How do I get new customers when I have no marketing budget?

Small business owners want to get the most out of their marketing. They want to build their brands, get new leads, and be able to show the ROI of their marketing efforts every step of the way. But with many nascent small business owners looking to run as lean as possible as they establish their businesses, marketing is often one of the first things that gets cut from a budget. It’s hard to dedicate dollars to marketing when the mortgage due date is creeping up and sales have been sluggish this quarter. 

But even if you’re a small business owner without a quote unquote marketing budget, there are plenty of marketing activities you can do that are free. Well, mostly free. They’ll cost you your time and they do say that time is money, but the point is: Marketing does not have to have a dollar figure assigned to it. 

“People have heard for so many years about viral this, viral that, they get a little bit confused.” says Mark Pollard, Strategy CEO at Mighty Jungle. “They think of free things first versus good things.” 

With Mark’s wise words as our compass, let’s look at some good things your small business can do to overcome not having a dollar amount assigned to marketing. 

Speaking Engagements 

Get over your public speaking fears and develop a presentation around a topic that’s important to your industry. Remember: It’s a prerequisite to deliver something of value to your audience, not just a sales pitch. Whether it’s at a small gathering like a local chamber of commerce event or a big deal conference hosted by Google, one of the best ways to build leads is to speak them out. 

Rosie and Faris Yakob, co-owners of the creative consultancy Genius Steals, rely on a heavy speaking schedule to help them make new friends and grow leads. One of their strategies to make the most of speaking engagements is by incentivizing their email signups during the presentation. Often, they’ll announce at the beginning of their speech that anyone who signs up for Genius Steals’ emails right that moment will be entered to win a free copy of Faris’s book “Paid Attention: Innovative Advertising for a Digital World” at the end of the speech. They’ll joke that if you hate them, you can unsubscribe immediately after the speech. 

People don’t hate it. The Genius Steals’ newsletter has become one of the company’s most effective forms of marketing. 

Bottom line: Encourage people to sign up for emails or follow your small business page on LinkedIn and other socials by offering a fun incentive (e.g., a discount on a service or a product sample) during your speech. 

Publishing 

You don’t have to go full Hemingway and publish an entire book like Faris, but regularly publishing good content on your website, in emails, and on socials where your audience(s) spend the most time such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, et al, will help your small business build awareness and, in time, grow leads. The key word in that last sentence is “good.” If your content is unfocused, boring, or poorly written, you will be ignored. Small businesses need a fleshed out content strategy before they start publishing willy nilly. Understand what topics your audience is searching for and what point of view you can bring to these discussions. Posting without a plan is a quixotic quest towards irrelevance. Your small business needs a narrative and a content strategy will help you see that take shape. 

Mandatories: Have a unique perspective on your industry and your product/service. Don’t know where to start with your strategy? Read our handy starter guide. Want three words that can help shape your content marketing? See here. 

Word of Mouth Marketing and Testimonials 

Word of mouth may be the most powerful force in marketing: in a recent study by Talk Triggers, 83% of Americans said that a word of mouth recommendation from a friend or family member made them more likely to purchase a product. (Do the 17% who don’t respond to word of mouth hate their friends and family? Maybe! Grist for a future study, Talk Triggers.) 

While you may think you can’t control the conversations happening about your brand and industry, there are concrete actions you can take to positively influence your small business’s word of mouth. 

A strong testimonial strategy will help you build credibility and develop a larger story about your small business. Even if it’s someone who’s more of a friend than a client, if they believe in your service or product, ask them to go to bat for you. 

Pollard seconds: “There will be people that you know quite well who will hire you or help you but it’s usually the people that they know [that hire or buy from you].” 

Getting someone to take the time to write you or give you a soundbite for a testimonial might be the biggest challenge. Faris says it typically takes three months and three follow ups before people will do it. “And these are friends. It has zero importance and zero urgency. Keep following up in a nice way.” 

Next Steps 

These strategies don’t have to take long to implement. Even taking an hour today to map out your thoughts about each of these techniques will help you get started. And once you get started, you’ll be on your way to getting new customers for your small business at little to no cost. 

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