Small Business Marketing Ideas: 4 Incredibly Inexpensive but Super Effective Ways to Grow Your Offline Business Online

If you run a small business, you will probably need to invest some money and time into promoting it. There are a lot of great small business marketing ideas out there – but many aren’t cost-effective for smaller organizations. Fortunately, online marketing is a great way to gain wide-spread exposure for your offline business – and all you need to get started is a modest budget and a little know-how.

Here are four incredibly inexpensive, but super-effective small business marketing ideas to help get you started.

1.   The most important small business marketing idea is to get your business online if it isn’t already. Launching an effective website does not have to be an expensive affair. There are a lot of inexpensive hosting, domain registration and site building options out there. If you already have a functional website, don’t forget free resources such as Squidoo and HubPages that can carry your message and expertise to a much wider audience.
2.   Another great small business marketing idea is to launch – and maintain – a business blog. Be sure to update it regularly with fresh original content that provides real value to your customers. Today’s marketplace is all about establishing and building relationships – and blogging is one of the best ways to create a conversation with your clientele and get the search engines to notice your site. I use and highly recommend WordPress to anyone setting up a blog – it’s free and easy to set up.

3.  A third super-effective small business marketing idea is to take full advantage of social networking opportunities. Sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are all free to join and open the door to a lot of networking and marketing possibilities. Here, you can access large networks of friends, family members and potential clients for your business. You can exponentially increase the visibility, credibility and popularity of your business if you approach social networking correctly.

4.  Marketing and branding yourself may be one of the best small business marketing ideas out there. Often, people are more drawn to the individuals running a business than to the business itself. If you belong to any reputable community-based organizations, be sure to include them on your website. Customers like to know that the people they are doing business with are responsible and trustworthy members of the community. This can also enhance your image within social networking groups and, in turn, further increase your business and sales.

By following these simple tips, you will find that promoting your business online is both fun and profitable. These small business marketing ideas can raise your business profile and improve your bottom line at very little cost to you.