No Cost Marketing Strategies to Increase Sales

In these times of tight budgets, many of my clients are looking for low cost and no cost marketing strategies to promote their services and make more money. We still need to get the word out about our business and continue to be visible, and there are many ways to do this even on a limited budget. All they cost you is your time.

Here are four 'no cost' ideas to promote your services and increase your income:

1. Write and submit articles
Article publishing has been one of the most effective strategies I have used to get more visitors to my website and grow my business and income. Whether you like to write or not, you can either write or record your tips. You always have some good tips and ideas to share with your clients. You can speak an article into a voice recorder, and then have it transcribed. Or, use speech recognition software like I do to dictate your articles and have them automatically typed up. I use 'Dragon Naturally Speaking' by Nuance. Submit your articles to online article directories, print publications, and specific online sites that your target audience would go to. My favorite online article directory is EzineArticles.com.

2. Contact former clients
Previous clients can be one of your best sources of repeat business. It costs much less time and money to market to someone who already knows you well than it does to try to continually find new prospects. Yet, many business owners fail to pay attention to the potential gold mine of former clients. They continue to look for new prospects rather than keep in touch with previous satisfied clients. Designing a 'keep-in-touch' strategy is crucial to your business growth. Regularly sending out tips and resources to prospects and clients will keep your services top of mind. Survey your former clients using a free tool like SurveyMonkey.com and entice them back by making them an irresistible offer. Provide exceptional customer service to keep them satisfied and buying more. Get creative in thinking about what clients would really like from you and over-deliver on value.

3. Get more visible on blogs, forums and social networking sites
There are lots of places online where you can be more visible, express your opinion, and let others know who you are and what you do ... and how you can help them. Posting helpful comments to other people's blogs in your area of specialty with a link back to your website can be a very effective strategy for attracting new visitors to your site. Posting or answering questions in forums is also worth doing. And - social networking is one of the latest ways to get connected and visible online. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can be very effective to develop relationships and joint ventures. Be strategic and limit your time on these sites so they don't consume all your time. Writing testimonials, comments and book reviews are also ways to get noticed for free.

4. Send out press releases
Press releases are often overlooked as a low cost marketing tool. There are paid services of course, but there are also many free press release sites - such as 24-7PressRelease.com or Free-Press-Release.com. You can send a press release about a new service offering, or a workshop or teleseminar or a new product. To make your release newsworthy, connect it to a current news item or a current event or holiday. Create a list of media contacts, and send the information directly to specific editors or contact people in your area.

Don't let not having a budget for marketing stop you from promoting yourself and increasing your visibility and income. All it takes is some time and a little creativity!