June 2024

13 Marketing Ideas for Your Small Business

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When it comes to managing a successful business — no matter the size – there’s one thing for certain: marketing is a must. What good is your product or service if no one knows about it, right?

If you want to expand your customer base and increase your revenue, here are 25 small business marketing ideas to try. Note that these strategies vary in price, but most can be achieved with a modest marketing budget.

1. Create a Google Business Profile

When you’re looking for a plumber, where do you search? Do you pull out a phone book and magnifying glass, combing through the white pages? Probably not. Chances are, you reach for your phone and take a look on Google. 

By creating a Google Business Profile, you can

claim your business

add photos, hours, and other info

even gather reviews — all within Google

This will give you a direct line to people searching for your business — and even give you visibility within local search queries (i.e. “lobster rolls in Boston,” or “HVAC repair in Tucson”). Want to build your brand awareness? Start here.

2. Lean into social media

Having a good social media presence can help drive sales for your business, expand your visibility, and give you an additional avenue to connect with customers. Start by setting up accounts on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn, and post regularly.

This is a great place to let your creativity shine. If you’re a bar or restaurant, post your specials or events that are happening, like game watches or live music. If you’re a retailer, post flash sales or run contests and giveaways. Even if you’re in eCommerce, a social media account is a great way to alert customers of sales and improve your reach. 

The goal is to get engagement and drum up awareness for your brand. Consistency is key — stay on top of trends and use good hashtags!

3. Optimize your website for SEO

Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is an invaluable digital marketing tool. In practice, high-quality SEO helps your business rank higher on Google’s search results — essentially putting you at the head of the line. 

One of the most important elements of SEO is having a good website that lets Google recognize your services — organize it in a way that Google values, and make sure it’s being indexed.

SEO can be pretty in-depth, but SEMRush offers tips on setting up Google Search Console and Google Analytics, conducting keyword research, adding Schema markup, creating landing pages, and more. 

4. Double down on local SEO

The other edge of the SEO sword, as it were, is engaging local SEO best practices. After optimizing your website, you’ll want to work toward building traffic to your domain. You can do this by 

Updating your Google Business profile

Getting links from other websites (known as referring domains)

Working on your social media

Authoring excellent local content on your site (known as content marketing)

Once Google recognizes you as an authority in the area, it will start to put you at the top of the search engine results page — one of the most valuable elements of online marketing!

5. Keep up with a blog

An excellent way to score points with Google and improve your rankings is by keeping up with a blog — it’s also a relatively low-cost marketing effort.

If you’re a donut shop, you could write posts about the best seasonal offerings or the history of donuts. If you’re a plumber, you could author the dos and don’ts of installing a water heater. If you’re a camera store, you could write deep-dive reviews on new products.

You can also author local content by creating a list of things to do in the city in which you’re located, even engaging with other local businesses or influencers to collaborate. Remember, your target audience is local people — author some quality content and bring them in.

6. Get involved with email marketing

One of the most effective ways of communicating directly with your customers (and potential customers) is by having a robust email marketing program. Encourage people to sign up for your email list and hit them with a monthly email newsletter, or let them know when a sale is happening. 

You can also use an email marketing campaign service like Mailchimp or SalesForce that will automate and send emails for you. Be sure to experiment with subject lines and have your content strategy ready to go!

7. Encourage user-generated content

User-generated content is a great tool to add to your marketing plan — and it’s also very cost-effective. 

Start by encouraging customers to create social media posts — this might include taking photos of your products and posting on Instagram, creating TikTok reels in front of the mural or ivy wall in your restaurant, or even posting reviews on Google or Facebook. 

Word of mouth always helps — happy customers interacting with your brand can attract a bigger audience, and it can simultaneously bolster your online presence!

8. Take advantage of free ads

Paid ads … for free? Take advantage of free pay-per-click (PPC) advertising credits — they’re well worth it. 

When you advertise on search engines like Google, or on social media networks like Facebook or Instagram, you’ll usually pay the platform a sum of money each time your ad is clicked. But platforms like Google and Facebook will sometimes offer free credits just to get you to try it. 

So keep an eye on your inbox and on promotion centers in the app. PPC can cast a wider net — don’t let those free advertising credits slip through your fingers.

9. Start a YouTube channel

Kickstart your on-screen career by starting a YouTube channel to help grow your business. How this looks is entirely up to you. If you’re a coffee shop owner, you could post tutorials on how to make cortados and pull ristretto shots. If you own a music shop, demo guitars and effects. 

The goal is to create quality, relevant content to give you a new way to connect with potential customers in your target market — and even offer your own expertise. You might even be able to make some extra money from advertising on your channel. 

10. Host events or webinars

Do you have a brick-and-mortar building with a space for hosting? Do you have a tripod and time to teach? Consider hosting events or webinars as a marketing tactic to increase your presence and build your brand!

This is another avenue where you can be creative. If you have enough space, you can host mixers, conferences, concerts — you name it. Webinars can consist of anything. If you own an Italian restaurant, teach attendees how to make linguine. If you’re an IT consultant, offer a webinar on cybersecurity. Whatever you do, just make sure it connects to your products or services.

11. Try out guerrilla marketing

Even if you can’t tell the difference between a Rembrandt and a Ross (happy little trees, right?), you’ve surely heard of Banksy, the anonymous graffiti artist and activist. While the notoriously anti-capitalist artist would surely be loathe to have been included in this post, their methods are genius for any small business owner who wants to dabble in guerrilla marketing.

Guerrilla marketing relies on the element of surprise, consistent branding, and sometimes, going against conventions. Creativity is the name of the game — but guerrilla marketing is a surefire way to get people talking about your brand. This could look like placing stickers around town with QR codes to your website, interviews with people on the street, random games, or flash mobs. 

12. Consider sponsorship marketing

If you’ve ever watched teams in the English Premier League play, you’ll notice one thing — the only surface not plastered in brand logos is the grass on which the game is contested. Turkish grocery stores, Malaysian insurance companies — the branding is a veritable smorgasbord of international companies vying for visibility.

So how can small businesses get in the game? Think local. Can you sponsor a youth soccer team around town? A local concert series? Sponsorship marketing is a direct way for you to get your name in front of people. 

13. Encourage testimonials

Customer reviews — and testimonials, in particular — are invaluable marketing tools. They offer an opportunity to get honest feedback on your products or services, and in many cases, positive reviews can increase sales.

Need more reviews for your business? Try offering your customers incentives (like a free product, coupons, or a discount on their next purchase) to leave honest reviews on Yelp, Trustpilot, or your Google Business Profile.

Double down on what works

You’ll probably want to try more than one idea on this list — that way, you can see what works best. When something works, experiment with different budgets to see how far you can take it.

Remember though, that some ideas — like improving your search rankings on Google or starting a YouTube channel — take time to grow. In fact, Google and YouTube often take 3–6 months before you start seeing results.

The best combination is often a mix of short-term and long-term strategies. So play with your options, find out what works best over time, and remember to have some fun. The more creative you get, the more likely you are to get results!

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10 Clever Ways To Do Market Research on a Shoestring Budget

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As a business owner myself, if there are people I know, it’s other small business owners. I love the relationships I’ve built and how I can work closely with them to help them reach their goals.

I know from experience that sometimes we have to think creatively when starting projects or launching new products. For instance — we have to do market research, right? It’s one of those things that’s necessary for any business, and many companies hire agencies to do it for them. 

That’s why the industry is expected to reach $90.79 billion in 2025.

But what if you want to do market research yourself because resources — like time, people, and money — are limited? You can do a lot on your own if DIY is your thing. 

Here are ten creative ideas to get you started.

1. Use guerrilla surveys to test products and ideas

Guerrilla research is a method for getting the information and data you need by using every resource available —even ones you might not usually use.

For example, you can set up a booth in a high-traffic area and ask questions of passersby, or use online survey tools like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey to gather quick feedback from friends, family, and social media followers. Offer a small incentive like a discount or free sample to encourage participation.

A few years ago, after starting research on a new service for the public, I created a short survey with about 12 questions that were crucial to my business. I sent a link to my friends on Facebook and my followers on Twitter and LinkedIn, asking them to help me with a bit of their time. I offered them a free subscription to my newsletter, which also let me save their email addresses and ask them questions later if I wanted to.

This was the beginning of my email list that I still use to this day to try new ideas and advertise products I offer. A list is one of the best ways to keep in contact with your customers and an investment in the future of your business.

2. Use social listening to find out what’s hot and trending

Say what you want about Twitter/X and Facebook, but they’re wonderful places to find out what’s trending in the marketplace. Monitor all your social media platforms for active conversations relevant to your industry or product. 

Take a deep dive into trending topics and customer comments to gain insights into current preferences, pain points, and trends.

This can be as simple as searching a hashtag. For example, search “#mickeymouse” to find out about Disney, or “#Tesla” to gain insight into the world of EVs.

3. Try customer shadowing to put yourself in their shoes

Step into your customers’ lives by observing how they interact with your product or service. Pick up the phone and offer to accompany them during a trial run or invite them for a behind-the-scenes tour of your business. Observe their behavior, preferences, and pain points firsthand as they use your product, or watch their reactions as you provide your service.

As business owners, it’s sometimes hard to step away from behind the curtain and see what the customer sees. However, these personal observations will be more valuable to you than much of the standard information you gain by other methods of gathering market research.

4. Host collaborative workshops to find out how your ideal customer thinks and feels

Hosting workshops or focus groups with your target audience can help you brainstorm ideas, gather feedback, and create solutions to your problems cooperatively. Offer donuts and coffee or small gifts as tokens of appreciation for their time, effort, and the input they provide.

A fair or flea market can be a great place to set up a few chairs in a circle and pick the brains of the people who could one day be your customers. Sometimes, a few people may want to just sit down and rest because they’re tired from walking, but end up finding themselves your biggest future advocates.

5. Conduct street interviews and find the pulse of the public

Hit the streets or stand outside your local grocery store armed with a clipboard and a few open-ended questions related to your business. A few people won’t like being stopped, but it won’t be difficult to engage pedestrians in casual conversations if you’re patient and persistent. 

This will help you gather valuable data about your customers and note diverse and compelling perspectives from people you may never encounter otherwise. Most people love to offer their opinions free of charge, and if you’re a good listener, you can gain valuable insights that you could never guess on your own.

6. Generate a competitive analysis

Study your competitors’ products or services, and even their pricing strategies. Analyze marketing efforts, like flyers and ads. Don’t neglect their customer reviews to identify gaps in the market or areas where you can differentiate your business. 

Pablo Picasso is quoted as having said that “good artists borrow, great artists steal.” The same can be said for market research. You want to find out what your competition is doing right and wrong and figure out ways to do it better.

If you have an online business or an online component in your business, use tools like Semrush or SimilarWeb for more thorough analytics. These tools have a small cost, but if you want data about your competitors online, tools like these can be a great place to start.

7. Forge local partnerships

Create alliances with businesses or organizations that have complementary services or products. Find them in your community to gather insights, information, and new customers through joint events or shared promotions.

For instance, say you’re a plumbing contractor. Why not contact building contractors in the market you want to break into and offer a discount if they use your services when doing a whole house remodel? What if you asked the contractor to attach your flyer or questionnaire to the final customer invoice?

Some of the best information can be found by piggybacking on another successful business to gather market data and gain new leads. It’s a win-win situation because you never know what future benefits will come from a long-term partnership.

8. Leverage online communities like Facebook groups

Join relevant online forums, discussion groups, or niche communities where your target audience and ideal customers congregate. For example, if you’re a used clothing reseller, many “for sale or trade” groups could offer valuable information. All you have to do is become an active member and ask.

Participate in discussions, ask questions, and listen attentively to uncover valuable insights and establish relationships with potential customers. But remember that most groups won’t respond well to someone new who hasn’t provided value, so be sure to make an effort to respond to comments and offer valuable insights of your own.

9. Test prototypes on the public

Create low-cost prototypes of products or minimum viable products (MVPs) and ask for feedback from early adopters or beta testers you find online. This is why it’s important to build a website and start gaining followers on social media from the beginning — so you have a pool of fans to choose from when you need insights into your business.

Iterate — build better prototypes based on their suggestions and observations, and refine your product or offer before launching to a wider audience.

10. Try customer journey mapping to gain insights

Have you ever mapped out your customer’s entire journey — from the awareness of your product or service to purchase and beyond — to identify pain points, friction areas, and opportunities for improvement? 

Getting inside the mind of your customer is an invaluable way to get the information and data you need to make informed decisions. The more you can visualize the user experience, the easier it will be to find priorities and make your processes easier.

Market research made easy — on a shoestring budget

Market research doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, and it doesn’t have to be complex. But if you want to do it simply, on a shoestring budget, it will take some personal effort. 

By leveraging creativity, resourcefulness, and a willingness to connect directly with your target audience and ideal customers, you can gather valuable insights into your business that will help you make the difficult decisions that business owners need to make every day.

Experiment with these ten ideas to uncover hidden opportunities and gain a competitive edge in your market niche — and have a whole lot of fun in the process!

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