Top 10 Low Cost Online Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

In a world where the amount of attention you can pull for your business often determines how much traction your business will enjoy in terms of number of customer and number of sales, it is becoming much more complicated for many small businesses to attract the attention of potential customers.

And when you are a small business owner competing with well established companies, you need to get creative and use low to no cost marketing tactics in order to succeed.

So we compiled a list of the Top 10 low cost online marketing tactics you can use to place your business in the limelight.

1. Publish Case Studies on Your Website
This highly effective and low cost online marketing tactic involves publishing well crafted case studies about the niche your business serves on your website. Apart from giving you the opportunity to advertise your business, this extremely powerful marketing strategy allows you to showcase your expertise to visitors and customers. It also serves as an effective link between you and your target audience, by convincing them of your knowledge in your particular industry, which ultimately builds their trust in you.

2. List your company on Google Maps
Another easy and effective low cost online marketing tactic involves listing your company on Google Maps. Apart from helping you increase your online presence, this simple strategy also helps to direct customers to your business whenever they go online in search of a product or services that is closer to them and allows your business to simultaneously enjoy higher SERP values in Google search rankings.

3. Affiliate Marketing
Using Affiliate Marketers to drive targeted traffic to your website is also another low cost online marketing tactic that has proven to be very effective in digital marketing. This process simply involves hiring individuals on the internet with savvy marketing skills to help you market you products and services online. On your part, you have to provide your affiliates with the necessary marketing tools such as Ad copies and links to your website so they can use it to direct visitors to your site. However, you will be required to pay a small percentage of each sale made by your affiliates as commission.

4. Create a LinkedIn Group for your Business
Creating a LinkedIn group for your business is also another low cost online marketing tactic you can use as a first time entrepreneur build awareness around your business. The amazing part about creating a LinkedIn group is that it is absolutely free and also enables you to provide your business with useful resources, while driving traffic to your website and increasing sales.

5. Get published on niche blogs
Though it may cost a fortune to get your business to appear on the front cover of major magazines, you can take advantage of this low cost online marketing tactic by getting you business published or featured on various niche blogs on the internet. The key to using this marketing tactic is to identify five or six popular blogs that relate to your service and then contact the blogger with a few ideas on how you’d like to bring value to his or her readers. You can further express your good intentions by offering the niche blog owner a few products or service as free gifts to the audience.

6. Targeting Online Forums
Online forums or discussion groups are an integral part of a website where users can share experiences, offer advice or ask questions pertaining to topics or trends in a particular industry or business. Almost every internet user is a member of one discussion group or another. Making meaningful contributions or comments in a forum related to the products or services you offer can help you build the attention you need. Remember to always attach a signature link to your website with each comment you place in the forum. Also, target forums with high-traffic that have about 1,000 plus users, while also responding to topics with larger numbers of views.

7. Email Marketing
Email marketing is also another low cost online marketing tactic you can use to score some valuable points when advertising your business to potential customers. This involves building a strong email list through subscription forms on your site or blog, social media and lead capture. Naturally, email marketing requires creativity and time to pull it off. But if done correctly, email marketing can serve as a wonderful means of maintaining a connection with your existing customers and also a valuable way for new customers and visitors to relate with you and see what your business is all about. When it comes to inspiring loyalty and building strong customer relationships, very few low cost online marketing tactics can match email marketing.

8. Using the Social Media to your Advantage
Running social media campaigns for your business is a big commitment which requires creativity, strategy and offers strong enough to pull the necessary traction to your business. The common theory behind social media marketing is that people with related interests generally assemble around web contents that discuss these interests. Your aim with using this low cost online marketing tactic as a small business owner is to become a trusted supplier of quality informative web contents. Find out what products and services people are buying and why, then use that information to guide your marketing activities.

9. Make use of online marketing tools
With new online marketing tools springing up every week and hundreds of more screaming for user attention, making use of these free online marketing tools is definitely another low cost online marketing tactic entrepreneurs can also use to their advantage. Researching several online marketing tools that can help you reach out to your customers effectively can be of immense value to you, and the amazing thing is that these marketing tools literally cost next to nothing to acquire. If you are just starting out marketing a new business online, here’s a short list of a few important tools to point you in the right direction.

Press Release & Distribution tools: Marketwire PRLog PitchEngine
Directories: The Open Directory Yahoo! Directory Best of the Web Directory.
Niche Directories: SBDGraphics.com Cpapro.com SEOAlpaca.org
Email Marketing: AWeber
Content Sharing Websites: Scribd SlideShare Flikr
Social Networks: Facebook MySpace LinkedIn Ning
Social Bookmarking: Digg. StumbleUpon. Reddit
Web Rating Tools: PowerReviews SurveyMonkey
Affiliate Marketing: Post Affiliate Pro Technorati
Research: Google AllTop WordTracker Yahoo! Pipes

10. Blogging
Blogging is another easy and effective low cost online marketing tactic that gives you the opportunity to increase your customer base while connecting you with them at the same time. By providing valuable content on your blog, your clients will check your blog regularly to see what you have in store for them. Blogging is another great and absolutely free way of generating links and directing massive traffic to your website.