I love paid ads for their tight targeting and quick payback. But most businesses (especially small, local ones) can’t constantly shell out big ad dollars to stay visible on every platform all the time.
That’s where this list of free and creative marketing ideas comes in. It’s a curated list based on real-world brands that are generating a ton of awareness and leads outside of their paid campaigns.
I kicked the list off with a handful of ideas you can go and do in a few minutes (or even seconds). I’d use them in those gap times when you’re waiting for a delivery or for a meeting to start.
Let’s get to some free marketing!
Contents
- Free and fast marketing ideas
- Free marketing ideas for small and local businesses
- Free social media marketing ideas
- Free content marketing ideas
- Free marketing ideas for lead generation
- Free and super-creative marketing idea examples
Free and fast marketing ideas (under 5 minutes)
Let’s jump in with some free marketing ideas you can do right now with no money and a few minutes.
1. Reply to a post on social media
This one is super quick! Take about one minute to:
- Go to the social media platform where your customers and competitors spend the most time.
- Search for a hashtag relevant to your business.
- Find a post that your customers would be interested in.
- Leave a comment.
Bonus points if you can organically mention your product in the reply (but only if it makes sense).
Here’s a very smooth example. Someone asked for help with a tough search engine optimization problem on LinkedIn. Tim Soulo, the CMO at Ahrefs (SEO software), replied.
Here’s the slick bit. He didn’t say “hey, our product is amazing.” He just casually dropped a screenshot of it in his reply.
And another example I love is this dog trainer commenting on a video about an off-leash dog that wouldn’t listen.
You don’t have to be this promotional. Just look for a post that’s talking about something you can comment on and jump into the conversation. If you’re a home services pro, reply to someone’s post about the best plumbing or landscaping tools.
2. Jump into a conversation on Reddit
I personally spend a lot of time on Reddit learning random things (like how to paint a wall without roller lines). This sharing of ideas makes Reddit a fantastic place to drop in, share wisdom, and build awareness and credibility for your business.
The best part is that there are thousands of super-niche topics. So you can find an audience of potential customers for your specific business.
Just like on Instagram or Facebook, you need to search for your topic and find the right discussions. Don’t forget to add the geography if you’re a local business.
Make sure you’re going in to help and not to sell. Answer questions, start discussions, and hold AMAs (ask me anything events). Try creating a branded account and answering from there. If you do that, add your first name to your replies so people know they’re dealing with a human, not a faceless business. Here are some more ways you can market on Reddit.
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3. Repurpose a blog post
This is a cool free marketing idea because it’s compounding the return you get from something you’ve already created.
Here’s the concept. Take a long-form blog post (or report or white paper), break it up into smaller concepts, and repurpose them for social media posts.
Content marketer Anna Yang does this in a few seconds using AI. “I’ve already done the hard work by crafting long-form content,” she told me. “Why not use AI to speed up the process of creating social posts?”
Anna uses an AI tool called Writer to summarize the post into smaller bits. Then she turns them into social media posts.
There are plenty of AI copywriting tools that’ll do the same for you, and many of them have free versions.
4. Run a poll on social media
Interactive content on social media is an engagement goldmine. You don’t have to offer anything special. Just give people a chance to voice their opinion.
Check out this tasty little poll from The Strawberri Show, a business that ships sweet treats to your home.
People love to share and comment on polls like these, which will boost your social media presence and appease the social media algorithms.
5. Reply to a few reviews
This may be in my top three free marketing ideas that not enough businesses do. Why? Because people spend nearly 50% more with businesses that respond to reviews.
Plus, you can tap out a quick thank you for a positive review in about 30 seconds.
Now, you may want to take a little longer to think through how you’ll respond to a negative review. But it’s still totally worth it (67% of people who leave a bad review say they’ll return if their review gets a speedy response).
Free marketing ideas for small and local businesses
It’s important to keep your marketing on and attracting customers all the time. These free and creative marketing ideas make that possible for small businesses without breaking the bank.
6. Get more reviews
Why do all the hard marketing work when your customers can do it for you? Get them to share their great experiences everywhere (Google and Facebook are good places to start), and you’ll have a constant influx of leads excited to work with you.
This pest control business has an interesting way to round up more reviews. Their technicians hand out scannable cards that take customers to a Google review page.
Here are a few more ways to ask for reviews:
- Place a review reminder and link in emails (like emailed receipts and invoices).
- Add a review landing page or pop-up to your website.
- Put a call out for reviews on social media.
- Send follow-up texts asking for reviews.
7. Show off your work on social media
It’s comforting to see the quality of work a professional has done before you hire them. And social media is the perfect showcase to do that for your business.
I especially like this example because it targets a particular audience segment: value buyers who are looking to save money on their deck.
That’s a great lesson to carry forward. When displaying your best projects, think about the type of person who would want the same and highlight the benefits for that target audience.
8. Claim your business directory listings
Check this out. We recently ran a study and found that only 15% of home services businesses had complete and correct information in their directory listings (think: Google, Waze, EZlocal, etc.).
Assuming that’s true for other industries, you can nab a lot of leads just by being the business that claimed their listing on directories and kept the info up to date.
The best part is it’s free and easy to do. You just need to head to each directory, see if you’re listed, and check that the information is correct.
Even easier, hop on our Free Listings Grader to review your business on dozens of directories in one quick go.
9. Optimize your Google Business Profile
Of all the directories, Google Business Profile is the most important for most local businesses. It fuels results on local searches and Google Maps.
There are lots of ways to optimize your Google Business Profile for free, like adding:
- Website link
- Reviews and ratings
- Hours of operation
- Q&A
- Images
Here’s a comparison between an optimized and an unoptimized Google Business Profile.
Spend a few minutes on it now and review your Profile every month or two at least.
10. Start a customer loyalty program
Loyalty programs are great because you’re marketing to people who already love what you sell. There’s not a lot of convincing and trust-building needed. You can go right to the part where you ask them to buy something, and they get something additional in return.
Facemagic Medispa uses a points system for its loyalty program. I like it because you don’t have to buy something to benefit. You can earn points by leaving reviews and posting about your experience on social media.
There’s also an interesting psychology at play with loyalty programs because people often like to be in “the club.” You can leverage that feeling of community by offering exclusive discounts and products (like a color only available to your loyalty program members).
11. Partner with other businesses
Here’s a quick way to multiply your audience and share the marketing workload: partner with complementary businesses.
Get creative here. Baxter Brewing ran a cross-promotion with Sugarloaf Mountain that brought their products to the resort’s social media followers.
How else can you co-market with a partner?
- Create a product package from multiple brands.
- Hold a co-sponsored giveaway.
- Host an online or in-person event together.
12. Connect with local events
Look around and I’d bet there are dozens of local events you can participate in on any given month (unless you live in a tiny town!).
Some of my favorites are running, biking, and yoga clubs that meet weekly. I’ve seen chiropractors, shoe stores, and health food brands show up to give samples, discounts, and talk about their wares.
Here’s an example that proves you can think outside the box here. It’s a bookstore that partnered with a local running club to offer its members two free audiobooks for their long runs.
So, go a little crazy here. Search for local festivals, clubs, and other events. Then see if they’d let you promote what you sell in exchange for a little goody or discount.
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Free social media marketing ideas
Organic social (the non-paid side of social media) should be on most businesses’ short list of free marketing strategies. Here are several ideas you can use to get the most out of this free resource.
13. Share social proof
Social proof—like customer testimonials, awards, and your “number of people helped”—quickly builds trust with potential buyers. And if it were me, I’d share the heck out of all those trust builders as often as possible on social media.
This free marketing idea is also quick and flexible. You don’t need any fancy video or graphics, and there are ways to use it on any social media platform.
14. Hold a social media contest or giveaway
There’s a network effect behind social media giveaways that can help you grow an account fast while also generating new leads.
Here’s how it works, as illustrated by this giveaway from Petsecure.
Here’s what we can learn from this brand:
- Make the giveaway valuable enough to encourage participation.
- Ask people to like your post, follow your account, and tag a friend for each entry to expand your reach.
- Partner with another brand or, even better, a non-profit for even more exposure.
15. Ply influencers with free products
There is a place for paying influencers. But you can also work with micro-influencers who have a smaller, but very engaged audience, by simply sending them your product.
Physical products work really well here. Food, beauty products, tools, and small appliances, for example.
But I’ve seen influencers use software online, take pilates classes, or even just walk around a tourist destination. Search some hashtags in your industry and see if anyone is influencing on your competitors’ behalf. Use these email templates to reach out to influencers more effectively.
16. Post unboxing videos
Unboxing videos are extremely popular. Some get millions of views! I can’t say why, but there is just something so satisfying about watching someone break open a new gear.
These low-cost productions are great for businesses looking for a quick and free promotion on social media, too. Just aim a ring light at your product and talk your way through the unboxing process.
These are especially good for new product launches and influencer campaigns.
17. Launch a user-generated content campaign
Have you ever seen someone post a picture of themselves using a product they love, and then the brand reshares the image? That’s user-generated content, and it’s such a powerful marketing technique that also happens to be free to do.
Most great UGC campaigns don’t happen 100% organically. You need to get the action moving by:
- Creating a unique, branded hashtag people can share (e.g., #showusyournikes).
- Use social listening to find people posting about your brand and ask if you can reshare.
- Run a UGC campaign and offer a discount or prize.
18. Post educational or how-to content
Posting how-to content on social media has a one-two marketing punch. First, you’re delivering value, which will help you gain followers and expand your brand.
Second, you’re showing off your expertise, which makes people more confident in your solutions.
I recently redecorated my office and followed some pros for painting tips like this one.
If you provide home services or promote some other local company, I’d probably add some location keywords to boost my local SEO on social. That way, you not only get followers, but you also find people who can actually hire you.
19. Turn employees into internal ambassadors
Internal ambassadors are employees who take to social media and share your brand’s message with their followers. If you want to get in front of several new social audiences quickly, this is the free marketing idea for you.
Note that you don’t need to be a billion-dollar corporation to use this strategy, either. Local restaurants, construction companies, or start-up brands can easily do it—as evidenced by these fun videos from a local pizza place.
Free content marketing ideas
Content marketing is one of the original free marketing strategies. The goal is to offer valuable content to grow an audience so you’re the first pick when it’s time to buy. I put together several creative ideas to help you fill out your content calendar.
20. Use free SEO tools
Search engines are one of the main distribution channels for marketing content, so you’ll want to make sure that what you create gets found and ranked by search algorithms.
You don’t have to go this alone. There are several free tools to help you, like WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool. Just enter a guess at a relevant keyword or your website URL, and the tool will return a list of keywords you can target.
Here’s a guide to SEO tools, many of which have free trials or no-cost plans to get you started.
21. Send a newsletter
Newsletters keep your brand name relevant with your core audience for months and years to come. That’ll make other marketing strategies like getting reviews, getting referrals, and getting repeat purchases much easier.
How hard is it to publish a newsletter? Look at this one from a professional handyman service.
It’s a simple design, has a brief intro, and links to blog posts (another way to repurpose blog posts). That’s it!
22. Write super-helpful blog posts
Speaking of blog posts, they’re the foundation of most free content marketing ideas. You’ll need them to repurpose in your social media feeds and newsletter. And they’ll boost your SEO so your web pages get ranked on search engines more often.
This is another opportunity to place geo-targeted keywords in your website so you show up for local searches.
It can feel a little out of place to write blog content when your focus is on being an excellent hair stylist, plumber, or ecommerce seller. But it’s good to remember that as long as you have expertise in your topic, you can write super-helpful blog posts.
Don’t worry about writing War and Peace. Just keep note of the questions your customers ask you and answer them on the keyboard the way you would in person. Then run what you wrote through a free AI tool like Grammarly to clean it up, and away you go.
23. Gather and use original data
Original data has always been great for content marketing. It helps you get backlinks from other websites that reference your information. And Google sees it as something valuable that’s worth placing at the top of search engine results pages.
Now, with AI-powered search engines, it’s an even bigger deal. That’s because AI seems to like quoting data in its answers, which gets you a citation and, hopefully, traffic from those AI answers.
Here’s an example of original survey data gathered about home buyers.
There are plenty of ways to gather data you can use in your own content, including:
- Survey customers or other people in your industry.
- Run an experiment (e.g., test three competing products, test how long paint takes to dry, etc.).
- Look at any data your business collects, like where customers come from, what time they need your service, and so on (just make sure it’s anonymized so you’re not sharing personal data).
Free marketing ideas for lead generation
For many businesses, getting new leads is the most important and most difficult goal of their marketing. Nearly half of the small businesses that responded to our SMB marketing survey called getting leads “challenging.”
But you can create some marketing assets that work to get you new leads without cost, making the process a whole lot easier.
24. Use lead-gen popups with lead magnets
Lead-gen pop-ups are a proven method for turning website visitors into leads. They work by offering something of value—a lead magnet—in exchange for a customer’s contact details.
Tessemae adds a little gameplay into their lead gen pop-up with a spin-to-save wheel.
Depending on how you create your pop-up, you can probably A/B test different versions of it by showing one option to some visitors and another to the rest. It’s a quick way to maximize the leads you generate.
25. Share customer stories (especially videos!)
One of the most powerful forms of social proof is customer stories. They tell how your product saved the day, helping someone make more money, have fun with their family, or get a whiter smile.
And one of the best versions of customer stories is video testimonials like this one from uniform rental service Max I. Walker.
The key here is to understand what your customers’ real pain points are and demonstrate exactly how your solution addresses them for a real person or business similar to your target audience.
26. Host or join a webinar
A webinar is another version of a lead magnet because it provides valuable information in exchange for someone’s contact details (usually done when they register for the event).
I think sometimes webinars get relegated to big businesses that have lunch-and-learns about some software solution for payroll. But in reality, webinars are a tool almost any business can use.
Take this one from a home inspection company. They review common electrical issues they see in houses, which is something every homeowner can benefit from.
If you have experts on staff, you can host a webinar on your own. Or you can invite a roundtable of people with different experiences to join. That’ll increase the value of your event and extend the audience you promote it to.
27. Create a customer referral program
Here’s another way to turn customers into salespeople. Ask them to refer a friend, coworker, or family member to your business.
Some of the most successful referral programs use incentives to get more referrals. The Dermstore offers existing customers $50 for each referral and gives the new customer a 15% discount.
28. Send automated promotional emails
I think email is one of the most underrated marketing channels out there. It delivers an incredible return of like $36 for every $1 spent. Plus, you have way more control over it since there are no search or social algorithms to appease.
Here’s a solid promotion email from men’s fashion brand True Classic.
Discount deals like this are a great choice here, and it’s just the beginning. You can use email to:
- Capture sales from people who abandoned their online shopping cart.
- Remind people of appointments, ship dates, and events.
- Nurture long-term relationships with helpful content.
- Announce events and new product launches.
- Celebrate birthdays and other milestone events.
And so much more!
Super-creative marketing idea examples
In a world that seems to be rushing towards sameness, creativity stands out. I found several brands that are lifting the creativity bar—without spending ad dollars—and reaping the rewards.
29. Apply for business awards (or host your own)
Does your chamber of commerce host a business awards program? What about a relevant industry association? Make sure you’re soaking up all the free publicity by applying for as many awards as you can. And when you win (I believe in you!), share it on your website and social media feeds.
Now, if you want to take this creative marketing idea to the next level, try creating your own awards. That’s what Clutch—an online directory of B2B service providers—did. It’s so smart because the nominees and winners post about the awards and link back to the Clutch website.
How can you use this creative idea for your business? Think about how people use what you sell, and create an awards program around it. Say you’re a landscaper. Have people send in their favorite lawn projects, let others vote on the best, and hand out awards.
30. Share a persona-based quiz
If you followed BuzzFeed News for any length of time, you probably answered a quiz asking what Italian city you belonged in or which Disney character you’d marry. These interactive quizzes are fun bits of clickbait that can be adapted to your business.
Here are a couple of ideas to start your brainstorming:
- Categorize your customers by personality type and create a quiz that leads people into one of the groups.
- Categorize people by one of your products (which ice cream flavor, hand tool, or yoga pose are you?).
31. Create something unexpected
If you want to catch someone’s attention, especially in a crowded space like social media, you need to do the unexpected.
What does unexpected marketing look like? Try this comic strip from Kolide by 1Password.
It zags when everyone else zigs because:
- It was published by a software security company, not a brand that people expect this type of humor from.
- It was published on LinkedIn—not the platform people expect to see comic strips.
Repeating this strategy is kind of hard because you’re looking for what’s NOT there. Try things like new color schemes, zany copy, or a content type (like a pop-up book?) that no one else is doing.
32. Add customer qualification questions to your website
Personalized shopping experiences have been available in high-end retail stores for decades. You can bring that level of attention and relevance to your website by creating a quick qualification quiz.
Clinique’s Foundation Finder is a good example. Answer a few questions, and it matches you up to the perfect product for your skin.
It’s easy to envision this for other retail products. But why not try it for a home remodeler or a real estate agent? It could match you up with the perfect new bathroom fixtures or home site.
Use these free and creative marketing ideas
Ideas in and of themselves are great. They inspire us and get our mental wheels turning. But they don’t do much for our businesses until they’re put to work. So commit yourself to trying one or two of these marketing ideas in the next day, week, or month. Track the results. And then try two more.
And if you really want to accelerate your growth, contact us. We’ll walk you through how we can help you generate new leads in lots of creative ways.
