The following article is part of a new series presented by Jewish Content Network which will discuss business ideas, marketing advice, and feature new business technologies, in an effort to help small business and organizations thrive and succeed. 

As part of our series on ways to promote your business, we wanted to focus on some creative ways to draw attention to your business with minimal financial investment. Whether you’re just starting out and are strapped for cash, or are looking for additional creative marketing avenues, this list is a great way to get started.

1. WhatsApp Status

WhatsApp, the popular messaging app, recently launched a feature similar to Instagram stories where you can post an update, including a link and graphics, which disappear after 24 hours.

What makes this better than the Instagram story, is the fact that your status can be potentially seen by everyone of yourcontacts who uses WhatsApp, as opposed to Instagram which limits you to followers, which you may not have.

We experimented with the status to promote our own services and got dozens of views on the status.

2. Email Blasts

As we discussed in our last post, email is still one of the most effective forms of digital marketing, period. If you have a list, you should be sending them regular emails – the value and effectiveness of old emails drops over time, so you should try to squeeze as much value from your list as possible.

If you don’t yet have a list, you can probably look through your email contacts and find several people who’d be interested in getting email updates from you. Try to deliver as much value as possible, not just ask for people’s money.

3. LinkedIn

Social media is one of the best free ways to advertise yourself – it does require consistent delivery of value to your clients over a period of time before you’ll start seeing a return on your investment of time. LinkedIn specifically, is a great platform to advertise to other businesses, as it’s more formal and business-oriented in nature.

You can create a page for your business and share updates from there, as well as write blog posts to share your expertise.  Like email, focus on delivering value and establishing your know-how before asking others to take action.

4. Posters and Flyers

This tried-and-true method of advertising is still very effective and perfect for businesses operating in a specific geographic location. You can use Canva to design your own poster, or hire someone for just a few dollars on Fiverr.

Then get the posted printed through a cheap printing service like VistaPrint and put them up around your neighborhood, especially in the bulletin boards of coffee shops and other stores. Make sure not put up the signs in places they aren’t allowed to be posted (you cannot put flyers directly in people’s mailboxes).

5. Car magnets

If there’s one thing you probably do every day, it’s drive around. Why not capitalize on this fact and put car magnets on your car to advertise your business? A small, one-time investment (again, VistaPrint is a good place to have them made) can lead to exposure and leads wherever you go. Look at the outside of your car as a moving billboard with free advertising space.

6. Google Forms

Every once in a while, I get a phone call from an advertiser. During the course of that call, they tell me that they want to start marketing however they are currently don’t have a website. At that point, I tell them to brace themselves for one of the most powerful tools that can be used instantly. Google Forms. A qualified lead can go a long way and most people think they need a full blown out website to capture them. That belief is misdirected and I believe that leveraging existing technology is the most cost efficient way of doing business. Why reinvent the wheel when the wheel is just sitting around waiting to be used.

Google Forms are a great forum for lead generation and is totally free to use.

Instead of spending thousands of dollars in web development costs or spending time and energy to create a solution at lead generation just log on to Google Docs and choose ‘Google Forms’ These forms can be used to create simple form that captures the information you need to act on. Now the only step remaining is to generate traffic to send to that form. Use the ideas above to generate the traffic and start capturing those leads.

Bonus Tip. Jewish Content Network

If you are looking for paid advertising solutions, the Jewish Content Network is one of the best options you can choose from. A surprisingly affordable way to reach a targeted Jewish audience, the Jewish Content Network offers an array of advertising products to fit your every need. Fill out the form below to discuss your campaign with an advertising specialist from the Jewish Content Network.