In order to effectively promote your business, you need to create a foundation for your online presence and focus on getting in front of the right people quickly and efficiently.

A lot of promotional advice recommends pouring money into ads on Facebook, Instagram, or Google. But you can’t put all your eggs in the advertising basket—diversification is key to avoiding diminishing returns over time. Plus, there are lots of ways to promote your brand for free, or for little money.

This guide walks you through 29 of the best ways to promote your business, complete with examples and resources for getting started.

Table of contents

Free and low-cost ways to promote your business online
How to promote your business on social media
How to promote your business locally
Improve your digital marketing game
How to promote your business FAQ

How to promote your business

Write guest posts for blogs that reach your target audience
Get featured on product review blog posts
Write an expert roundup
Find affiliates to promote your business
Get included in gift guides
Invest in infographics
Focus your attention on email marketing
Get to the top of Google search results
Create a loyalty program
Optimize your website for conversions
Offer expert advice on Connectively
Upsell and cross-sell products
Get on TikTok
Start a YouTube channel
Partner with influencers to promote your business
Publish compelling social media posts frequently
Automate word-of-mouth with social reviews
Create micro-content for social feeds
Go live with your followers
Make it easy to share your products
Be vocal about brand-appropriate trending topics
Create quizzes and other interactive content
Enable shoppable feeds on all social media channels
Test out retargeting ads
Create a Business Profile on Google
Join local events and connect with local customers
Offer local delivery
Get local press
Get listed in online directories

Free and low-cost ways to promote your business online

Business promotion is more than just publishing images on social media or buying ads. It’s a process that will help you achieve measurable success in your business. Here are free or low-cost ways to promote your business and drive traffic and sales.

1. Write guest posts for blogs that reach your target audience

Free traffic—as opposed to paid traffic that comes from things like purchased ads—is often hard to come by for new websites. You can start blogging to drive traffic, but it takes time before you’ll start seeing results.

While you grow your own audience, guest posting gives you a way to get in front of someone else’s. Not only does this drive traffic back to your website, but those links to your site (known as backlinks) will help with search engine optimization (SEO).

Find and connect with bloggers who have the type of audience you want to reach. Offer to write a guest post that their audience will love. Make sure the topic you write about is also related to your business.

2. Get featured on product review blog posts

Getting your product reviewed can be a great way to spread awareness and drive sales. Instead of waiting around for someone to review your product, use a blogger outreach campaign to get the ball rolling. Contact bloggers with relevant, engaged audiences and offer to send them new products for free in exchange for an honest review. If you have a great product, they’ll love it and tell everyone.

Via blogger outreach, you could land product reviews in a variety of outlets, like Shopify merchant RT1home did here with BuzzFeed.

3. Write an expert roundup

While blogging is a great way to drive traffic back to your store, it takes time. This is especially true if you don’t feel very knowledgeable on a topic you need to write about, or you’re not generally comfortable writing. One way around this is to ask for contributions from other bloggers or experts.

Seek out experts on a topic and ask them to contribute an idea, such as a tip, recipe, or story to your blog post. Then, publish a list of all the responses you got back. You’ll be providing your audience with great content from relevant experts, plus the contributors will want to share the article with their own readers, increasing your reach.

Resource: Best Blog Ideas: How to Choose a Blog Post Topic

4. Find affiliates to promote your business

If you want to take product reviews a step further and solicit even more people to promote your product, consider starting an affiliate program. Affiliate marketing incentivizes other people to drive traffic to your business by offering a commission on every sale, similar to referral programs.

Finding your first affiliates can be tough if you don’t have wide brand recognition. Use an outreach campaign to find and recruit your first few affiliates and get the ball rolling. Look for affiliates who have an engaged audience and are already writing about your industry.

Resource: How to Create a Successful Affiliate Program For Your Business

5. Get included in gift guides

Gift guides are a list of recommended products or gift ideas, typically centered around a holiday (like Christmas) or a person (like your dad). If you’ve ever searched online for gift ideas, you’ve likely come across several gift guides, like this housewarming gift guide by The New York Times.

Getting your product in the right gift guides can increase sales and traffic to your website. However, inclusion in these guides doesn’t happen randomly and requires some effort. In many cases, business owners and marketers lobby to get their products included. Reach out to gift guide publishers relevant to your target market and ask to have your product included.

6. Invest in infographics

Investing in a professionally designed infographic is one way to drive traffic and potentially build more backlinks for SEO. The cost ranges greatly for quality infographics—depending on what you need and the skill level of the person you hire—but it can be well worth the investment.

Need an idea for an infographic? Check out sites like Infogram for inspiration. Once you’ve chosen an idea, research the topic and identify the points you’ll cover in the infographic. You can hand this outline over to a professional designer as direction for what you want the infographic to cover (or as a guideline for yourself if you’re going the DIY route, in which case you should check out tools like Canva or Piktochart).

Let’s say you sell bicycles and related gear. You might create an infographic that talks about the environmental benefits of bicycling. Some points or figures you might include in the infographic could be how much a daily commute saves in fuel emissions, as well as a comparison of the total number of car owners and bike owners.

That message speaks to your customer base, but it’s also compelling enough that many blogs and even news sites might want to feature and link back to it as well.

7. Focus your attention on email marketing

Email marketing is a great way to attract and retain customers as a small business. Email is one of the most cost-effective ways to market a new business, with an average return of up to $36 for every dollar invested.

Consider using an email marketing app like Yotpo to create automated email marketing campaigns to send marketing messages for you. It’s a huge benefit for small-business owners who don’t have a ton of time or resources to spend on marketing. You can ask potential customers to sign up for an email list on your social media profiles or ecommerce website.

Once readers opt in, you’ll be able to send them updates about promotions, product launches, and other content to build relationships and increase sales.

Like many brands, The Sill uses email to welcome new customers with an introductory promo code.

8. Get to the top of Google search results

When it comes to promoting your online business, SEO is one of the best ways to get traffic and sales over time.

The goal is to get to position one, so when shoppers type in a specific keyword, they find your brand first on search engines. These shoppers are considered “high-intent,” which means they are more likely to buy your products, because they’ve set out to find something to meet a need or solve a problem.

Gymshark and Nike dominate the top results for users searching the keyword “gym clothes.”

The problem is, small businesses often don’t have the time or resources to prioritize an SEO strategy. The upside? Executing the basics can be enough to put you ahead of competitors who are also pressed for time and resources.

Resource: Long-Tail Keywords Strategy for Ecommerce SEO

9. Create a loyalty program

A loyalty program can help you drive repeat business and increase customer retention. By rewarding your customers, you can make them want to come back and spend more.

Start by defining the structure of your loyalty program. Will you use a points system, tiered rewards, or exclusive perks for members? Think about what will appeal to your target audience and align with your brand. For example, if you run an online clothing store, you might offer one point for every dollar spent, with points redeemable for discounts on future purchases.

Decide on the rewards you’ll offer. These could be discounts, free products, early access to sales, or special events. Make sure your rewards are valuable enough to motivate participation but still profitable.

You’ll need a way to track customer purchases and rewards. This could be as simple as a punch card for small businesses, or a more modern app like LoyaltyLion or Smile.io.

10. Optimize your website for conversions

A well-optimized website can increase your sales without requiring more traffic. One place to focus is on your product detail pages (PDP).

Make sure your PDPs have clear, high-quality images, detailed product descriptions, and prominent call-to-action (CTA) buttons. Use Shopify Checkout to streamline the process and encourage more shoppers to complete a purchase.

💡Tip: Use Shopify apps like Privy or Justuno to create pop-ups that offer a special discount or free shipping in exchange for visitors’ email addresses, so you can nurture them into customers.

11. Offer expert advice on Connectively

Connectively is a platform that connects experts with journalists and media outlets. It’s a great way to get free press coverage for your store and reach a wider audience without the cost of traditional PR. Simply create a Connectively profile on the platform, search for a query in your industry, and send a pitch. If the journalist is interested, they’ll reach out for more information.

12. Upsell and cross-sell products

Upselling is a promotional strategy to boost average order value and revenue. The technique encourages customers to buy higher-priced items (upsell) or add complementary products (cross-sell) to their orders.

Look for natural pairings or upgrades that add value for shoppers. For example, if you sell smartphones, you might upsell to a model with more storage, or cross-sell phone cases and screen protectors. You could also encourage larger purchases by offering product bundling, which is a product model that combines related items at a slight discount.

Beardbrand bundles together a grooming kit that gives shoppers everything they need to keep their beard looking fresh.

Display product recommendations throughout your store. Use Shopify apps like Also Bought or Frequently Bought Together to automatically suggest relevant products based on customer behavior. Display these recommendations on product pages, in the shopping cart, and during checkout.

How to promote your business on social media

Social media can help you promote your business to new customers, create community among existing customers, and help you grow a following and further develop your brand. Some brands have taken off by crafting authentic and engaging presences on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Read on for ideas on how to promote your business on Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms.

13. Get on TikTok

If you’ve been wondering how to promote your business online, TikTok is a powerful audience, especially for small businesses. According to the latest TikTok statistics, the social media platform has one billion active monthly users worldwide. Using TikTok for business is also the easiest way to reach younger demographics like zennials and Gen Z.

With many small businesses like Loungefit finding success on the app, TikTok might be the tool you need to scale your business’s social media presence and drive fast growth.

TikTok is great for building brand awareness. But you can also drive sales with a link-in-bio feature that directs viewers to a landing page.

Learn more: TikTok Marketing: Creating a Successful Strategy in 2024

14. Start a YouTube channel

In 2023, a study found US YouTube users watched an average of 45.2 minutes video on the website every day. As YouTube is second only to Google when it comes to the popularity of search engines, it’s a prime marketing opportunity for you to take advantage of.

A YouTube channel can help:

Build credibility with your audience
Create engagement and loyalty
Increase your social media presence
Drive traffic to your website

Compelling video content is excellent for attracting new customers and engaging with current ones. A basic YouTube marketing strategy will help showcase your brand’s identity and connect with your target audience in a fresh and exciting way.

15. Partner with influencers to promote your business

Sometimes you don’t need to write a guest post or ask other people to review your product. When you find the right match for your brand, a simple mention on social media can go a long way.

According to a Shopify study, consumers are more likely to trust product recommendations from influencers versus from brands.

Reach out to influencers on the social media platforms where you’ve found your potential customers and target audience hang out. Specifically, you should create partnerships with nano- or micro-influencers, who have smaller audience sizes, are less expensive to work with, and whose influence has proven to drive more engagement.

Find influencers to drive sales with Shopify Collabs

Shopify Collabs makes it easy to partner with creators, promote your products, reach new customers, grow your sales, and track affiliate campaign performance all from Shopify admin.

Discover Shopify Collabs

16. Publish compelling social media posts frequently

To grow your social following over time, it’s crucial to post content consistently. Studies suggest that audiences respond differently depending on your posting frequency, so make sure you test to figure out the best publishing cadence for your brand. You can also compare your posting frequency and engagement rates to your competitors.

On platforms like Instagram and TikTok, consider posting different types of content throughout the day. For example, @kyliecosmetics publishes a mix of single image posts, Reels, and Stories.

Kylie Cosmetics shares a mix of product-related and user-generated content to keep followers interested and engaged.

But keep in mind: quality over quantity. As consultant Jay Baer notes, it’s more important to focus on creating a strong marketing plan and a process to create genuinely compelling posts on a regular basis than it is to post poor quality content constantly.

Two helpful marketing tools for scheduling future posts are Hootsuite and Buffer. You can integrate them with your browser and dozens of other apps to schedule posts and track engagement metrics for your social networks. These apps can help you cut down on time spent actually pressing Publish.

17. Automate word-of-mouth with social reviews

Using product reviews and testimonials to create trust and gain insights into your products is a great way to increase online sales.

Yotpo is a review app available for Shopify sites that encourages customers to leave reviews after they’ve made a purchase. The process is automated, so you don’t have to manually reach out to customers yourself.

Connect your business’s social accounts and post the reviews directly to your pages. These reviews provide fresh content, build trust in your brand and product quality, and help drive traffic from social to your site.

18. Create micro-content for social feeds

Consider the context in which most users are browsing social media. Maybe they’re on a mobile device during their commute, taking a quick brain break at their desk at work, or killing time as they wait for their show to come back on after commercials.

There’s one thing those scenarios have in common: Social media users are often scrolling in between other tasks. That’s why bite-sized content is an effective way to captivate your audience. This social media marketing strategy works particularly well on platforms made specifically for quick experiences, like TikTok.

For example, let’s say you sell products for soccer players. On your blog, you write an article titled “7 Training Exercises to Improve Your Soccer Skills.” You then repurpose that content into seven pieces of micro-content for use on social—one for each exercise. That would play much better than trying to cram an entire article into a much faster social media experience—and it bulks up your content calendar, repurposing content for days.

19. Go live with your followers

Engagement is critical to keep any online community alive and well. A great tactic to engage with your online community is going live with them on whichever social channel you have the best engagement.

Consider hosting a live session around a particular topic (maybe you’ll pack orders live with your audience) or theme (like teaching a different watercolor technique each Friday). You can also call upon co-hosts you think your audience might enjoy.

Resources:

Instagram Live: How To Sell Through Instagram Live Shopping
How To Go Live on TikTok: A Guide for Business Owners

20. Make it easy to share your products

Social share buttons are a key element to increasing the “virality” of your site, which can, in turn, drive traffic and boost online sales. Make sure the buttons to popular social networks—like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest—are easy for users to find.

You might want buttons that match your store’s visual aesthetic, like Culture Kings has on its product pages.

Adidas product pages include social sharing buttons.

To implement this social media marketing tip on your own online store, consider an app like AAA Social Share Marketing, which has its own analytics and can help you optimize positioning and layout.

21. Be vocal about brand-appropriate trending topics

The emergence of the hashtag organized a big part of the social web according to topics and conversations, making it easy to join in on trending discussions and events. Now, as the hashtag is less of a guiding force and more of a supplementary tool, it’s up to businesses to find the types of trending topics they want to engage with as a brand.

A social media monitoring tool like Hootsuite can help you find and engage with different trends based on your brand. If you’re a TikTok user, the platform has a Discover page that allows people to view and see what’s popular.

As you figure out what kinds of marketing efforts work best for your brand, also consider the types of trending topics that make sense for you to jump on (or create yourself).

Above all else, don’t just post to post. Make sure that you’re contributing to the conversation in a meaningful, natural way.

22. Create quizzes and other interactive content

Thanks to BuzzFeed, quizzes have made a strong comeback.

Pieces of interactive content work really well on social media—that is, if they can provoke quiz-takers to show off their results publicly. To do that, you need to create a quiz that tells people something about themselves or how much they know, so they’re compelled to share it.

If you want to try building your own, try Octane.AI, an easy-to-use tool for creating interactive content.

23. Enable shoppable feeds on social media channels

If your social posts aren’t shoppable, then you’re missing out on providing a crucial part of an omnichannel marketing strategy for your followers.

Essentially, you put virtual “tags” on TikTok videos and live events. Social scrollers can then click on these “tags” to see how much a product costs, and they can tap to learn more and make a purchase without leaving the app—an ultra-efficient process.

Resource: How To Sell on Social Media

24. Test out retargeting ads

If you’ve been looking for ways to advertise your business to drive sales, retargeting is an effective strategy. When you run retargeting ads through platforms like Facebook Ads and Google Ads, you send ads to prospective customers who have been to your site before.

These ads can be personalized based on their behavior across both platforms. For example, showing Facebook Ads to users who viewed specific products or using Google Ads to reach people who abandoned their shopping cart.

The positive aspect of using retargeting ads in your marketing efforts is that you can reach potential customers who are already interested in your products.

Frank Body uses social media to retarget consumers who were previously browsing its products but didn’t make a purchase.

How to promote your business locally

Even if you don’t run a brick-and-mortar store, it’s still important for ecommerce sellers to find ways to engage your community and grow a local audience. Read on for a few ideas for how to promote your business locally.

25. Create a Business Profile on Google

Google Business Profile is an easy-to-use listing tool to manage your presence across Google search and Maps. It’s one of the best ways to advertise your business for free and get in front of prospective customers.

“A Google Business Profile gives local businesses a separate online presence other than their website,” says Amy Falcione, founder of local marketing agency Big Picture Marketing. “Your listing gives a brief but detailed description of what your business offers and who you are.”

Amy explains that people will search for your Google Business Profile to check and see if you’re legitimate. You can add photos and videos of your shop and provide links to your website or appointment booking software. You can even give people a look inside your business to build trust and credibility with potential customers.

If someone decides they want to engage with your business, they’ll be able to see your contact information, website, and business address right in the listing, so they can easily visit you online or in person.

26. Join local events and connect with local customers

A local event refers to any affair that attracts an audience from a local market. Artisan markets, craft shows, trade shows, and festivals are examples of events small businesses can promote themselves at locally.

“Right now, many local businesses are meeting online. They are using livestreams and online meetups to show off products online and reach people at scale,” Amy tells Shopify. “But as areas start to open back up, we don’t want to overlook the power of local in-person events.”

Local events help small business owners meet customers one-on-one and create individual connections. People can touch, feel, and smell whatever you’re selling and interact with your products.

“Another way to promote your business locally is through workshops and lectures,” says Amy. “For example, if you run a candle making business, you can run local workshops to teach people how to make their own candles. It’s a great way to build your reputation in the community and increase brand awareness.”

27. Offer local delivery

Offering local delivery allows you to provide a faster, more convenient alternative to traditional carrier shipping and in-store shopping, and is a thoughtful way to reach your local customer base.

Determine your delivery zone, pricing structure, and timing options, then decide whether you’ll handle deliveries in-house or use third-party services. In your Shopify admin, you can set up the option for local customers to have their orders delivered.

Whenever a customer’s address is within your delivery area, they’ll have the local delivery option at checkout. The local delivery option has to be enabled for each location you deliver from. You can offer delivery within a certain distance from your location, or for certain ZIP codes.

Resource: How to Create a Local Delivery Service

28. Get local press

Another great way to promote your business locally is by getting local media coverage. Getting a story in the local newspaper can drive potential customers to your website or into your local shop.

“Start by creating a press list of all the publications you want coverage in,” Amy says, “then write your own press release and start pitching it to reporters. Make it easy for them by getting your own quotes and statistics and making your story sound newsworthy.”

Amy recommends the following tips when writing your press release:

Avoid sounding salesy
Focus on how your product helps the community
Mention if you’ll be hiring local workers
Discuss locally sourced products you use

Press releases that focus on community empowerment encourage local reporters to cover your business.

29. Get listed in online directories

Getting your business listed in online directories helps local customers find you when they are searching for products or services in your area. They provide your business information to searchers, like phone number, address, and services offered.

Some top directories are:

Yelp
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
Yellow Pages (YP.com)
Foursquare
Apple Maps

Use a service like Yext or Moz Local to manage all your directory listings from one dashboard. This guarantees your business information stays consistent across platforms, which helps search engines and customers trust your listing.

Improve your digital marketing game

There’s no doubt that promoting your business isn’t just a nice-to-have. Businesses need low-cost and free marketing tactics to help meet their business goals—whether it’s raising brand awareness, driving website traffic, or making sales.

You don’t need to tackle all 29 of these tactics right away. Start with one or two that feel the most relevant to your business. Then, continue to add more as you grow.

Illustration by Rachel Tunstall

How to promote your business FAQ

How to promote a small business?

Optimize your Google Business Profile and get lots of customer reviews to boost your local SEO. Use Instagram Reels or TikTok to show off your brand, then engage your community with targeted social media content. Think about partnering with other local businesses for digital cross-promotion, like joint social media giveaways or featured posts.

How do I create a promotion for my business?

Get creative with your offer. Instead of a typical discount, try a “mystery box” promotion or a “pay what you want” day. Use scarcity and urgency to drive action, like limited-edition products or flash sales announced only to email subscribers. Consider tying your promotion to a cause or local event to generate goodwill and press coverage.

How can I promote my business for free?

Run a hashtag contest on social media to get customers to share photos with your product and use the user-generated content. Run free workshops or webinars to build your presence within the community. You can also reward existing customers for bringing in new ones with a referral program.

How much does it cost to advertise on Google?

Google advertising costs depend on a lot of things, like your industry, your competition, and the keywords you’re targeting. Businesses usually spend $1 to $2 per click on Google pay-per-click (PPC), but this can go up to $50 per click in highly competitive industries.

Casandra Campbell