1. Start a Blog
This needn’t be an everyday thing but posting to a blog a couple of times a week is a way to keep in touch with your customers and to convey more about your business and the market in which you operate to your potential clients.
2. Blog Commenting
Contribute to the conversations on blogs by bloggers in the same niche in which you operate.
3. Forum Discussions
Find and sign up to forums on a related topic to your business. Actively take part and get to know your fellow posters. Try searching for “Your Topic + Forum” in Google to find relevant conversations.
4. Register Your Business with Google Local
Google has been offering local businesses a chance to register their business address and phone number in its local listings for some time
5. Make Your Business Cards Memorable
Choose a design that stands out. Here are 51 creative business card ideas to get you started thinking creatively.
6. Consider Paid Search
Google AdWords is the largest sponsored search result program. While this marketing channel isn’t free, it does fall under budget marketing ideas for new businesses simply because you are able to manage it yourself within a small budget.
7. Build a Basic Reward Scheme
Offer an exclusive incentive to your regular customers, which will help the business retain customers and win new ones.
8. Improve Customer Service
Many forget that customer service is a form of advertising. You’re advertising that you care, and that gets noticed.
9. Let Customers Know You Appreciate Them
Customers who feel appreciated are going to give you love right back in the form of loyalty. Send them an email, make a call, interact with them any way you see fit. Just let them know they are important.
10. Become Vain
Do you know what your customers are saying about you online? Get vain, and search for yourself! Then, respond to your customers.
11. Don’t Forget Current Customers
We’ve all heard the old adage that it’s easier to keep an existing customer than win a new one. But it may also be worth going through your list of older inactive customers and trying to reactivate a few of the better ones. Give them a call, tell them you value them, and ask what it will take to get them back. You might be surprised at how simple or low-cost it is. If they say no thanks, consider it a learning opportunity and wish them the best. Then call them back in a year and ask again.
12. Article Marketing
Write expert articles and submit them to sites such as Ezinearticles.com. Here is a list of the top 50 article directories, ranked by Alexa. Get writing!
13. Add your Business to a Review Site
Adding your business to a review site such as Feedback Jar can help put you in touch with customers.
14. Email Signature
Use every email as a way to promote yourself and your business.
15. Social Networks
There is a social network for every niche. Join one and start networking. You’ve followed #7 above; now don’t just leave those cards in your pocket! Give them out, to anyone! Read about a guy who ran a pretty successful “I just broke my foot so you get 25% off sale”. The key here is to keep it fun, and get people talking about it.
Look for websites where your link will add value to their visitors, and their link will add value to your visitors.
16. Cross Promote
This is similar to a link exchange, but more in depth. Set up a cross promotion with another business. For example if you sell pencils, find a business that sells paper and work out a deal to send each other business.
17. SEO Your Website
Making sure your potential clients can find you is important. Take a few minutes to make sure your site is SEO’ed.
18. Know your USP
What is your unique selling proposition? You first need to know why people should buy from you. Once you do, you’ll have no problem telling them.
19. Position Yourself As the Expert
Create an email campaign that delivers value based content to your customers and be thought of as the expert.
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