5 Simple Low-Cost Marketing Ideas That Will Grow Your Small Business

In a world full of Amazons, Targets, Sephoras, and Starbucks, it can be hard to put your small business out there. With limited resources, small businesses often struggle to determine the most effective way to market themselves. Here are 5 low-cost marketing ideas for your small business. 

End of Season Mystery Packs

Most brands offer an end-of-summer sale. But how do you make customers pick you over Abercrombie? Make it a mystery. 

Honestly, you’re trying to make last-minute sales and clear out stock. But to the consumer, they’re getting a great deal and a dopamine rush like Christmas morning. Everyone likes opening a surprise.

 A small business in San Clemente, CA that specializes in cute sports team merchandise called Tiny Turnip offered an MLB Mystery Bag. This bag consisted of 3 shirts of your favorite baseball team with different designs for $30 – cheaper than a BOGO deal! 

This concept is less expensive for the customer but is advantageous for the business owner, since you can select which shirt is in the pack. Other small businesses such as KenzKustoms, KOV Essentials, SET ACTIVE, and Raw & Rebellious have also offered their versions of this “mystery pack.” It’s a great way to increase sales quickly and is a low-cost idea for businesses with a small marketing budget.

Collaborations With Other Small Businesses

The demographic that supports and chooses small businesses over larger, more convenient ones is more inclined to shop at other local businesses. Collaborating with other small business owners is mutually beneficial, even if your products aren’t in the same category. 

Landmark Roasters, a coffee shop in Redlands, CA, frequently collaborates and hosts events with other local businesses by hosting a monthly vintage pop up with local vendors. This not only creates engagement with their own community but also creates visibility with people in other markets. 

Since both parties benefit, this is a low cost and low effort idea to market your small business to more than your usual audience. 

Events that Align with Your Brand

Running events on top of a business sounds daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. The first step is defining your brand. If you’re a small boutique shop that caters to locals shopping for their everyday look, you might consider doing a “Paint & Sip” event.

Find a friend who can teach an easy art project and buy wine! People love an exclusive outing that has good vibes and company. 

Remember that with events, you don’t necessarily want every person who has shopped at your store. This is for some people, it’s exclusive, it’s paid, it’s intentional. 123 Farms, a small farm that has turned into a festival, does seasonal special events that offer different exclusivity and price points.

Because of their seasonal nature, people are more inclined to sign up and be included before they sell out.

Don’t be afraid to branch out. Painting and drinking wine are not the same as clothes, but it’s something your customers would be drawn to.

If your small business started as an extension of you, the brand may be what your personal brand is. So the best use of this low-cost marketing idea is to think about what kind of event you would want to attend. 

You can also branch out by asking your employees what they’d like to see your small business offer. It could be presented as an incentive for them to plan their own event to help bring in more customers.

Make Your Customers Be Your Content Creators

These days, everyone wants to be an “influencer”. But as a small business, you can use this to your advantage as a low-cost marketing idea. 

There are two ways to do this. The first is the free idea. People love to show where they’re shopping and what they’re doing, but especially if it will look good in pictures. Creating a space that matches your vibe and brand but is equally photographable is a great way to get organic content created for you. 

Creating a good product is one thing, but making it look desirable and picturesque is the next level. Clearly mark your social media to increase the likelihood that you’ll be tagged, and be sure to interact with customers who create organic content for you.

If they had a positive experience in person and online, they are more likely to keep coming back and refer you to their friends.

The second way is to create an incentive for people to post content for you. This may be a free coffee, a gift card, $5 off, whatever is appealing to your audience. But if the consumer is incentivised to post about your small business, they are more likely to follow through.

This is a great marketing idea for small businesses that don’t have a big team and can still get content about their business while costing less. 

Loyalty Programs

Integrating a Loyalty Program can be a great idea that’s low cost for your small business. There are several different options to choose from. 

The four main types of customer loyalty programs are value based, points based, tiered, subscription (also known as gated content).

Value-based goes along with making your customers your content creators. This method gives customers discount codes, free samples, or referral discounts for sharing their reviews and experiences on social media or with their friends.

Points-based is an opportunity to collect points based on the number of visits or purchases, which later can be exchanged for a monetary value or a free item. A digital stamp card! 

Tiered programs can sometimes be combined with points programs. Think of Sephora, the more you spend, the more you save. Racking up more points gets you to the next tier, which offers better perks. And lastly, subscriptions. This can be a free subscription or a paid one, but all involve gated content.

This could be signing up for your email newsletter for an exclusive 30% off or paying to be in a special tier with the best deals and access to exclusive offers. 

Whichever method you choose, the main idea is to make it fun for the customer. They desire to be loyal to something, and the more you present it, the more likely they will choose you.

You want to create a community that they not only want to come back to but speak highly of to the people around them. Some payment interfaces, such as SquareSpace, offer smooth integration for any of these programs.  

These low-cost marketing ideas demonstrate that you can do more to promote your small business than hiring a marketing team or investing in Instagram ads. The biggest tip is to experiment with loyalty programs, hosting events and collaborations, or mystery packs.

Choose one of these ideas and put it into action this month.  See what fits your workload and resonates with your community, track your results, and watch your business grow. Show your customers that you’re exclusive and enticing. Your next customer could be just one creative idea away!

✍️ Written by Jasmine Bilbao