If you run a business or work online, here are a few unpaid advertising examples you might be able to use. When I first discovered affiliate marketing, I didn’t have much budget for advertising. So I looked for the cheaper and free marketing methods which I could use to build an income online. These methods are universal and can be used whether you have an affiliate business or your own business of some other kind.
One of the first strategies I’m going to share is perfect for locally based businesses. I’ll assume you already have a website! If not that’s the first thing you should get. You can even use free website builders such as Wix, Weebly and WordPress; so you don’t even need to pay anything to get up and running.
Unpaid Advertising Examples – Google My Business
Google My Business lets you create a completely free listing if you have a locally based business to promote. Simply set up a listing using your business address and confirm your address when you are sent out a personal PIN code. It takes less than an hour to set up a business listing with Google My Business and it’s well worth the effort. You can get free traffic to your website and business for a lifetime!
If people are searching locally for your business, your listing will usually be one of the first to pop up in the organic search results. So whatever your business is, providing you are based in a physical location and can prove it to Google, you should get a listing.
Bing places for business and Yahoo places for business also offer similar services.
Unpaid Advertising Examples – Blogging
Blogging is a staple diet for many online marketers because it offers a way to generate traction online with zero payment. Of course blogging does take time and effort though, but the more you put in to blogging the greater your digital reach will be for marketing purposes.
You can think of blogging as creating a “digital footprint”. Over time as your footprint grows, you should attract more people to your business through the organic search results: Google, Duckduckgo, Bing, Yahoo etc. Depending on your particular niche, and the relative competition, this can be more challenging in certain topics and areas.
One strategy I like uses long tail keywords to target specific search queries which relate to your business. So you can use Google’s keyword planner to find the keywords which relate to your business. Then, create written content around those specific keywords. With a good SEO strategy (search engine optimisation), you can get free traffic to your website through blogging. It takes time and you’ll need to make it a habit; but it’s well worth it when the traffic starts growing.
Unpaid Marketing Examples – Facebook
facebook is well known as a paid marketing platform, but you can also use the social media giant for free marketing too. One strategy I’ve used is to join groups in which you’ll find your target audience. Then interact within these groups to build your online presence through your Facebook profile. Set up your profile to attract people to your website or business.
Here’s an image of my Facebook page which explains how I can help people looking to learn how to earn online:
For more on this strategy read my article “unpaid social media marketing“. This is a great little unpaid marketing example in which you can find and attract the right kind of customers to your business for free. You need to define your target audience before you start this strategy so you spend time in the right places where your ideal customers will be likely to hang out. See how to know your target market.
Unpaid Marketing Examples – YouTube
YouTube is another platform you can use to generate interest in your business or products. With YouTube, you should upload videos you have created which attract the kind of people who will be likely to be interested in your products. Title your videos with carefully chosen keywords which will help it get found by the right kind of people.
This is similar to the blogging strategy and it’s worth doing some keyword research before creating your videos. If you make a habit out of creating good quality videos which is aimed at your target audience, you should see a gradual rise in traffic from the site. See also 22 ways to promote affiliate products.
Using Your Email Signature
This one is super simple! You can easily edit your outgoing email signature in your email provider. With Gmail, which is the provider I use, you simply edit it using the settings link. Once inside your settings you can provide a link to your website within your email signature. So from then on, your emails will automatically link to your website when you send emails or replies to all your future emails.
It’s free marketing and only takes a minute to set up.
Facebook Business Page
Setting up a Facebook business page is free and takes very little time. Once set up you can invite all your Facebook contacts to like it and share useful content from it. Over time, as people like and share your page, you can collect likes and shares which help grow your social media presence.
To create a Facebook page go to your Facebook profile and click on the menu icon next to your name at the top right of your screen. You should see the view shown in the image above.
Click on Page and create your Facebook business page. Fill out all the details in your page as thoroughly as possible. The more detail the better. Then start using your Facebook page to share content, updates and posts which will resonate with your target audience. Over time you can build a good online presence using a page using several free strategies. You’ll need to consistently share content and promote it though in order to do it for free. Of course you can use paid marketing on Facebook too and promote your page using paid advertising.
Email Marketing, Ebooks & PDF’s
Many online business owners use ebooks and free downloadable giveaways in order to build an email list of subscribers. By accessing your free content, they will opt in to your email list. Here, you can follow up with email messages promoting your offers and business. You’ll need an email autoresponder in order to do this and although some are free, I recommend using Aweber.
Once you have an autoresponder, you can set up an opt in form on your website to collect your subscribers information. Then, create some useful giveaway product which can be digitally downloaded in exchange for your subscribers emails. See affiliate marketing ebook pdf free download.
Here’s an example of an ebook I created to help me build an email list of subscribers.
It’s fairly straight forward creating an ebook. Simply create the content you want to share and convert it to pdf format. I used Fiverr.com to find people to create a nice ebook cover very cheaply, or you can create your own if you have the software.
Niche Website Building
A niche website is a website which has been built for a specific purpose. You can build a niche website which ranks in the search engines and gets free traffic for its main keywords. Keyword domain websites use their main keywords of their business in the domain name and this can help them to rank and get free traffic. Although there’s no guarantees with Google, you can pick up some free traffic if you build your site in a certain way.
You should also create some useful content on it to in order to maximise your exposure. See create free website and earn money for more details on this strategy.
Word Of Mouth & Your Network
Word of mouth advertising is obviously free but not always something you can control. If you offer something unique, your customers will likely talk about your business to other people.
Over time this can grow your business. But you can also promote your business to people you have know through your network of friends and family. Although many people are hesitant doing so, it can be a good idea to make a list of people you have known over many years and reach out to promote your offers and services.
Think about all the people you know and have known and create a list of people you know through:
- Work/business
- Relationships
- Sharing accommodation
- Hobbies and interests
- Friends
- Family members
- Neighbours
- School friends
- People in your email contacts list
SEO – Search Engine Optimisation
SEO or search engine optimisation is something you can apply to your website and content you upload. A good SEO plugin can be used with the WordPress platform which can help you write SEO friendly content. If your website and content is optimised, there is more chance that the search engines will feature your content at or near the top of the first page. When your content generates a high SEO score, the search engines will rank it higher and you can find your traffic jumps up.
The more content you write too, the greater your traffic volume will be. Over time, many online marketers use SEO to generate tens of thousands of visitors to their content. Many of these translate into subscribers (accessing your freebie giveaway) and some of these will convert into buying customers.
Unpaid Advertising Examples
So there’s a list of a few unpaid advertising examples. Don’t forget about business cards and letter heads! Although these have a cost involved, it’s a low cost and they are easy to get hold of.
Here’s a run down of the ideas shared in this article for unpaid advertising examples:
- Google My Business (formally “Google Places”) – free listing for locally based businesses
- Blogging – create content on your website which targets specific keywords relating to your business
- Facebook – a free Facebook marketing strategy involving joining groups and interacting with members to build a digital footprint which grows over time
- YouTube – is a great way to get exposure online whatever your field. Upload regular videos which target your audience and research keywords being searched for already in your field.
- Email signature – edit your email signature to include a link to your website. Over time, as you reply to emails and contact people, you’ll get a few clicks. It’s free simple and easy. Why wouldn’t you do this?!
- Facebook business page – Facebook lets you create a free business page which can be used to gain exposure for your website/business.
- Email marketing – use ebooks and pdf’s to get people on to your email list from a website.
- Niche website building – Build a website using specific keywords to help you gain free exposure to the search engines
- Word of mouth and your network – Many affiliates/business owners forget that they know hundreds of people if they dig deep! Look at your email contacts, old house mates, friends and relatives and create a list.
- SEO – Search engine optimisation has been mentioned in blogging but can also help you rank a basic website much better in the search results for free organic traffic.
Can you think of any more free marketing methods? Please comment below if so or share this article if you’ve found it helpful.