7 Modern Sources of Cheap Advertising for Small Businesses

By Larry Alton

Small businesses need incoming revenue to make ends meet and keep the business running, but because cash flow and resources are limited, they can’t engage in high-profile marketing and advertising campaigns that better-established competitors can.

As a result, many small businesses neglect the prospect of advertising altogether, viewing it as an unnecessary expenditure, or insisting that it can wait to be pursued until after a solid revenue stream is achieved.

The problem with this is that without a marketing and advertising strategy, it’s nearly impossible to build a customer base with any significant momentum. It’s a kind of chicken-and-egg dilemma for most entrepreneurs, as you need more money to place more advertising, and you need more advertising to make more money.

Fortunately, there are some possible solutions. Take, for instance, these seven cheap advertising sources for modern entrepreneurs, which can give you the benefits of a full advertising campaign without compromising your already-tight budget:

1. Bing and Yahoo Search Ads

Google PPC ads get a ton of attention, but because they reach a wide audience and are well-known as a viable advertising medium, they’ve gotten competitive in recent years, and the cost of advertising has skyrocketed. It’s still an affordable option, but if you really want to save money and still get in front of millions of online searchers, try one of Google’s main competitors. Bing and Yahoo both offer advertising opportunities at lower rates than Google, and since you’ll be paying per click anyway, they're worth checking out.

2. Facebook Ads

Most small businesses take advantage of Facebook because it’s a free way to promote a business, but don’t overlook the potential power of Facebook advertising. The platform is ridiculously easy to use, and you’ll have the opportunity to narrow your target audience down until you identify precisely the most valuable candidates available. What’s even better is that Facebook ads are inexpensive and flexible—you can set a budget as low as $5 per day, and cancel your campaign at any time.

3. Other Social Media Opportunities

Facebook isn’t the only player in town, so don’t neglect the other social media platforms available to you. Twitter and LinkedIn are good anchors that complement Facebook’s seemingly universal reach, but venture outside those institutions as well. Try Pinterest, Snapchat, Instagram, Tumblr, and any other platforms you see pop up—they’re free, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

4. Niche Advertising

Some companies like BuySellAds specialize in bringing marketers together with very specific, targeted advertising opportunities. You’ll see lower numbers of total potential traffic, but as a result, the ads are cheaper to buy. Plus, if you can find and select a niche audience for whom your brand is relevant, you’ll end up with a higher conversion rate than what you could find in any broader campaign. As long as you do your research, you can get by on opportunities for as low as $20 per month—which any small business should be able to afford. The trick is to strike with the right opportunities, since you’ll be dealing with a much narrower audience and therefore, a narrower margin of error.

5. StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon has a few big advantages and a few big setbacks, but if you’re looking for a “starter” advertising solution, it occupies a solid niche. The cost of advertising is based on clicks like Google and Facebook ads, but the rates are ridiculously low—as little as $0.05 per click. The big downside is that bounce rates are astronomically high (since StumbleUpon users frequently jump between sites). The trick to making this effective is to get those users to stay on your page for more than a few seconds—do that, and you’ll earn the full value of that cheap per-click cost, and you might even earn some residual traffic after your ads are offline.

6. Guest Blogging

If you’re passionate about your industry and you’ve got a little extra time, you can get free advertising simply by writing about a topic and getting your work featured on an industry blog or forum. Most sites are eager to get new content from contributors, and as long as what you’re saying is worth reading, they’ll be happy to publish your material. Include a link or two pointing back to your site, and you’ll be able to build your domain authority with search engines (thereby getting your site to rank higher) while naturally attracting more people directly to your website.

7. Community Involvement

It’s also a good idea to get involved with your community, either by volunteering with a local organization or serving on the board of an important committee to your geographic region. In exchange for your time, these organizations will give you and your business free callouts on their sites, and you’ll earn both brand exposure and social credibility with your audience.

These advertising sources won’t bring you the greatest amount of traffic or new customers, but they will give you something that actually matters to the health of your business—a positive ROI. As long as you’re bringing in business worth more than what you’re spending on ad output, you’ll be able to remain profitable and grow your customer base simultaneously. As you find out what types of strategies work and which ones don’t, you’ll be able to scale up your budget and direction and take your business to new heights.