50+ Ways To Market Your Home Business

As a home business owner you are strapped for cash and time, but you understand the importance of marketing. One of the biggest challenges you face, however, is coming up with compelling marketing ideas. And so, to help you lure in more customers (and their dollars), consider this list of over 50 simple and affordable ways to market your business:

1. Host an open house to share your new business
2. Create and send out mailers to your target market (include a coupon)
3. Advertise in the yellow pages
4. Advertise in local coupon books
5. Start collecting email addresses and send out frequent email campaigns with useful information or coupons. Consider using these free or cheap email partners.
6. Set-up a business Facebook page and use it
7. Set-up a Google+ account and use it
8. Set-up a LinkedIn profile to promote your business
9. Set-up a Twitter account and send out promotions and useful info to your customers and followers
10. Create a Groupon (or a deal-a-day) promotion
11. Wrap your car or use vinyl lettering to advertise your business
12. Create a website yourself using a free or low cost online website design and hosting partner.
13. Create a blog for your business and post relevant articles and tips
14. Create a weekly or monthly e-newsletter
15. Create a wacky promotion (like spend $25 and get a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries)
16. Set-up referral relationships with other relevant businesses
17. Network. Consider joining a local small business association or the Better Business Bureau
18. Run a friends and family promotion
19. Set-up a customer-oriented competition to earn free product (whoever eats the most donuts in one minute gets free personal training for three months)
20. Sponsor a good cause or a local event
21. Go door-to-door and pass out flyers or coupons
22. Go car-to-car and pass out flyers or coupons
23. Throw your own product party or have friends and family host a product party on your behalf
24. Advertise your business on local bulletin boards
25. Get your website found by Google using SEO techniques
26. Use Pay-Per-Click advertising on certain keyword searches
27. Set-up a “refer-a-friend” promotion and reward your existing customers
28. Create a brochure
29. Create a business cards
30. Teach a local class offering tutorials and education around your business topic or area of expertise
31. Start cold-calling (also referred to as prospecting)
32. Attend a tradeshow and network with other vendors
33. Host a booth at a relevant tradeshow and prospect for customers
34. Set-up a storefront with Etsy to sell handcrafted goods
35. Become an Ebay seller and integrate it into your business
36. Set-up an Amazon storefront to sell new or used product
37. Advertise for free on Craigslist
38. List your products on Overstock.com
39. List your products on Ecrater.com
40. Write an article surrounding a topic close to your business and submit it to other sites or blogs (referred to as article marketing)
41. Set-up a link exchange on your site for legitimate, non-competing businesses (You list their site and they list your site -- this will help with SEO)
42. Start commenting on other people’s blogs to boost your SEO
43. Search for forums around topics relevant to your expertise or business and begin posting and commenting (don’t be over bearing though)
44. Create a customer rewards program to inspire repeat business
45. Show appreciation to customers via email campaigns, social media comments, rewards, thank you notes or coupons
46. Display your brand by creating t-shirts, hats, mugs…etc. You can use sites like cafépress.com to help with this
47. Create a memorable logo using free or affordable online providers
48. Barter with other businesses for free advertising (you give free products/services and they promote your business)
49. Put a coupon on the back of your business card
50. Create a Unique Selling Proposition for your business and use it throughout your marketing
51. Run a SWOT analysis to better understand your competitors and competitive landscape -- then adjust your marketing accordingly
52. Give away free product to get customers interested (if you are a catering business ask a local business if you can set-up a food truck and offer free lunch for their customers)