Jeff Shuford: How to attract more customers to your small business for free

By Jeff Shuford More Content Now

Are you tired of lackluster sales? Frustrated with walk-in customers who never buy? It might be time to up your marketing game is you want to increase your small business’ sales rate. Before you start saying “But I can’t afford to advertise,” be aware, it is possible to market your small business without spending a dime on advertising. If you want help learning how to market your company for free, try the following small business marketing hacks to increase your annual sales.

Become a forum lurker
Forum posting is an excellent way to attract new customers to your small business. Find forums where potential customers are having online conversations (use BoardReader.com) and then become a significant part of those conversations. Make sure your bio contains a link to your small business’ website. The more helpful you are with your forum posts (don’t openly promote your business), the likelier it is forum users will check out your company.

Start a small business blog
Blogging is another superb way to attract potential shoppers to your small business. If you don’t want to start your blog, consider creating a custom publication on Medium.com. You can group your blog posts on a Medium publication and can potentially connect with Medium’s massive user base. While a blog on your site is incredible for SEO (search engine optimization), Medium posts often have a much greater reach. Be sure to advertise your blog posts on social media platforms for maximum distribution.

YouTube for the win
YouTube marketing is a must-use tool for small business owners wanting to increase sales. Using YouTube for video marketing lets you showcase your products and services to the world while boosting your SEO at the same time. Create engaging videos with your smartphone, upload your video content to YouTube, and add keywords to maximize your discovery potential. Share your YouTube videos on social media, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you start to build a video marketing audience.

These are a few of many ways small business owners can promote their companies for free. You needn’t have a big budget or massive amounts of cash to spend on advertising if you want to grow your company. It would be best if you had the willingness to put in the effort, the desire to be creative, and the ability to think like a growth hacker. The more effort you put into using free marketing methods, the sooner you’ll start to attract new customers to your small business.
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Jeff Shuford is president of Tech From Vets, an award winning veteran-owned technology company. Tech From Vets merges NFL veterans and military veterans in the tech industry and develops innovative websites and mobile applications for their clients nationwide.