In the first post of our Ultimate List of Marketing Tactics blog series, we focused on paid marketing tactics that you can execute to get noticed if you have a budget for marketing. In this next post, we want to focus on the opposite: free or cheap tactics you can utilize. This free and cheap list is focused on the category “earned media,” meaning you work in collaboration with others to earn your business exposure.  

Earned media can mean working with a traditional journalist, but it can also mean social media influencers, or even just working with other organizations. A big benefit of earned media tactics is that these exposure opportunities can cost you little to no money, however, one downside is that you often don’t have full control over the final message since it’s collaborative. On the other hand,when information about your business comes from someone else, it gives you a little more credibility than just talking about yourself. Lindsey is incredibly funny, but if she went around saying that about herself, we would be less likely to believe her, right? 

As always, you may need support to develop the plan and message/design, which of course you’d have to pay an expert for, so it’s not always completely free. But without further ado, here’s the list.

Cheap Marketing Tactics For Your Small Business

Media Relations and Public Relations: There are probably local journalists or industry writers who would love to hear from you and learn about all the fun things you’re doing. Find out who those folks are, read a few of their articles, then email them to introduce yourself. This could be newspapers and magazines, but also broadcast television reporters and radio personalities.

Press Releases: A very traditional approach, but still useful for certain audiences, press releases or even video releases are a formal announcement that can be shared on newswires and with more traditional journalists. Ideally your message is so compelling that they want to write a story about you and then lots of folks learn about your business.

Net Promoter Score: And review sites in general. You should invite your current customers to write reviews on all the relevant sites like Google, Board Game Geek, Untappd, ClassPass, etc.

Guest Posts For Backlinks: Backlinks are basically any time someone links to your site from theirs. It signals to search engines that you have good stuff worth sharing so you might move up the search results page when folks are searching for specific keywords. One authentic way to encourage folks to link to your site is to invite them to write a guest post on your blog. They get exposure to your audience, and then they are likely to share on their site and social media profiles a link to your website where their guest blog post is published. You should also consider the reverse. If you find a blog that is super relevant to your audience, email them and pitch a few guest post topics you’d be willing to write for them. Just be very clear in both instances that the content should be original and not reposted on the guest’s website or the search engines will notice it’s duplicative and ding ya.

Get Featured In Listicles: “Best wineries in Northeast Ohio,” “cozy two-player games to play on date night,” “climbing gyms worth traveling for.” These types of list usually perform well in search (meaning lots of people see them), so scoring a spot on a few of them would be awesome! 

Testimonials: Your fans may mention how much they love your business in passing, but in that moment, ask if they wouldn’t mind giving a formal testimonial you could use on your website or social media. 

User-Generated Content: Word-of-mouth and having other people tell your story is way more powerful than anything you could say about your products and services. Encouraging folks to post a photo after their workout class, invite a friend to try your new seasonal coffee menu, take an art class together, or sample the latest releases from your cellar are perfect examples. 

Social Media Posts: You don’t have to spread yourself so thin that this takes up all your time; pick one or two to do really well. Caveat: you gotta commit to it. Having a social media presence is table stakes these days. We call this “earned” because you don’t have as much control over who sees your message and when because of the algorithms.

Physical Flyers And Posters: You can put up posters or even leave a stack of postcards at your local coffee shop, a community center, or dozens of other places. While you have control over the message, you may not have complete control over the context of the location you put your posters.

Forums: Outside of traditional social media, there are likely discussion groups happening where you could contribute expertise and fun. These vary by industry but there are also more general ones like Quora and Ask the Public.

Advocacy And Organizing: Are there any regulations or laws that would make running your business easier or help you create a better experience for your customers? There are probably opportunities at the local, state, or even federal level for you to advocate for your business and others like you. This is also an excellent way to show your customers and prospects what you really stand for.

Co-branding/Partnerships: The ideas are endless here, not only for merch, but is there a local fruit farm you want to make a wine with? What about a dance marathon to fundraise for a local charity? Or even a speed puzzling competition at a local brewery.

Endorsements: Most people think of political endorsements, and while that can certainly be a powerful way to demonstrate your values to your customers, you can also endorse more light-hearted or silly things related to your business. E.g. As a climbing gym, are you cheering for a particular climber at the YETI National Championships? Or if your brewer is running for a board seat at the Brewers Association.

Editorials: If there is a myth you’d like to bust for the general public, or a strong opinion you have you want to share, pitching a publication to write on that, or even writing a letter to the editor yourself, is a great way to educate your customers and prospects on something related to your industry.

Referrals: Lots of folks love sharing their favorites with friends and family, so remind them to share your business or send a friend your way. Formalizing a loyalty program can incentivize them to spread the word.

Livestream: Twitch, YouTube and other social media platforms enable you to share cool stuff live in the moment. You can use it to stream events, behind the scenes, questions and answers, or even just day in the life content. Use it to make live announcements and build up anticipation for your news.

Crowdfunding: Worried about how you’re going to come up with startup funds, or just need a boost to get you through the slow season? Or perhaps you’re excited to expand and want to bring your most true blue customers along for the journey. Asking your fans to support your growth can be an awesome way to connect more deeply since they are literally investing in you. Just make sure the rewards are juicy!

Speaking Events: Getting up on stage in front of a crowd isn’t for everyone, but if you shine in that environment, speaking events can be a compelling marketing tool for you to share expertise and build a loyal community of fans.

Write A Book: Writing a long-form book may be the best way to educate, entertain or inspire your customer and prospects. It’s a ton of work and takes a few years to get it all ready to go, but it can have long-lasting effects if people are discovering and reading your book for many years to come. We have it listed here in earned tactics because unless you are going to publish and market it yourself, you have to convince an agent and publisher to buy your manuscript and then publish it.

This list isn’t specific to our favorite avenue of retention marketing, but we wanted to share an inclusive list so you can build a strategy for all of your marketing and business promotion.

Love the list, but feeling overwhelmed? With small teams or minimal budgets, it’s important to not spread yourself too thin. Prioritize what will have the biggest impact with the least amount of effort or budget. And of course, if you need help, you know where to find us.