When you are a small company competing with a large company, it comes down to who has the most resources to find new customers. Sadly, the outcome is predictable. The larger company has more resources to spare and can spend more money on advertising than a small company can afford.
This is why more than half of business startups fail within the first five years—they are beaten down by the competition. However, there are hundreds of different free resources that smaller companies can take advantage of that will help them keep up with the competition without spending a dime of advertising. Here are 7 of the best free tools that you can use to market your business.
1. Facebook
Facebook has over 2 billion users who are active on their site every month. This means that you have the potential for over 2 billion people to see and follow your page on Facebook (with the right networking). To sign up, it’s simple. You can create a company page and then invite friends, family, and other associates to follow and invite their friends to follow the page as well. It’s an easy and fast way to get your business exposure.
2. Yelp
Yelp is one of the most used “rating” sites of all times. It has millions of reviews for restaurants, pest control companies, toy stores, and everything else under the sun. It has over 142 million users every month and offers opportunities to reach out to and engage with consumers. They are one of the sites that want to help build up small businesses to compete with the big dogs.
3. LinkedIn
You might have a LinkedIn page for yourself, but you probably haven’t thought of creating one for your small business yet. This site is amazing for small businesses because it gives you exposure to other professionals. A lot of small companies have found investors through LinkedIn, as well. On LinkedIn, you’ll be able to create a profile, share updates, join business groups, and network with people who can help to grow and expand your business. This is just one of the hundreds of different small business tools that can help you to compete.
4. Twitter
Twitter is another social media site similar to Facebook. It has millions of daily users and is popular for spreading all different kinds of information. It’s a political network, social network, and an ethical network. People connect and talk with each other about every topic under the sun. Make a page for your company and start tweeting!
5. Craigslist
A great way to list your products for free is through Craigslist, especially if you have a lower price than the competition. You can post it here and let people buy from the page. It also gives your company validity because it gets the name of your company out there. The more times people see your name, the more likely they are to recognize it and become a new customer.
6. Grammarly
On a different note, we have sites that will improve the inside workings of your business. Advertising is a huge part of the game, but it’s also important to take advantage of free sites like Grammarly. Grammarly is a credible website that edits and perfects documents of any kind. They check grammar, word use, vocabulary, and fluidity. They help your company to appear professional and competitive.
7. Stencil
Another great way to improve the look and flow of your business is through sites like Stencil. Stencil’s free image-editing tool for social media has over 1.5 million different images that small businesses can use to increase their presence on social. The pictures and images are high quality and help you to appear more experienced (even when you’re just starting out).
Conclusion
Just because your business is small doesn’t mean that you can’t compete with the larger companies. There are hundreds of other tools that you can use that will help your business to get ahead without spending a penny on it.
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