Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

I'd look for those free or low-cost ways to get the word out and let your happy customers help you. Start a blog. Host a website (it can be fairly simple) and keep it up-to-date with status and/or specials and a way to gather emails from people who are interested in your business. Send targeted and relevant emails to your customers. These will all take some effort on your part, but little capital expenditure. And if you've got tons of free time, get on Twitter :-)

There are a lot of great resources here on MarketingProfs that should help you get started with these efforts. Good luck.

Anne

Networking is one way to market your small business without spending any money. It's not scalable in the traditional sense, but the price is right if you have more time than money.

Can you provide more information about your business, such as your location, the type of business, and possibly the types of marketing you tried so far?

The more information that you provide, the more hopeful we can be.

There are a ton of no-cost and low-cost ways to market a business, but they require a lot of time and learning. I don't think we could really answer your question in a forum (although we can give you tips, and maybe point you in the right direction).

I think that starting out by reading some books and online sources is definitely a great start. There is no way you'll be able to do ALL the tactics, so you'll need to really prioritize your time. I would certainly recommend writing out your marketing objectives, based on your business plan. Then you think about your strategy, and tactics only come after that. (You'd be surprised by how many people jump into the latest tactic, like Facebook or viral videos, without thinking about the objective they actually want to achieve).

Finally, B2B marketing is very different from B2C marketing. So wherever you start your learning, make sure you're learning about strategies that make sense for your type of business.

Picking up the phone and calling people (especially those that purchased from you already), with the intention of finding out their needs and meeting with them 1 on 1 to address them.

You may also use a referal system. All the previous customers may be contacted and may be asked to refer few more customers and in turn would be getting good rewards or offers from your busines. By this you will Retain your old customers and makes few new also.

You may also try out with surveys or research about the market and customer by asking questions to the customer about their requirement. As this is a low-cost marketing.People would also give their genuine suggestions to improve.So you may customise your products according to the needs of the customers

Thank you
Rakesh

Here are a couple of online ideas that have worked for me. Not knowing your particular situation these may not apply. Judge for yourself and do not waste time on any that do not fit.

Write Articles about topics related to your business. Post in places like Associated Content, EzineArticles.com and GoArticles.com.

If you decide to use Twitter do searches for those in your target market. Most especially welcome new members. Make sure your profile is filled in. Picture and website or blog.

Answer questions here, at Yahoo Answers and anywhere else you can find a forum.

Blogger and Google sites are both free.

Good Luck,