10 Cheap Advertising Ideas for Small Businesses
By Bethany Vale
As the owner of two small businesses, I try to cut corners when I can. Aggressive advertising campaigns can cost a whole lot of money and make it impossible to test new ideas. Here's how to develop and test your marketing ideas without breaking the bank!
1. Send your message to 25,000 Twitter followers for $5
If you've never visited the Fiverr marketplace to check out the deals offered by social media advertisers, now is the time to browse away! One of my favorite gigs offers distribution of your sales message to 25,000 Twitter followers and 6,200 Facebook users.
https://www.fiverr.com/cheema/promote-your-website-to-5000-facebook-friends?context_referrer=search_gigs&source=top-bar&ref_ctx_id=dd80a61b-7b3f-4505-878f-f57b40249c53&pckg_id=1&pos=8&context_type=auto&funnel=da216749-deb0-4eef-a2a9-5e3e704d4da7
2. Send your message to 8,000 Facebook users for $5
Some bloggers have ridiculously large fan pages, and they're more than happy to share our message for a small fee. For example, check out the following link.
https://www.fiverr.com/amitkumarindia2/promote-your-business-to-my-8000-real-fan-page-on-facebook?context_referrer=user_page&ref_ctx_id=3b4b04cd-4294-4bd9-967d-b703c5e5c708&pckg_id=1&pos=4
3. Hire a freelance video actor for just $5
A few years back, I was excited to discover that many unknown video actors are willing to produce short projects for $5. More experienced freelancers charge between $100 to $18,000 per project, depending on how long or complicated the endeavor. I picked actors in the $100 price range and ended up with this hilarious two-minute music video. The most popular services include live action “explainer” videos, white board and animated “explainer” videos and short video ads.
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4. Hire an artist or graphic designer for $5 to $3,000
My goal was to create a non partisan symbol of peace and unity that represents a promise to respect one another's views and keep on loving our friends and countrymen. Unfortunately, my own drawing looked like it was done by a third grader! For around $100, I was able to find a very talented artist to translate my vision into a high quality drawing. Feel free to upload this image to Facebook or Twitter if the spirit moves you! The graphic is meant to be shared as a symbol of love.
5. Hire a professional website builder for peanuts!
Website builders on Fiver generally charge between $100 and $3,000, depending on how complicated your project might be. More experienced designers might advertise rates at the high end of the pay scale, but don't take that as a sign that new designers aren't worth hiring. Today's tech savvy students are quite capable of delivering web programming and e-commerce design. They might also use popular CMS platforms like Wordpress, SquareSpace, Weebly and Wix. Services offered include website creation, customization, plugin installation, bug fixes, cloning and migration. Many have experience with programs like Photoshop, Corel, CSS and JavaScript.
6. Hire a person who is skilled at search and display marketing
Does your website appear on the display list when you type target keywords into Google's search engine? If not, you probably aren't getting any organic traffic, and it's time to look into things like search engine optimization, Google Ad Words or Google analytics. If these topics sound confusing, don't despair. For surprisingly low rates, you can hire an SEO expert to optimize your site. Many of these sellers reference their experience with Google AdWords and digital marketing techniques.
7. Hire a graphic designer for $5 to $3,000
xxxFiverr found that graphic design is still one of the highest paid side hustles on its platform, with services selling for $100 to $3,000. Particularly lucrative areas of graphic design include web and mobile design and presentation design.
Sellers offering graphic design services also include those who design marketing materials, logos, business cards, t-shirts and assets for social media channels, like for a Twitter cover photo or Facebook profile.
Sellers offering graphic design services also include those who design marketing materials, logos, business cards, t-shirts and assets for social media channels, like for a Twitter cover photo or Facebook profile.
8. Hire a business copywriter for $100 to $3,000
xxxFinally, there’s a lucrative side hustle option for those who have a way with words as opposed to a knack for coding. Fiverr found business copy-writing to be one of the highest-paying side hustles, selling for $100 to $2,000 per project. Within business copy-writing, Fiverr reports that writing press releases, blog posts and SEO content can be particularly high-paying.
Other business copy-writing sellers offer to write product descriptions, “about me” pages for websites, Amazon product listings and website copy. Others opt for services like e-books, technical manuals and even crowdfunding pitches.
Other business copy-writing sellers offer to write product descriptions, “about me” pages for websites, Amazon product listings and website copy. Others opt for services like e-books, technical manuals and even crowdfunding pitches.
9. Hire a mobile app developer for $300 to $3,000
Many freelancers offer app creation for iPhone, iPad or Android, creating up to five pages of app design, app icons, logos and banners. Many vendors in the market describe themselves as software engineers with coding experience.
10. Hire a chatbot developer for $10 to $2,000
I've never taken advantage of this service, but I'm endlessly intrigued by the idea of computer programs that can simulate conversations with humans. Chatbots are often used on platforms such as Slack and Skype. When used on a website, chatbots can help sell products and interact with potential customers.