Getting Customers When Your Marketing Budget Is Zero

When it comes to marketing, it’s not necessarily true that you need to spend money to make money. In fact, if you offer something that people really want, you won’t have to spend a penny to get them to buy it. Despite popular advice to the contrary, you can acquire customers without spending money on marketing. Here’s how.

1. Utilize Existing Traffic. As long as you have a product that your customers really want, even outlets like Craigslist will help you get the word out. Leverage this type of user community as well as sites relevant to your product and sales will follow.

2. Give Your Customers Incentives To Share. Consider offering referral discounts when your customers share your product on social media. Create fun things like quizzes and giveaways to encourage customer interaction.

3. Use Affiliate Programs. These programs are great because you only pay for them when someone purchase your item. Tapfiliate is one tool for getting started with affiliate tracking.

4. Buddy Up With Bloggers. Provide bloggers with free product samples in exchange for reviews. You can reach out to YouTubers in a similar fashion. This is a great inexpensive way to gain exposure for your product.

5. Try Guest Blogging. Offer free (high-quality) content on blogs that are relevant to your target audience. Keep in mind that this is not the place to attempt a hard sale. Instead, soft pitch your product in such a way that blog visitors will want to use it.

6. Reach Out To People You Already Know. Advertise your product to friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers, and your existing social media contacts. Even if they don’t purchase it themselves, they will likely share it with others.

7. Get Up Close And Personal. Sometimes the face-to-face sell is the best way to move your product. Attend local meetup groups with your target audience and demonstrate what your product can do for them. Attend industry events and get to know potential customers. You could even try going door to door with your product.

8. Provide Freebies. If you provide a service rather than a product offer to work for free in exchange for referrals or beneficial client access. Offer your services free of charge to the movers and shakers relevant to your industry in exchange for testimonials, PR, and exposure.