While small businesses are in a number of ways at a disadvantage when compared to larger companies, there are ways for them to use their size to their advantage and compensate for its drawbacks. So, even though small businesses are generally not able to set aside a large marketing budget, they can usually form closer relationships with their customers than most of the larger companies could, and they can rely on local promotion to attract enough attention. While some of the tactics mentioned here are just as essential for large businesses, most of them are small business oriented.

Celebrity show ups

Celebrities are loved and worshipped by millions; our society flourishes on this, which makes it a power that could be of extraordinary profit to your business. Finding somebody to promote your business in an in-store occasion or through other promoting mediums, shouldn't be too troublesome. Nearby groups regularly advance an interest with celebrities that are popular (but not A listers), who won't charge you excessively for the appearance, yet can gain a lot. Arranging an occasion of this sort is likewise an extraordinary chance for networking and making great connections inside the group and society in general, both with potential clients and potential customers.

Social Networks Activity

You shouldn't underestimate the effect that enough representation of your company on different social networks could cause. This means creating relationships with people, providing interesting and relevant updates about your business or your market, and generally earning credibility with potential customers. Regardless of the size of your business, promotion on social networks is a must, as it can produce similarly impressive results both on local and on global level.

Creating a Relationship with the Community

There are a number of ways to bond with people in your neighborhood and make them aware of your business. Organizing a community event in your store is a great way to allow people to browse your inventory and form an impression on your business in a relaxed atmosphere. Alternatively, you could go another way and organize a seminary, celebrate a holiday with your customers, get included in a town project and simply put yourself out there.

Listening to Your Customers

Encouraging customer feedback and trying to respond to constructive criticism is not only a great way to show your customers that you care about their opinion, but, what's even more important, a great way to actually polish out some things about your business and offer a higher quality service than you could before. This will not go unnoticed by your existing clients, and it will help with the word of the mouth aspect of your promotion.

Promotional Merchandise

Another approach that both small and large businesses can benefit from, like promotional merchandise, is a cheap and effective way of reaching targeted groups of customers and ensuring that they are reminded of your brand as long as they are using the product. For instance, you could hand out promotional pens at an event likely to attract a large number of people from your targeted demographics. If you are an IT company, give flash drives imprinted with your logo to your existing customers and to people who might be interested in the services that you are offering. Promotional products are quite cheap as is the imprinting of your logo, especially if you reach out to one of the trade associations dealing with the distribution of such merchandise, and the effectiveness of this strategy can be quite astonishing.

Diversifying Your Approaches to Marketing

The ones mentioned in this article are just some of the low cost ways to increase your exposure, meant to illustrate the kind of thinking that you have to adopt. Don't hesitate to find other ones and make them a part of your marketing strategy. This could include everything from advertising through strategically distributed fliers to printing and handing out T-shirts with your business' colors. If you stay open to new ideas and are not afraid to tap into your creative side, you can hope to find a perfectly balanced strategy that works in your particular case.

Author Bio
This post was written by Katrina Barrow. She writes mostly about social media, creative marketing and advertising on a budget. This post was inspired by creative small business promotional strategies that really work.