, perhaps partner with local networking groups to donate and showcase your services to gain traction with other local vendors in attendance. Another way is to simply get together for coffee, lunch, or a virtual date and share notes on business topics. This is where the real magic happens and is one of my favorite collaboration strategies that only cost me my time, but also gives me back so much more value in the end.
NETWORKING
Networking and referrals is an excellent way to build relationships and start generating qualified leads through word of mouth. I remember so clearly the day a colleague challenged me to start networking. This person urged and urged until he could no longer accept no for an answer. I’m not going to lie, I was terrified to go to one of these events. I had only been in business for about 2 years, didn’t know a soul there, and felt very much like an imposter….Fast forward 2 years, I consistently attended 2-3 networking events each month, got to know all the local and surrounding area vendors on a more personal level, and the referrals started to roll in! Another year after that, I actually led one of those networking groups as President for over 4 years! It was an incredible experience and my efforts truly paid off because till this day, I am still referred to by many of those vendor relationships.
REFERRALS
Let me touch a bit on referrals. I implemented a referral program with my favorite vendors, past clients, and friends and family. It’s really simple, if I am referred and booked out, I honor that by gifting and providing affiliate payments. Some may argue that any type of “kick backs” are frowned upon, but you know...I disagree. The kick backs that I can’t “get behind” are the ones issued purely on self interest. Each and every single of my affiliate partners know me, have done business with me, and can put their name on the quality of my work. Therefore, I can take care of their clients to make sure that they are getting the best attention to detail possible.
PROMOTIONS & GIVEAWAYS
Promotions are another fantastic way to marketing your business locally. That includes holiday workshops, sales launches like Black Friday, doing a BOGO, running a bridal show special, and/or creating a bundle that includes several of your offerings at a lower rate. The irresistible nature of this promotion is going to not only market your business for free but also diversify your income!
What about giveaways? This marketing strategy can be wildly successful when you partner with others to hold a mega giveaway. If you play your cards right and make it easy for the consumer, the strategy will put your business in front of many eyes. Giveaways include: extra resources, samples/mockups, incentives, BOGO, and more.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Okay, let's talk about social media. There are countless methods on Facebook and Instagram that allow you to do a LIVE session, create replays and post the original content. You can add all sorts of images, gifs, video, etc. to enhance the experience for your audience and make it engaging as well. My favorite thing to do is use the IG features that allow for my followers to ask questions, take a poll, and even quizzes. It is seriously so much fun!
EMAIL MARKETING
Alright, now the final way to marketing your business is probably my favorite. EMAIL MARKETING! I don’t know how many times I can say this, but building your list is the BEST thing you can do for your business. If I could start all over, I would have started building my list from the start!
You have to understand, with list building, you 100% OWN your list. It isn’t going away and you control the way you use it.
Email marketing has taken my business to the next level and then some. I have been able nurture my leads, build the KLT (know like trust), and sell effortlessly. Welcome sequence and a nurture series are my secret weapon to creating an amazing onboarding and client experience. Once you have your list built (and continue to grow it) you will be able to put forward resources to educate and nurture your list. Those efforts later turn into opportunities to promote and sell your services. When you take the time to offer up value and show up for your audience, the benefits in the end do convert to paying customers.
Now I will say, this isn’t going to be something you do once to expect results overnight. You have to do the work of being consistent and creative in your efforts. Because when you show up 100%, you are going to see the needle move in your business.
I also recommend that you approach everything in the most genuine way. You have to see the end goal in everything you do so that it is successful. If you are in it for all the wrong reasons, it isn’t going to work and it is going to show.
Build relationships that are meaningful, not obligatory. You want to partner with people you actually like and want to do business with to create that mutual respect and support. So go on out there and start setting up coffee and lunch dates, or even a simple virtual call or Facetime.
And lastly, and most importantly. Measure your efforts! I am going to say it again for all the people in the back, YOU CANNOT MANAGE WHAT YOU DON’T MEASURE. How do you know if your efforts are paying off if you don’t keep track? Stop wasting time and money on things that aren’t converting for you.
YOUR ACTION STEPS FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Go sign up for all the FREE online platforms where you can market your business such as yelp, theknot, weddingwire, etc. Make sure you fully set up your account with details, links imagery, and drive testimonials to be added there asap. This will greatly benefit your SEO efforts and when someone is searching locally, they are going to find you. Especially if your accounts have loads of content in them and testimonials. I currently have over175 testimonials that pop up on google searches and drive traffic to my website. Now I will tell you, once you sign up, you will get sales calls asking you to advertise with them. That is completely up to you. I did advertising for years and it worked for the most part. When I changed my business model, this type of marketing was no longer a good fit. So I walked away. This is going to depend highly on your business, so you make that decision.
Next, if you haven’t already. Go sign up for social media. For me, its’ Instagram, facebook, and I am slowly digging into the TIKTOKS my friends. LOL
The other place you need to be is Pinterest (which really isn’t social media but you need to get an account asap!) more on this in another episode…
Okay and lastly...start attending networking events! I challenge you to attend at least 1 per month. Find one that is a good fit for you and get it on the calendar. There are so many organizations out there like ABC, WIPA, Tuesdays together with Rising Tide, Chamber of Commerce, etc. etc. Now given that we are in COVID status currently, you can still make this happen. Many of these groups are doing virtual meetings! So it is not an excuse to not take action right now.
Alright my friends. That’s all I have for you. I hope you found this valuable just get out there and Make it happen!
