When you start a business, you need to get your name out there and make people aware you exist. You can have the most amazing product out there, but if people do not know about it, you are not going to make any sales and you are going to have to shut down.

Free Advertising
There are a lot of methods you can use for free advertising. That doesn’t mean that they are all going to work for you. Some will, some won’t, but the trick is to figure out which ones are effective and which aren’t. Do not spend all your time and effort on these sites as many believe you get what you pay for and these may not get you a lot results.

Social Media
These days, it seems that everyone is on social media so this can be a good way to get started. But with everyone on social media, so are all the businesses. Everyone is competing to get their business seen by the people. Depending on what method or methods you use, you may not get a lot of views on your posts. Make sure to post regularly, write content that engages people, and see what happens. Instead of posting something saying, hey, check out our newest product, consider changing up the post a bit to, check out our newest product, what do you think or what would you like to see?

Free Websites
There are a lot of free platforms out there for you to host your website on. A free host is fine if your website is more for information as opposed to actually doing selling on. A free site is going to limit what you are able to do especially when it comes to using ecommerce. But if you are using the site to let people know of sales, what is going on at the store, and new products, it should cover your needs.

Customer Service
While customer service may end up costing your business a bit of money to resolve a customer’s issue, the time and attitude in dealing with a customer’s problem goes a long way. It does not cost anything for a person to smile or be polite when helping someone. How a customer complaint is handled says a lot about the business and can make a huge difference if that customer is going to come back or recommend you to others. Remember it is much easier, and cheaper, to keep a customer than it is to gain a new one.

Advertise Uniqueness
No matter what your business is, if you don’t make it stand out and show that it provides something different and unique to what is already on the market, you will have a hard time gaining new customers. If you are in a niche market without a lot of competition, that will benefit you but you still need to show that you are worth dealing with. These days, there is always the Internet if people cannot find what they need locally.

Other Free Ideas
Contacting the local paper or news sites to see if they do any kind of new business spot lights
Putting up ads on local classified sites
Social media areas that let you list your business for free
Partner with other stores and try to promote each other