In today’s economy many are hard pressed to cough up the cash for some advertising. Print, radio, and tv ads are expensive and often fleeting in their exposure, unless you have piles of that money. The Internet and digital media offer loads of free and inexpensive ways to spread the word about you and yours.

Social Media

Facebook and Twitter have become the new tools for businesses, big and small, to connect with the masses. With hundreds of millions of users between just these two services, you can virtually reach everyone.

Facebook offers personal and business fan pages with room for special events, product postings, and customer reviews; everyone and every business should have a Facebook page. It’s free!

Writing a blog is a great way to get your idea or campaign across too. Again, free is good. There are tons of free blogging options out there. WordPress.org, WordPress.com, Blogger are just a few of the more popular options.

Email

Email is still free these days; take advantage of that. Though gathering a following is a little more intensive than the social media options, collecting your clients data should already be a priority for you. You’ll have the option to provide links, photos, and even video inside of a well designed email communication. Try services like Constant Contact or MailChimp; there are free options and the services are robust and solid.

Listing Services

Listing services like Yelp, Google Places, Yahoo Local, Merchant Circle, and Craigslist are all free to use and offer quick access to your business information. All of these listings services are used by millions of people each day to find that service, person, or product they’re looking for. Make sure you’re there when they come looking for you.

Word of Mouth

Lastly, word of mouth is probably the best advertising any business can get. If someone is talking about you in a positive light, the listener often takes away not only the actual words spoken, but confidence has been created about your product or service as well.