You’ve set up your business and you’ve got your products or services ready to go. But something is missing. Your customers or clients seem to have not gotten the memo and are not showing up. You know you need to make people aware of your new venture but with all your money sunk into starting up the business, how do you go about marketing it?
Here we have strategies that have been proven to effectively promote businesses, with you hardly shelling out anything. Yes, low-cost marketing is certainly possible if you’re willing to do the grunt work and to follow these tips.

1. Create a Website or a Blog for Your Business
The first step is setting up a website where you can highlight and provide all the information that potential customers need to purchase or avail of your products and services. There is no need to spend on this. There are a lot of website builders now that are not only free, but also very user-friendly. You can try Wix, IMCreator, or Sitey, among others. If you’re a keen writer, you can put up a free blog site, through WordPress or BlogSpot, where you can write about your products and post photos.

2. Be Active on Social Media
Set up social media accounts, in Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, for your business. Be sure to regularly post, not only photos and information about your business, but also viral and trending issues that are related to your product or service. Social media presence helps make your business relevant to your customers, on a regular basis.

3. Give Samples to Social Media Superstars, Influencers, and Taste-Makers
The power of social media is now undeniable. Over the years, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram have created—and nurtured—social media celebrities and influencers whose legions of followers and subscribers come in tens of millions. Find out which local celebs mesh well with your brand, and send them your product or offer them your service for free. If this YouTube sensation or Facebook junkie likes your product, he or she will definitely post about you and his followers will want a piece of whatever you’re selling, too.
 
4. Give Out Free Samples to Charity
Distributing free samples of your product or service is one of the ways to let people know that you exist. This also gives you a chance to get first-hand feedback on the things you sell. Plus points if you give these free items out to those who really need them. If you’re making all-natural soap bars, give some samples out to homes for orphans. If you have food products, why not partner with women’s shelters or even homes for seniors? Doing any of these things will be good for word of mouth and even better for your heart and soul.

5. Talk and Give Out Business Cards to Your Suppliers 
In order to get your products made, you need a supplier for your raw materials. These suppliers are actually your first market. Talk to them and sell your product or services to them. Give them your business cards. Being suppliers, they definitely have other clients that may just need the things you create or offer. At the end of the day, they may not just bring you your raw materials, they may also lead you to your next potential clients.