How to advertise my business locally for free?

But in today’s digital world, the possibilities are endless (read: overwhelming).

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So if you are struggling to figure out the best ways to promote your business; or even just what your options are, you are (a) not alone and (b) in the right place.

In this post, I’m going to cover the 30 most effective ways to promote your business, whether you have no budget, a limited budget, or some wiggle room. We’ll go over how to spread the word with respect to:

Promoting your business is a must if you want to stand apart from your competitors and out to your customers, so let’s get started with the most popular channel: Google.

Using Google to promote your business is a no-brainer. Capturing more than 90% of the market share, it’s one of the best ways to get in front of consumers that are actively searching for solutions. Here are the best ways to use Google to get your name out there:

Your Google Business Profile (Google’s term for your Google listing) is what allows your business to show up in Google Maps results, the local section of Google Search results, and also—when someone types in your business name (ideas for creative business names here!) and location—the right-side Knowledge Panel in Search results. As Google gets better and better at catering its results to the searcher’s location, this free directory listing should be a top priority.

The key to using your Business Profile to promote your business is to verify ownership of your listing through your free Google My Business account. Once you have ownership, you can optimize your listing to show up higher in search results and for more relevant searches.

If you’re ranking on Google Maps or showing up in the Local Pack (as seen above) of regular results pages (this is very doable), your business is basically promoting itself 24/7. Even better, you can publish posts directly to your Google listing, putting attractive promotions in front of your audience at a time when they have high intent.

For a deeper dive into this very free, very effective method of promoting your business, visit 13 Google My Business Optimizations.

A website is a must-have piece of marketing collateral no matter how old-fashioned your business or clients may be. Your website is the go-to for current and prospective customers. Even if they find you on social media or Google, they will want to go to your website and, like your Google listing, it serves to promote your business around the clock.

A good business website not only serves as a promotional tool in and of itself—it tells the story of your business and what you offer, provides contact information, and reflects your brand’s personality and distinguishing characteristics—but it is also essential for measuring and improving the success of your other promotional tactics.

For example, when you run ads, you need landing pages, which live on your website. When you post helpful information on social media, it should link to its home on your website. With all of your marketing channels flowing into your website, you can use analytics to see which strategies are working best and get invaluable insights about your audience.

Although there are completely free solutions to get a website in place for your business, almost inevitably you will need to move to some form of a paid website if you are serious about promoting your business. Having your own domain name, a professional look and feel, and the ability to scale and add features as needed are all essential for growth.

It’s one thing for you to promote your business; it’s another thing for Google to promote your business. SEO is a set of practices that align your business with Google’s ranking algorithm. But because this algorithm has evolved to use machine learning and user behavior to produce the most accurate and quality results for searchers, optimizing for search engines is really just optimizing for searchers—particularly those searching for what you have to offer.

SEO isn’t just one tactic, but many tactics that collectively work together to improve your rank. Also, because Google has superb location-based results, you have just as much of a chance as big retailers to show up on the first page of Google— without spending a dime! (With the exception of the costs to get a website, of course).

SEO tactics to promote your business include:

For more SEO tips, check out this post on The Top 10 Google Ranking Factors of 2020 (+How to Optimize for Them).

When your business is ranking high in results, Google is basically promoting your business for you—and not just to anyone, but to the people searching for what you have to offer. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Is your site optimized for search? Get an instant audit with the free LOCALiQ Website Grader.

We just touched on this in the previous strategy, but content is such an important driver of SEO that it really deserves its own category as a promotional strategy. A blog is not LiveJournal for businesses. Sure, you can create some posts about milestones and events, but a lucrative business blog is one that produces educational content, in your brand voice, around questions and terms your ideal customers are searching in Google.

These questions and terms are called keywords, and the more content you produce targeting these keywords, the more opportunities you create for your business to show up in search engine results pages. Great blog posts can be any of the following:

For help finding keywords and creating SEO-friendly blog posts, check out these resources:

A blog that shows your expertise, approachability, and genuine desire to help your audience is the perfect promotional tool for a business. So don’t just publish posts—promote them! On social media, via email newsletters, or even turn them into downloadable guides to help you collect leads. Better yet, if you produce content with shareability in mind, your blog posts will likely get noticed by other credible websites who will mention and link back to your site on their site or social media feeds—promoting your business for you.

Just remember that the more traffic you get to your site, the more important it is to make sure your content loads quickly. For large and/or growing websites, a CDN can ensure your content gets delivered quickly.  There are plenty of options out there—for example, HubSpot has a CDN option.

While SEO is one of the best marketing strategies, it is a long-term strategy that can take weeks, even months to start seeing results. For more immediate exposure, and if you have the budget, Google Ads is the way to go. Google Ads ads show up at the very top of search engine results pages, above organic and local listings. And of the search engines available, Google is by far the most popular not only because they control the largest share of search engine traffic, but also because of its high level of flexibility, ad building features, and detailed performance metrics.

Though mastering Google Ads takes some time as well as plenty of trial and error, an optimized campaign is far worth the investment. Advertising on Google can be done through text ads on the Search Network or branded banner ads on the Display Network. If you’re ready to get started, follow our step-by-step tutorial on how to run Google Ads.

If you’re already advertising on Google, see how your campaigns are *really* performing with our Free Google Ads Performance Grader.

Consumers routinely visit online directories to search for and vet businesses that fit their specific needs. These sites tend to be high-traffic, long-standing websites with high domain authority, so it’s not uncommon for your profile page or your business name to show up on the first page of Google through one of these domains. Online listings do not take long to create and can help enhance your online presence, promoting your business to nearby, high-intent customers.

Smaller directory sites pull data from larger ones, which means that by creating listings on the major sites, you’ll also likely begin showing up on smaller directories automatically. Below is a list of the major directories to start with. All of them are free, but often have paid options for advanced features.

For a deeper dive, check out this post on the Top 10 Free Local Listing Sites.

It’s one thing to create a listing, but it’s another to optimize it. By filling out every field in your profiles, adding photos, and collecting reviews, you can improve the appeal of your business and rank above competitors in searches. It’s also important to make sure your information in all of your listings is consistent with the information on your website. Inconsistencies can cause the Goog to raise an eyebrow about your trustworthiness. Finally, be sure to monitor your listing and fix any inaccuracies, which can happen when listings are auto-populated. For more ways to optimize your listings, use the same post I linked to above (but I’ll link it here just because).

We just mentioned collecting reviews, but because reviews are so important for small and local businesses, they deserve their own section.

Word of mouth is one of, perhaps the most, powerful way of promoting your business to the right people. Testimonials on your own website are great, but reviews on official platforms like Google, Facebook, and Yelp are even better.

These websites can increase your exposure, and because they have measures in place to prevent fake or spam reviews, people trust the reviews here more than anywhere else. Plus, reviews are a major ranking factor for local search results. To get reviews, check out these posts:

Many online directories allow anyone to add a listing, so even if you didn’t list your business, it may still be on there, collecting reviews. Be sure to claim your listings wherever possible, and monitor these sites frequently. This way you can respond to reviews—which is another great way to promote your business. Not only can you resolve (and even reverse) negative reviews, but the way you answer reviews (positive and negative) can reveal your brand’s values and give potential customers an idea of what it’s like to do business with you.

RELATED: 85 Profitable Small Business Ideas Worth Trying

Social media is another free way to get the word out about your small business. The most popular business accounts are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, but make sure to consider using other sites that might be specific to your niche, such as Pinterest or Reddit.

Facebook is the largest social network online and it can be a great way to keep in touch with existing customers and to reach new customers. Promoting your business on Facebook can vary substantially depending upon your industry, but here are some basics:

For more ways to promote your business using Facebook, take a look at our post 22 Facebook Marketing Tips for Small Businesses on a Budget.

And don’t forget Facebook ads!

Facebook advertising allows you to reach highly specific audiences, since you can target according to user profile information such as marital status, occupation, interests, and more. To get started with or even improve your Facebook advertising, check out our post on The 8 Best (and Free!) Facebook Ads Courses for Any Level.

If you’re already advertising on Facebook, make sure you’re not wasting any spend with our Free Facebook Ads Performance Grader!

LinkedIn has become more than just a place to post your online resume; it’s also a place to join in on group discussions, connect with potential customers, form new partnerships, or just to do general online networking. Potential customers can check out you or your company before doing business with you to find out how many employees you have and to get more information on the background of the company personnel.

You can also promote your business indirectly on LinkedIn by providing perspectives in group discussions and/or providing links to relevant content on your website. Just make sure you’re not always promoting your own content.

Video marketing is a great way to promote your business, and YouTube lets you do it for free! Promoting your business via YouTube is an effective way to help potential customers or clients connect with your business. Putting together a quick overview video of your business and then uploading it to YouTube gives you a nice sales tool that you can post on the homepage of your website or circulate in emails to prospective clients.

You can also post educational videos, tutorials, or how-tos in your YouTube channel in order to get discovered by people looking for what your business offers. There are plenty of affordable options out there for making videos; just check out our post on DIY at-home videos. You can also add videos to your blog posts which can enhance their SEO quality, such as with this WordStream post below:

Note also that videos tend to show up in results for very niche searches, sometimes at the very top, like this one:

As with the other paid strategies mentioned in this post, YouTube advertising can be an investment that pays off if it’s done right. You can advertise on YouTube by creating video ads that play before videos in relevant categories, or through text ads that appear in search results:

Despite being one of the more recently launched social media platforms, Instagram is the third most popular platform out there. With its diverse posting formats (permanent images, short-lived Stories, IGTV series, live sessions, Story Highlights, and more), there exists a variety of ways to use Instagram to engage your audience and promote your business. You can:

For more ways to promote your business on Instagram, check out these 11 Instagram marketing tips.

Twitter is another free channel that can be used to promote your business online—mainly if your audience is comprised of 18-24 year-olds. It tends to require a bit more activity to build an audience, but if you’re consistently active, you can master the platform and experience its benefits.

You can promote your products or services:

Or simply invite nearby customers to stop in:

While Pinterest is fundamentally focused on sharing photos, the fact that your photos can link back to your website creates an opportunity to promote your business and drive more traffic to your site.

Pinterest is especially powerful for ecommerce businesses looking to reach a female audience (Pinterest users are heavily skewed towards the female demographic).  If this fits your profile, you may want to think about getting active on the Pinterest network.

TikTok was only launched in 2016, but it has already surpassed Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Pinterest in active users. Its ease of use in creating compelling videos with special effects makes it a great video marketing platform—and not just for Zillenials. You can jump right on the platform to provide how-to, tutorial, or behind-the-scenes videos, but you may want to promote your new Tik Tok channel across other networks, as with the example below:

One of the best ways to get a leg up is to offer a hand up to others. Join communities and groups relevant to your business or industry on LinkedIn, Reddit, and Facebook, and offer people good advice and suggestions when they have problems or questions. (Make sure your own profile information points back to your business, of course.)

This is a great way to build a genuine reputation and form solid connections with people relevant to your work. What goes around generally comes around. And remember that while you’re helping one person with their query, you’re being observed by a thousand silent others who will see your name and what you’re doing.

Your business can be a part of communities both geographically-based and niche-focused, and influencers are celebrities within your niche. They’re not on the red carpet or hosting their own talk shows, but they are highly respected, wildly popular, and deeply trusted experts in your niche. Influencers have a large social media and/or blog following, which means that getting mentioned or featured by one of these influencers can promote your business to a massive, relevant audience.

Influencer marketing is a careful strategy, however. Before reaching out to an influencer, take the time to familiarize with their accounts across all networks; comment on, like, and share their content; and be sure to approach them with a specific ask and something of equal value in exchange. For example, you might offer them a month of free classes in exchange for a review on their blog and mentions on social media. Or you might offer to write a high-quality guest post on their blog that benefits their audience while also supplying a backlink to your site.

Here’s an example of an influencer in the automotive niche (David Patterson) promoting a local auto shop:

And here’s an example of an influencer in the home and parenting niche (Leticia Barr) promoting FabFitFun:

Social media advertising is among the most forward-thinking, highly-utilized, and profitable forms of digital advertising today. More than 3.6 BILLION people use it and it’s constantly evolving to offer ease-of-use and exceptional value for your advertising dollar. When done right, paid social promotes your business to a highly targeted audience with these advantages:

For local businesses, the community is a critical component of their success. Retailers and restaurants understand this implicitly, of course, and even those businesses focused more on the wider world still have a considerable attachment to the place or places in which they operate. That said, let’s talk about a few ways to market your small business in your community.

For some reason, the idea of pitching your business happenings to the local press feels intimidating, but the truth is, local blogs, newspapers, online publications are always on the hunt for fresh content.

Reach out to your local news sources and see if you can contribute an article—whether it’s a thought leadership piece, a list of resources, or a newsworthy update about your business. If your business’s story is compelling enough, you might even be able to get someone else to publish a featured write-up.

You can also ask to write about an event you are hosting in your community, or invite a local writer to attend for free in exchange for a recap.

If you have a little more budget, you may even consider a public relations partner, firm, or app to get your stories published in multiple media sources. If your budget is a little bit lower, you can publish your own press releases through companies like www.prweb.com. These press releases may get picked up by some media outlets and they can also help your search engine optimization by providing links back to your website.

You can learn how to write a great press release here.

Partnering with non-competitive businesses that serve the same clientele can be a great way to promote your business in your local network. Once you have established a relationship, you can cross-promote each other’s services through your email lists and in-store flyers or coupons, or by engaging them through social media. Don’t be afraid to get creative to maximize the promotional value of the partnership.

Attending local networking events is a great way to increase your presence in your community. This works better for some types of businesses than others. If you provide services directly to other small businesses or consumers, then local networking is going to be far more rewarding than if you sell products online, for example. However, every kind of networking helps, even if it’s just to share ideas and inspiration with other business owners.

Whether online or offline, inexpensive marketing techniques like these can get your business humming with the energy from new customers and clients.

And if you do partake in networking (I’m not trying to tell you how to live your life, but you should), do not miss out on my nine networking email templates, like the one below:

Even in a world that is increasingly digital, attending, hosting, or sponsoring events in your community is a great way to promote your business while strengthening your connection with local customers.

You could run a class at your location, offer to teach a class at a school, library, or other local establishment, or even just host a fun seasonal and/or family-oriented event. Leverage the time you put into creating and teaching the class by having a friend take video of you teaching, then put that video on your website and on YouTube.

Despite the dominance of digital media today, sending postcards, flyers, letters, or other types of mail can still be a very effective way to promote your business to nearby customers. One of the biggest challenges with this promotional method is that you can’t exactly target your mailings, so you’ll need to print out and send a high volume of mail in order to get a response. The benefit is that if you get it right, promoting your business through the mail can help you get new customers with a very repeatable process.

You could also send your loyal customers little gift packages during the holidays to keep them coming back and (most likely) promoting your business to their friends and family.

Newspapers, magazines, radio, and even television are some other traditional places for paying to promote your business. If you are considering promoting your business through print ads or any of these offline strategies, the key is to make sure you are tracking everything so that you can know the effectiveness. For more local advertising tips, head here: 10 Effective Local Advertising Ideas for Small Businesses

These three promotional strategies are last but definitely least—they’re just a bit miscellaneous with regard to the way I grouped the strategies in this post.

If you are targeting a national audience and you want to sell your products to retailers, going to a big trade show might make sense. If you are unsure of how beneficial the trade show will be for you, and you have some time to figure it out, you might consider just attending as a visitor before investing the money in your own booth. If you have a good relationship with a company already planning on exhibiting at a trade show, they may let you “hang out” in their booth for a portion of time, where you can observe and learn, and maybe even promote your business free of charge.

Email marketing has been around for ages, but the strategy has by no means become less effective over time. In fact, 77% of people prefer to get permission-based promotional messages via email versus other modes of communication. Email is a popular channel for consumers and businesses alike:

For more tips on using email marketing, check out my post on How to Write Undelete-able Promotional Emails.

Good leadership and proper treatment of your employees will naturally turn them into advocates for your business. Hold brainstorm sessions, encourage employee blog post contributions, host fireside chats, get them involved in local events, run family and friend promotions—value them and they will value the business they work for. You can then encourage social media sharing and equip them with news and tools to effortlessly spread the word about your business.

There is a plethora of options when it comes to promoting your business, no matter your budget. Implementing the strategies in this post is sure to pay off, especially if you regularly review and revise your strategy.

Is there such a thing as free advertising? Yes!

While you'll have to put some time and effort into promoting your business, it's possible to advertise your business without shelling out a single cent on ad spending.  Yes, it's true! You don't need to pay for Facebook ads to bring in a potential customer. However, not all free advertising for businesses is created equal.

At Nextdoor, we think all business owners should have the opportunity to promote their business and increase their brand awareness. That's why our experts have created this list of some of the top ways to promote a business through free advertising options. In this short guide, we'll go over the top 12 places to advertise for free with minimal effort and maximum return on your time and energy.

A quick note: This list draws from many different mediums with varied audiences. The most important factor to remember when advertising and launching your ad campaign is to meet your customers where they are.

If they're local shoppers, consider avenues that target your neighborhood (like Nextdoor). If your customers seek out your professional services through how-to videos or advice, consider online advertising such as creating videos on streaming channels (like YouTube). Make sure the method you choose to promote your business matches the local customers you're trying to reach, such as display ads, or use a digital advertising technique through more social channels if you want to share your business online.

By keeping your customers in mind, you can ensure your advertising efforts will be worth it.

What's below:

As a local business owner, it's important to connect to new and current customers in your immediate area - your neighborhood. To that end, Nextdoor is the go-to digital space for engaging with your nearby community and a key platform for local advertising of your business for free.

Take advantage of Nextdoor's free advertising for local business leaders by creating a Business Page. Consider:

After you have one recommendation, you'll also start showing up in neighbors' local search results. From there, how much you engage on Nextdoor is completely up to you.

If you're a small business, you don't have to pay for Google advertising to show up on the first page of Google search results. Want a marketing secret? Google actually wants people to find relevant, local search results when they look for terms like "Plumber Tampa" or "Boise Bakery" on Google Search or in Google Maps, not just those who utilize Google Ads.

You don't have to invest in a big marketing campaign to improve your odds. Instead:

As you start to show up in results, you can also use Google's analytic tools to find out which keywords are driving traffic to your site. Google Analytics uses this information to make further changes to your description and website to improve your local SEO rankings.

After Google, Bing is the second most popular search engine. It's free and easy to create a Bing Places Business Profile.

Just claim and verify your business listing, then start updating your information. Once you're set up, you'll be able to start capturing traffic from Bing, too.

If you still receive a phone book from your municipality, you're probably more inclined to use it as a doorstop than a business directory. However, there are plenty of reasons to list your business in the Yellow Pages:

It's free to list your business, update your hours, add a menu, and more.

Similar to the Yellow Pages, the White Pages has evolved to include an online directory of personal and business addresses, phone numbers, and websites.

Since 35 million people search the White Pages directory each month, keeping an up-to-date listing with your hours and contact information could potentially pay off for prospective customers.

Along with Yellow and White Pages, there's a whole world of new online business directories that target younger consumers on the lookout for the best local businesses.

Your business probably already has a "Yelp" listing (whether or not you want one). Use this as an opportunity to increase your digital advertising. Claim your Business Page, and then take the following free steps:

This kind of engagement is another great marketing strategy that can gradually help you improve your rating and show up in local search results.

Do you offer professional services like contracting, interior design, or house cleaning?

Angie's List is another great online directory that can help you connect with local customers. While Angie's List has some paid features that allow you to book jobs through the site, our focus here is on free tools.

So what can you do without entering your credit card information?

Curious customers can still follow the links to your external site to get a quote.

Foursquare isn't just a playground game. This website started out as a social networking tool that allowed users to "check-in" at popular locations and compete to become "mayor" of their favorite venue by visiting frequently.

Customers can still use the Foursquare app to search their geographic location for fun venues to visit. However, Foursquare's technology now powers location data for dozens of other companies including:

While Foursquare offers paid marketing solutions, it's free to claim your listing and is a great way to advertise your business. That way, you can ensure your hours, location, and contact information start showing up accurately on FourSquare and with its partners.

Facebook is known for its wide array of targeted advertising options and tools. But you don't have to have a big budget to take advantage of the social media platform's massive user base.

Creating a Facebook Page for your business is simple and free. As with other sites we've listed, you can:

When customers "like" and review your page, it can help to increase your credibility and drive web traffic.

You're probably familiar with several social media networks beyond Facebook. Perhaps you even post on a regular basis! The odds are quite high that a potential customer uses the same platforms, which is why it's imperative you are establishing an online presence as a business owner.

But if you own a retail business and have zero energy for videos, tweets, or other kinds of posts, there's a quick and easy way to connect with customers without creating new content.

Believe it or not, YouTube is considered a social media platform which means it is an important online medium for business advertising. We'll admit that making videos for YouTube takes time. But if you have a smartphone, you won't need to invest in any expensive videography or editing equipment!

It's free to create a YouTube channel for your business. From there, you can start adding video content that promotes your business:

If your videos go viral on YouTube, your efforts will pay off in spades!

But even if their viewership is more modest, videos can help improve your search engine rankings and serve as a fun, engaging way to answer customers' questions and engage more deeply with your audience.

Like creating videos, blogging takes time and effort but as long as you do it yourself rather than hiring a writer, it's completely free! But before you go and start blogging, we recommend starting with content marketing and getting your website set up and optimized. Once you've done that, blogging is like the cherry on top. A blog post is also a great way to boost SEO quality on your site. SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is an organic form of marketing that can drive more traffic to your page from a search result, increase brand awareness, and help grow your business.

Creating a business blog has several potential benefits.

Don't feel like you have enough to say? A blog can also be a great space to post interviews with local leaders and influencers, which is a form of influencer marketing. As they promote the interview on their channels, you'll see more traffic and prospective customers to your site.

Readers of your blog may even sign up for your mailing list allowing you to communicate through email marketing strategies. Sending monthly email newsletters or notification emails when new posts come out are great ways to stay engaged with your closest clients.

For best results, try to update your blog at least once a month.

Social media is a powerful tool. Not only is it a way to share images and videos, but, it is also a great way to connect with your customers.  Having active and engaging social channels is crucial to any marketing strategy. You can build relationships with new and existing customers through both personal and professional platforms. LinkedIn, for example, can promote your business through a professional site.

Now that you know where to advertise for free, make a list of the marketing channels that are most appropriate given your industry and budget:

Remember that while it's free to create a listing on many platforms, what really pays off is finding ways to communicate with your target audience on a regular basis. When you take the time to update your online presence and consistently post, you'll generate meaningful interaction, and with it, new customers.  Start connecting with nearby neighbors and turn them into customers by claiming your free business page.

Sources:

Is there such a thing as free advertising? Yes!

While you'll have to put some time and effort into promoting your business, it's possible to advertise your business without shelling out a single cent on ad spending.  Yes, it's true! You don't need to pay for Facebook ads to bring in a potential customer. However, not all free advertising for businesses is created equal.

At Nextdoor, we think all business owners should have the opportunity to promote their business and increase their brand awareness. That's why our experts have created this list of some of the top ways to promote a business through free advertising options. In this short guide, we'll go over the top 12 places to advertise for free with minimal effort and maximum return on your time and energy.

A quick note: This list draws from many different mediums with varied audiences. The most important factor to remember when advertising and launching your ad campaign is to meet your customers where they are.

If they're local shoppers, consider avenues that target your neighborhood (like Nextdoor). If your customers seek out your professional services through how-to videos or advice, consider online advertising such as creating videos on streaming channels (like YouTube). Make sure the method you choose to promote your business matches the local customers you're trying to reach, such as display ads, or use a digital advertising technique through more social channels if you want to share your business online.

By keeping your customers in mind, you can ensure your advertising efforts will be worth it.

What's below:

As a local business owner, it's important to connect to new and current customers in your immediate area - your neighborhood. To that end, Nextdoor is the go-to digital space for engaging with your nearby community and a key platform for local advertising of your business for free.

Take advantage of Nextdoor's free advertising for local business leaders by creating a Business Page. Consider:

After you have one recommendation, you'll also start showing up in neighbors' local search results. From there, how much you engage on Nextdoor is completely up to you.

If you're a small business, you don't have to pay for Google advertising to show up on the first page of Google search results. Want a marketing secret? Google actually wants people to find relevant, local search results when they look for terms like "Plumber Tampa" or "Boise Bakery" on Google Search or in Google Maps, not just those who utilize Google Ads.

You don't have to invest in a big marketing campaign to improve your odds. Instead:

As you start to show up in results, you can also use Google's analytic tools to find out which keywords are driving traffic to your site. Google Analytics uses this information to make further changes to your description and website to improve your local SEO rankings.

After Google, Bing is the second most popular search engine. It's free and easy to create a Bing Places Business Profile.

Just claim and verify your business listing, then start updating your information. Once you're set up, you'll be able to start capturing traffic from Bing, too.

If you still receive a phone book from your municipality, you're probably more inclined to use it as a doorstop than a business directory. However, there are plenty of reasons to list your business in the Yellow Pages:

It's free to list your business, update your hours, add a menu, and more.

Similar to the Yellow Pages, the White Pages has evolved to include an online directory of personal and business addresses, phone numbers, and websites.

Since 35 million people search the White Pages directory each month, keeping an up-to-date listing with your hours and contact information could potentially pay off for prospective customers.

Along with Yellow and White Pages, there's a whole world of new online business directories that target younger consumers on the lookout for the best local businesses.

Your business probably already has a "Yelp" listing (whether or not you want one). Use this as an opportunity to increase your digital advertising. Claim your Business Page, and then take the following free steps:

This kind of engagement is another great marketing strategy that can gradually help you improve your rating and show up in local search results.

Do you offer professional services like contracting, interior design, or house cleaning?

Angie's List is another great online directory that can help you connect with local customers. While Angie's List has some paid features that allow you to book jobs through the site, our focus here is on free tools.

So what can you do without entering your credit card information?

Curious customers can still follow the links to your external site to get a quote.

Foursquare isn't just a playground game. This website started out as a social networking tool that allowed users to "check-in" at popular locations and compete to become "mayor" of their favorite venue by visiting frequently.

Customers can still use the Foursquare app to search their geographic location for fun venues to visit. However, Foursquare's technology now powers location data for dozens of other companies including:

While Foursquare offers paid marketing solutions, it's free to claim your listing and is a great way to advertise your business. That way, you can ensure your hours, location, and contact information start showing up accurately on FourSquare and with its partners.

Facebook is known for its wide array of targeted advertising options and tools. But you don't have to have a big budget to take advantage of the social media platform's massive user base.

Creating a Facebook Page for your business is simple and free. As with other sites we've listed, you can:

When customers "like" and review your page, it can help to increase your credibility and drive web traffic.

You're probably familiar with several social media networks beyond Facebook. Perhaps you even post on a regular basis! The odds are quite high that a potential customer uses the same platforms, which is why it's imperative you are establishing an online presence as a business owner.

But if you own a retail business and have zero energy for videos, tweets, or other kinds of posts, there's a quick and easy way to connect with customers without creating new content.

Believe it or not, YouTube is considered a social media platform which means it is an important online medium for business advertising. We'll admit that making videos for YouTube takes time. But if you have a smartphone, you won't need to invest in any expensive videography or editing equipment!

It's free to create a YouTube channel for your business. From there, you can start adding video content that promotes your business:

If your videos go viral on YouTube, your efforts will pay off in spades!

But even if their viewership is more modest, videos can help improve your search engine rankings and serve as a fun, engaging way to answer customers' questions and engage more deeply with your audience.

Like creating videos, blogging takes time and effort but as long as you do it yourself rather than hiring a writer, it's completely free! But before you go and start blogging, we recommend starting with content marketing and getting your website set up and optimized. Once you've done that, blogging is like the cherry on top. A blog post is also a great way to boost SEO quality on your site. SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is an organic form of marketing that can drive more traffic to your page from a search result, increase brand awareness, and help grow your business.

Creating a business blog has several potential benefits.

Don't feel like you have enough to say? A blog can also be a great space to post interviews with local leaders and influencers, which is a form of influencer marketing. As they promote the interview on their channels, you'll see more traffic and prospective customers to your site.

Readers of your blog may even sign up for your mailing list allowing you to communicate through email marketing strategies. Sending monthly email newsletters or notification emails when new posts come out are great ways to stay engaged with your closest clients.

For best results, try to update your blog at least once a month.

Social media is a powerful tool. Not only is it a way to share images and videos, but, it is also a great way to connect with your customers.  Having active and engaging social channels is crucial to any marketing strategy. You can build relationships with new and existing customers through both personal and professional platforms. LinkedIn, for example, can promote your business through a professional site.

Now that you know where to advertise for free, make a list of the marketing channels that are most appropriate given your industry and budget:

Remember that while it's free to create a listing on many platforms, what really pays off is finding ways to communicate with your target audience on a regular basis. When you take the time to update your online presence and consistently post, you'll generate meaningful interaction, and with it, new customers.  Start connecting with nearby neighbors and turn them into customers by claiming your free business page.

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The following tips are listed in no particular order, but this one is at the top for a reason: the importance of claiming your business pages on Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook, and any relevant industry-specific sites (such as OpenTable for restaurants, for example) can not be overstated.

An astounding 56% of businesses haven’t claimed their Google business profiles. This is crazy. There’s nothing more important for today’s small businesses than a solid online presence (yes, even for small, local shops), and without taking this step, any advertising money you decide to spend will simply drive your potential customers to other businesses.

People check online review sites for “social proof” before visiting local stores. 97% of customers read online reviews for local businesses. And 88% of people trust those reviews as much a personal recommendation family or friends.

So, it’s absolutely essential that your business show up well in local online searches, and this isn’t possible until you officially claim all your business pages. Plus, research shows that businesses that claim their listings on multiple online business reviews sites make 58% more money!

Click below for our easy-to-follow articles.

Once you have claimed your business profiles, you can respond to online reviews. This is not only polite, it’s essential… and it’s effectively free advertising. When you respond appropriately to reviews, you demonstrate to current and potential customers that you are fully engaged in the process of taking care of your customers.

And since 97% of people read online reviews for local businesses, your reviews (and the “star rating” that results) are the first introduction almost all of your potential customers will have to your business.

Smarter businesses also see online reviews not as a hassle, but as valuable insights into their customers. Large companies pay millions to learn what their customers think about them, but if you pay attention to your reviews, you can get those insights absolutely free.

Reviewers might point out problems with your employees, products, or facilities that need to be resolved, and when you respond and demonstrate you have addressed any issues, you build credibility and advertise the fact that you are constantly working to provide the best service possible.

Go deeper: How to respond to negative reviews

The most important reason? As we discuss in our article on how to respond to Google reviews, studies show what when businesses start replying to reviews, they increase both the total number of reviews received and their overall rating. And a better rating means more free advertising, more customers, and more revenue in your pocket.

What’s more, research shows that businesses that regularly respond to their online business reviews earn more revenue!

According to an article by Chatmeter.com, Google has confirmed that “responding to reviews improves your local SEO.” And Cornell reported that a one-star increase in your rating can increase your revenue by up to 39%.

You might also like: The simple (and free) method small businesses are using to climb local search rankings

The more people who know about your business, the more people will decide to buy from you. The internet has dozens of free business listing sites to help local businesses get more exposure, and listing your business on these sites not only helps you get in front of customers, it improves local SEO.

To help small business owners, we’ve compiled a list of free online communities, directories, and free business listing sites where you should create a profile.

Check it out here: 25 free business listing websites every small or local business should be on

Full disclosure: while it’s free to build a website (if you know how to use HTML or other code—and there are free tutorials available), you’re going to have to pay a little to host your site. However, every business needs a website, so we consider the relatively low cost of webhosting a necessary expense, similar to keeping the lights on at your physical location. It’s just part of the cost of doing business.

There are several great resources like Squarespace or Wix that provide easy, free website-building templates that anyone can use to create surprisingly professional-looking websites (and they naturally provide hosting at reasonable prices).

Don’t think you need a website? Listen up: if nothing else, a website makes your business look legitimate and improves SEO—which means it improves “free advertising” for your business.

Even if you don’t actually use your website for commerce, and all you have is a simple page listing your accurate business hours, location, contact information, and a boilerplate of your business, that will be valuable to many customers and it gives search engines one more reason to rank you higher.

Bonus tip: remember to keep your website updated, and ideally, post fresh content to it regularly.

Go deeper: Best DIY websites for small businesses

Read more: Why every small business still needs a website

User generate content is all the rage these days, and for good reason. Your customers should be your biggest marketers (word of mouth may have moved online, but it’s just as important as ever). User-generated content shows any potential new customers that current customers are happy with your product or service, making them more confident in spending money at your business.

And while online reviews are a type of user-generated content, try going the extra mile to get customers to create (and share) content about your business.

For example, you could run a “photo contest” on instagram, where the best picture of your product or customer at your place of business can win a prize.

Nearly every industry has 2 or more prominent online forums where business owners, customers, and experts can ask questions, give advice, buy and sell goods, post how-to threads, and inevitably argue vehemently with each other about unrelated political topics.

If you are courteous and have real insight and advice to give, posting on relevant internet forums and chat groups can be an effective way to drum up interest in your business and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Make sure to conform to the forum admin/moderators’ rules about any promotional material, and don’t just spam the forum with unrelated marketing posts or you’ll quickly get banned and actually hurt interest in your business.

Go deeper: Best practices for participation on industry forums

Along the same lines as forums, you can approach industry-related blogs, news articles, Quora questions, etc. as free ways to get your business seen by more people.

If you regularly respond to online questions, blog posts, news stories, etc. relating to your business and include a link or info about your business in your profile, search engines will start to see your business as a valuable resource that needs to rank higher in search results.

For this approach to be effective it needs to be consistent and regular, and you need to provide quality responses that others consider valuable (and which they then engage with and share/upvote). You can’t just post one random answer on Quora and expect the referral traffic to flood in. So dedicate some time to this task regularly to see the best results.

Go deeper: Best practices for participation in general forums like Quora

If you have solid writing skills, know someone who does, or believe you have created an interesting “niche” in the market that people might find compelling, consider starting a blog.

It can be easy to get caught up in the ego of being a “published author” of a blog, but it’s more useful to look at your blog as an advertising and SEO-boosting tool, rather than the digital equivalent of the great American novel. (One of our favorite snarky t-shirts proclaims, “More people have read this shirt than your blog.”)

Search engines consider all types of content related to your business from multiple sources, so the more sources that “talk” about your business in more locations and platforms, the better.

Remember, though, that you need to create regular, fresh content in order to get the benefits of a blog.

Go deeper: The do’s and don’ts of writing an effective small business blog

If you have writing chops, you might consider writing content for an online industry publication, guest posts for blogs you find relevant, articles for your local news outlets’ op/ed pages, etc.

This kind of content almost always includes valuable backlinks to your company website or business pages, and increases the SEO value of your business. The more “valid” the sites that link to your content, the higher you rank in search engines and the more free advertising benefit you receive.

Go deeper: how to maximize local SEO for your small business

You may notice that in addition to the standard website (which your business should also have—see #4 above), almost every notable company today has a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and/or LinkedIn account. This is not by accident. Many customers eschew review sites and choose to post feedback and commentary about your business via social media instead.

In addition to the value you derive from knowing what’s being said about your business online, when you engage current and potential customers on social media (and, more importantly, when people engage with you and share/re-share your posts and content), search engines view you as more important and you show up better online search results… which means, you guessed it, free advertising.

So sign up for accounts on as many of these platforms as you can manage. Be real, be interesting (funny content helps), and definitely don’t turn every post into an ad. Repost your blog content and/or website content updates to all your social media accounts.

You can also exploit the “live” broadcasting features some social media platforms offer, like Instagram live, Facebook live, etc. to host a live event or webinar. (See #17 below)

Go deeper: The best types of social media posts for small businesses

Claiming your online business listings is the first step in any effective business marketing plan, but we’re listing this one separately because it’s so important—and many businesses don’t bother to do it: Be sure to fill in every optional field of your business listings on Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc., add all relevant info (menus for restaurants, for example), and include good photos.

High-quality images of your location, staff, or products can act as free advertising when you add them to your online business profiles. Think about those results that stand out to you when you conduct mobile searches. They almost always will have eye-catching photos added.

One benefit to most review sites is they allow customers to upload photos for you, and some of them can be quite good.

However, If you’re not a shutterbug and your customers aren’t uploading any good images, it would be a good time to employ a talented friend or teenage niece who is going through her “photography” phase.

Ask for clear, high-resolution pics optimized for online thumbnail display.

Most people respond well to bright, appealing visuals and an abundance of relevant information. A little effort here can pay off in more online engagement, better search rankings, and more free advertising for your business.

Go deeper: 3 ways to get (and use) professional photos for your business

When you host local events you bring a lot of potential customers to your store. So consider hosting a poetry reading, pub crawl, taste of the city, political fundraiser, or a performance by your favorite string quartet, bluegrass group, or death metal band. (Pro tip… put down plastic. Those bluegrass weirdos can get pretty wild.)

Along the same lines as hosting local events, you can get your business noticed by your local customers if you volunteer and support local events.

Make sure you get a mention in the publicity materials for whatever event you’re volunteering for. Assuming you have some business-branded swag or clothing already, make sure you exploit it. Wear company branded hats, t-shirts, etc. If you don’t have any, consider spending some of your marketing budget on this type of item so you get the benefits of getting your business’s name in front of more potential customers.

Hopefully you have a method to gather your customers’ email addresses. If you don’t, start right now. Email may not have the sexy sheen of the newer tools afforded by social media, but it is still the most cost-effective marketing tool in the small businessperson’s toolbox, with a huge 42:1 ROI.

Sending a weekly or monthly email to your list is a good way to promote sales and stay top of mind. Plus, despite what you might think, the majority of customers actually want promotional emails from businesses they like.

Read more: Why small business email marketing should be your top priority this year

This might seem silly, but you’d be surprised how effective and how far-reaching a YouTube video can be, even if you don’t think your business is interesting enough.

For example, some simple how-to videos by professional plumbers, lawn-care specialists, or appliance repair technicians earn multiple millions of views, and often show up as the number-one results in related search engine queries.

If nothing else, this is a way to add another source of links and traffic to your business, which search engines will see as making you more legitimate and worthy of higher placement in search results.

Read our helpful post:

Even if you don’t consider yourself the expert in your field, host an expert, or just someone you know who is informative and fascinating. You’ll be awesome by association.

One advantage of this tip is it brings people who otherwise might not visit your physical store to your location (if you have one), and obviously you get the word out about your business.

This can work even in an online/zoom type workshop as well, though, and you may actually extend your reach this way.

To extend the benefits even further, arrange with any “experts” to get free mentions/marketing/promotion of your business on their social media channels as well.

Similarly to a class or a workshop, you can host a webinar to reach people who can’t or don’t want to attend an in-store event. There are several free webinar websites (Zoom currently offers free meeting/webinar hosting up to 100 participants), and most of the popular pay-to-use sites like join.me and GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar will give you a free trial period during which you can host your webinar. (If you like how it turns out, you can consider paying for the service in the future.)

You can host your webinar live, record it for later viewing, and/or post it on your social media channels and YouTube.

If you understand how much advertising value online reviews can provide, you should be doing this anyway as part of your standard business practice. If you’re not, start now.

Don’t be embarrassed about asking for reviews, but make sure you do it in the right way. Don’t offer free products, discounts, or gifts in exchange for a good review, and never try to “buy” good reviews from an online company.

Simply let your customers know you appreciate their online feedback, and be sure to engage with them there when they do. (See #2 above)

Learn how to get more reviews.

Almost every reasonably sized community has a local chamber of commerce and/or small business development center. These resources can provide free listings and promotional material for local businesses, as well as valuable marketing tips and assistance from successful businesspeople in your area.

Read up: Chamber of commerce basics, what they do, and why you should join

Small businesses who stick together and help each other get the word out can get huge value. You don’t need to spend any money… just find something you have that other businesses want, and trade in kind.

You can co-host events, workshops, or webinars and, should you decide to spend some advertising money, split the costs and double the exposure.

Just as an example, National Doughnut Day can be used to hype nearly any business with a physical location… whether you normally sell donuts or not. Everybody loves donuts, and offering a free pastry with purchase or even a visit can bring lots of new faces through your door. (Think of how many people visit “free hot dogs and sodas” events at car dealerships.) Extra-super bonus points for offering a gluten-free option.

Pair these promotions with your posts on social media and email sends for extra buzz. This technique can work for any holiday—just be creative with what treats or prizes you want to hand out to potential customers. Now, we understand that treats and prizes aren’t technically free, but if you make or sell food or goods, you can use inventory and write it off as a promotional expense. If you don’t make or sell anything you can use as a prize, consider offering your services for free to winners.

Or, if you want to give something tangible away, this is one way you can benefit from partnering, bartering, and trading goods and services with other businesses in your area (see #20 above). Trade your tax preparation services to the owner of the local pastry shop in exchange for a weekly or monthly goodie bag, for example.

Okay, technically printing ink and paper aren’t free, but we’ll bet you already have these resources available to you at home or in your business.

Obviously you’ll want to conform with any local ordinances regarding posting of bills or distributing solicitations. (It’s against the law to stuff mailboxes, for example.) Consider handing flyers out personally… you’ll get to know your community better, and people have a greater chance of reading marketing materials if they meet you in person.

You might also ask any local students you know to post your flyers on local college bulletin boards.

Make a free promotional video with a resource like Biteable. They have several easy-to-use templates for you to use in building a fun, informative, and high-quality promo video for your business. You’d be surprised how professional it can look with a little work.

You can then post your video on YouTube, Vimeo, or other free video hosting sites, and/or use it as content for your Facebook/social media, blog, website, and email campaigns.

A funny and/or engaging Craigslist post about your business can go viral and give you tons of free exposure. You should also consider posting on free local online classifieds… some areas have “the” locally accepted online classifieds, perhaps hosted by the local network TV website.

• Create a Nextdoor profile.
• Sign up for Google My Business.
• Claim a Bing Places profile.
• Get listed on Yellow Pages.
• Update your White Pages listing.
• Claim a Yelp business page.
• Sign up for Angie's List.
• Claim a Foursquare listing.