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When I first started my small business, advertising seemed daunting. With a limited budget, I couldn’t fathom spending thousands on TV commercials or ad campaigns.
But over the years, I‘ve discovered that free advertising can be just as effective as paid. In fact, some of the most impactful strategies I’ve used were completely free.
It can be frustrating when your budget dictates how many potential customers you can reach. But with the right approach, you can create an effective free advertising plan.
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Guest-writing for a well-established blog is one of my favorite free advertising methods. It can connect you to that blog’s audience and establish you as an industry thought leader.
You’ll get access to an established audience and high domain authority, which can sometimes be more beneficial than posting to your own blog.
Plus, you can link back to your website from your article, giving you an inbound link that boosts your domain authority and can increase your own website’s ranking in search engines.
I’ve found that guest posting not only drives traffic to my site but also helps build valuable relationships within my industry. One guest post I wrote led to a partnership that doubled my client base in just six months.
Pro tip: Before you reach out, think about the perspective or data that differentiates you from the crowd. When you pitch other blogs, position your expertise as something their audiences can’t get anywhere else.
Writing content for Quora can expose your business to a large audience: in 2024, Quora reported a worldwide audience of 400 million monthly visitors.
Besides the large built-in audience, your business can answer direct questions from prospective customers. This lets you interact with high-quality potential leads and establish yourself as an expert in the subjects that matter most in your industry.
Here’s an example:
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Want to get free advertising and position yourself as an expert in the field? If so, industry-specific forums and threads could be for you.
Many industry organizations will have online forums or blogs that allow you to answer questions or offer advice.
One example is real estate investing organization Bigger Pockets, which has its own forum where industry professionals and newbies can share ideas.
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If you‘re not sure where to start, try browsing topics on Reddit to see if there’s an existing discussion or topic related to your area of expertise. Just be sure to offer genuine, valuable feedback so you don’t come off as too salesy.
According to Statista, 44% of B2B marketers said that LinkedIn was the most important social platform. The next most important one was Facebook, lagging behind at 33%.
In other words, if you’re a B2B marketer, don’t sleep on LinkedIn!
LinkedIn’s blogging platform lets you demonstrate your expertise within your industry. Every time connections and other LinkedIn members engage with and share your posts, you’re getting free promotion.
You can even use LinkedIn’s native newsletter tool, like Andrew McCaskill has done. He publishes the monthly LinkedIn newsletter “The Black Guy in Marketing” and has over 15k subscribers:
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To figure out which platforms your team should prioritize, it’s important to diversify your promotion platforms to discover where your audience is already consuming content.
Some of your audience might prefer listening to podcasts over reading articles. To reach those people, contact a few businesses with podcasts and pitch interview ideas.
With all the emails you send every day, it’s a shame if you aren’t taking advantage of the promotional potential of your email signature. Here’s one I made for a fictional pet-sitting business using our free email signature generator:
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Your email signature can also be an unexpected property to promote a sale, contest, event, or even a new blog post.
You should also add a link to your business’ website on your Facebook, X, and Instagram profiles.
An email newsletter can be a useful vehicle for promoting content, sharing business-related news, and building deeper relationships with potential and existing customers. There are plenty of free tools out there — like our very own free newsletter builder — that assist you in designing, sending, and optimizing your newsletter.
With the right time investment, an email newsletter can be the perfect place to share quality content with leads and potential consumers, establishing your brand as helpful and informative.
If you’re new to newsletters, give our data-backed guide to newsletter strategy a read.
According to a Wyzowl study, 87% of people have been persuaded to buy a product or service after watching a video. And 83% want to see more videos from brands in 2025. So what are you waiting for?
Creating engaging, informative, and shareable YouTube videos is one of the most efficient ways to sell your brand. If done right, your YouTube videos will entertain viewers enough to share your content and seek out your website.
Pro tip: Optimize your YouTube video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords to improve discoverability in both YouTube and Google searches.
Word-of-mouth is still one of the best ways to market your product. Consumers trust the opinions of other consumers, especially when there are many great testimonials.
If you have happy customers, encourage them to write a review about their experience on popular review platforms like Google, Facebook, and Yelp.
Kate Harding, who owns Jarvis Square Books in Chicago, suggests a frictionless approach: She keeps a QR code by the register that sends customers straight to her Google reviews page, where she’s racking up the five-star reviews. If you don’t have a brick-and-mortar store, you can still place a QR code or link near the end of your buyers’ journey to take advantage of happy customers.
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If you want great reviews on Facebook, be sure to create a Facebook Business page.
As mentioned above, word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing tool. Tap into the value of your existing customers by asking them for referrals.
As an incentive, you can offer a discount or other reward to encourage them to get the word out.
Partnerships are an opportunity to offer supplementary services that you don’t provide.
For example, a web design company and a copywriting agency might partner, so when a client requires written content for her web pages, the web design company can offer copywriting services from its partner.
This increases consumer satisfaction and provides exceptional advertising opportunities. When your partner’s consumers need your services, your partner will point them in your direction.
Nowadays, social media is crucial to most marketing strategies. Luckily, most types of social media platforms and posts are free — even to businesses.
Pick the platforms that best suit your audience. Then, post links, photos, videos, or text posts about your company, product launches, or any other occurrence that you’d like to promote.
Facebook, X, and LinkedIn are suitable places to start for most businesses.
They all offer a way to share video, text, photos, and link-based posts and have large user bases. To learn more about other forms of social media, check out this post.
Pro tip: Use a social media management tool to schedule posts in advance. This allows you to maintain a consistent presence without spending hours each day on social platforms.
It‘s not enough to post. For your social media efforts to be successful, you’ll want two-way communication.
When customers comment on your posts, respond to and Like their comments. Not only does it keep the banter and engagement up on your content, but it also humanizes your brand.
Since we’re talking about engaging with followers, using user-generated content (UGC) for your advertising can get the word out even on a tight budget.
Encourage your customers to create and share content related to your brand. This can be in the form of testimonials, reviews, or even user-created videos. It helps build social proof and can reach a wider audience.
Pro tip: Create a branded hashtag for your business and encourage customers to use it when sharing content related to your products or services. Using a branded hashtag makes it easier to find and share user-generated content.
Additionally, you’ll want to create enticing content that your audience will be motivated to share. Start by building a strong online presence.
Optimize your website and social media profiles to ensure they are user-friendly, visually appealing, and provide relevant information. Update your platforms with fresh content regularly and continue to engage with your audience through comments and messages.
If you don’t know where to start, check out HubSpot’s free Campaign Assistant, which can help you build every aspect of a great marketing campaign.
Google My Business isn’t the only game in town. List your business in the local Yellow Pages, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Angi, local professional organizations, or another relevant directory.
This increases your chances of being discovered by potential customers who search for businesses like yours.
If your industry has a directory, you should be on it. Your local chamber of commerce is also a great place to start.
One of the simplest ways to attract new customers and retain new ones is to provide value. This could be in the form of solving a common issue in your field or making a mundane or difficult task easier by providing a tool.
In the real estate industry, housing search sites often provide free mortgage calculators. Similarly, Smart Asset offers an array of handy tax and paycheck calculators that help visitors figure out roughly how much their income would change moving from one state to another.
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If there are common obstacles or pain points in your industry that can be remedied by offering a tool, ebook, or helpful video content, offer those resources on your site. It will help establish your brand as a trusted industry export.
One of the key factors in free advertising is to make sure potential customers can actually find your business.
You can have the greatest products or services, but your growth will be stunted if you don’t show up in search engines.
Along with Google My Business, taking advantage of free SEO strategies can also help your website rise higher in search results. These tactics can be simple and easy to work into blogging, web design, or other processes.
One obstacle that can prevent potential customers from making a purchase is trust. Offering a free trial of your product or service or a free consultation can help break the ice and eliminate that barrier.
It‘s also a good way to get the word out. If a visitor uses your product with a free trial and enjoys the experience, they’re likely to tell others. As we’ve mentioned previously, word of mouth is a powerful advertising method.
While Facebook, X, and LinkedIn could be great platforms to start on, expanding to platforms like Instagram or Pinterest will give you more opportunities to show product shots or embrace the heavily visual strategy of influencer marketing.
Aside from spreading awareness with free images of your product or service, most social platforms, including Facebook, offer live video and story features that allow you to create video promotions related to your products.
For example, you might use Instagram Stories or TikTok as an outlet to publish tutorials on how to use your products.
Because these videos and photos are on social, you can boost their shareability by hashtagging them, creating interesting captions, and encouraging fans to react with Likes or comments.
A press release is not advertising just by itself. To garner interest from media outlets and journalists, what you’re announcing needs to be newsworthy.
Making a press release that sounds too promotional can get it rejected by media outlets. Like your customers, you‘ll need to offer media outlets something of value. Did you run a survey or study that yielded some interesting insights that would be of interest to your industry?
That’s what you should include in a press release, and it increases the odds of the information being picked up by outlets. This could be about emerging industry trends or interesting statistics you found.
Once you have newsworthy information to share, submit your press release to industry publications, media outlets, and online press release distribution sites.
This will help build a buzz around your brand.
One of the most powerful free local business advertising methods is Google My Business, which enables companies to manage their presence on Google Search and Google Maps. The tool can bolster your rankings in local search results.
Plus, if you rank high in local search, more consumers will choose your business over a competitor’s. In today’s fast-paced world, convenience is key.
Google is the most popular site used to evaluate local businesses, according to consumers who participated in a 2023 Statista survey — 87% of respondents used Google, compared to just 48% who preferred Yelp.
Pro tip: Regularly update your Google My Business profile with fresh content, such as new photos or posts about special offers. This activity signals to Google that your business is active and relevant, potentially boosting your local search rankings.
To truly leverage the power of local search and track your performance, consider using a robust marketing analytics tool like HubSpot’s Marketing Analytics.
It can help you measure the impact of your Google My Business efforts and other local SEO strategies on your overall marketing performance.
Connecting with fellow professionals at industry networking events is a great opportunity to meet potential consumers in a place where they are eager to discuss your business.
The niche topics of networking events ensure you’re meeting high-qualified leads.
For example, an event for best tech startups will primarily attract participants who are interested in — you guessed it — technology and startups.
Particularly for small businesses looking to make their first connections, networking is a chance to get your name out there, meet potential partners, and find growth opportunities. Plus, it’ll keep you up-to-date on trends in your industry.
Speaking at an event about a topic related to your industry is another way to exhibit your expertise.
Giving a thought-provoking and powerful speech will draw attention to you and, by association, your business, which can increase brand awareness and prove your business is qualified to tackle consumer challenges.
To start, brainstorm different topics and volunteer at various upcoming networking events and trade association conventions.
If you’re afraid of public speaking (don’t worry, many of us are), you could enroll in a local Toastmasters chapter to improve your game.
One way to build loyalty and camaraderie among your audience is to offer a discount to locals only. Exclusive offers create the impression that your audience is getting something tailor-made for them.
For example, my local coffee shop offers a small discount for customers who live in the neighborhood. It doesn’t have to be much, just a token of your appreciation for their continued support of your business.
This kind gesture will encourage them to return and bring you even more business.
Similar to the networking suggestion, stay on top of local events in your area, even non-industry-related ones.
From fundraisers and charity events to local sports and community meetings — it’s an opportunity to make real connections with those in your community and build rapport.
You never know where those connections will take you. Choose something that suits your interests to make it more fun. Being active in your community will make it easier for potential customers to put a face to your business.
This strategy will require a bit of research and legwork, but familiarizing yourself with other local business owners and their specialties can be very valuable if you leverage your connections.
Let’s say you own a local yoga or fitness studio. You could partner with an athletic brand in your area — running a contest where completing a certain number of classes gets them free merch. In return, you could allow the brand space to sell its clothing in your studio.
Harding, the Chicago bookstore owner, joined forces with dozens of other local bookstore owners for the Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl, which promoted her own business and introduced her to peers across the city.
Putting up brochures or flyer templates in local libraries, coffee shops, and businesses is a unique way to market to offline locations where people spend a good deal of their time.
You can create free brochures and flyers on PowerPoint or Canva.
Depending on your industry, it might even help you reach an ideal clientele. If you’re a physical therapist, for example, perhaps you could hand out brochures to local gyms or nearby hospitals.
As mentioned above, you can create a free page on Google My Business, which can help you rank higher or first in search results. Here’s how it works.
First, you‘ll want to create a Gmail account for your business. Then, you’ll want to register for Google My Business with that account.
Google will first ask you to enter the name of your business. Then, you’ll be asked to select a “Delivery Area.” In this form, note the mileage and area where your target audience lives.
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After your setup process is complete, you can fill out your profile. As you do this, you ideally want to include all the requested info for the best search optimization.
A few key things you’ll want to include will be:
The above items are things locals might search specifically for.
For example, if someone searches for a “cheap Mexican restaurant open after 8 p.m.,” Google will examine the details in a business profile and prioritize your restaurant if it seems like a great match.
Here’s an example of what it looks like when a Google business fills out all its information:
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Once you‘ve created your Google My Business profile, verify your listing so Google knows it’s a real, legitimate business. There are a few ways to do this, including email, postcard, and phone verification.
You can also download the GMB app to monitor how your business is doing from your phone.
My favorite free advertising method? It’s a tie between content marketing through guest posting and leveraging Google My Business. Both have provided consistent returns in terms of increased visibility and customer acquisition.
What started as a necessity due to budget constraints has become a core part of my marketing strategy. I’ve found that combining these free methods with strategic paid advertising yields the best results.
Effective advertising is about creativity and persistence more than it is about budget. With the right approach, even a small business can make a big impact.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
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