I was listening to a podcast while working the other day, and heard something that instantly made me stop working. It was something along the lines of:
“I do marketing… I just don’t pay for it”
This quote came from a popular baseball strength and conditioning coach, Eric Cressey, in a podcast episode I came across and it immediately got me thinking…
Do people realize how good we have it?
We live in a time where we can run marketing campaigns that can be worth thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars to some businesses for FREE.
How Do I Run a Marketing Campaign Worth Millions For Free?
It’s actually pretty simple.
Now, of course it depends on your product or service on whether these free marketing techniques will be worth thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars – but we all have access to them, and if you’re not using them you should probably re-think your marketing.
#1 – Google
What’s the first thing you do when you’re looking for somewhere to eat around you? Most people Google that.
What if you want to sell your house but don’t know a Realtor? Most people Google that.
Did you realize that search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo list your website in its search absolutely free?
People can find your business or product through Google and it won’t cost you a dime.
Run a Gym in London? You probably want to rank for “Gyms in London” in Google. And you can do that for FREE.
Sure, you can pay Google to put you at the top of the search results, but with a little Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work you can get up there yourself for FREE.
Ranking at the top of Google is something I cover in our How To Become a Successful Online Coach Course, but here are a few quick tips that will make sure Google lists you for the terms you’re wanting to rank for:
- Make the title of your website what you want to rank for, and not just something generic like “Home”
- Sign up for Google’s free webmaster tools and submit your website
- Within the body or the text of your website pages you want to mention those terms a few times, so Google knows that’s what your website is about
#2 – YouTube
Most people don’t realize this, but YouTube is actually one of the biggest search engines in the world. And with video becoming more and more popular, it’s only going to continue to grow.
And guess what? It’s FREE to post on YouTube.
Everybody loves watching videos. Why not post videos that will help you connect with your audience or customers, and show them you’re an authority in that space.
We’ve grown our Hockey Training business and even sold products directly through YouTube simply by posting videos related to hockey training.
Hockey players will search YouTube looking for “Hockey training tips” or “Hockey workouts”, find and watch a few of our videos and usually either subscribe to our channel to watch our future videos or head over to our website and purchase our products.
The great thing about YouTube is that not only can people find your videos by searching YouTube, but if they are watching videos on a similar topic YouTube might suggest your video to them.
Run a Wedding Photography business? Why not post videos on YouTube showing the equipment you use, a behind the scenes look at how you create the perfect wedding photos or the post-production work you do to touchup or edit photos.
Starting up a clothing brand? Why not post videos on YouTube talking about style tips and feature your brand in the videos.
#3 – Facebook, Instagram, etc
There are endless ways to use the different social media platforms for free marketing, but for this article I’m going to focus on one strategy.
Viral posts.
These are tough to get going, but with the right post you can literally get millions of eyes on your product for free.
Have you ever seen a video shared on Facebook by a friend that has something crazy like 15 Million views?
Yeah you’re right – most of the videos or posts that go viral are maybe just funny videos with no actual business or brand behind them, but every now and again you will see a company behind one of the videos – and it’s brilliant.
A great example of this is a horror movie that was about to hit the theatres.
The marketing team put together a video that involved a staged New York coffee shop, hidden cameras, and unsuspecting customers.
You can check out the video, but it was basically a prank type video that currently has 66 Million views, and the end of the video contained a short ad for their movie.
That is an extreme example, and obviously there was obviously some cost to it with the professional video crew, but it gives you an idea of what you can do.
On a smaller level, we do this all of the time for our Hockey Training business, with very little effort.
We post free content on Facebook and Instagram and ask hockey players to share it with any hockey players they know.
As long as the content is good the videos or posts will get shared by the players.
To step up our game we could create something similar to what this hockey clothing company did with their video titled “Sh*t Hockey Players Don’t Say“.
The video was funny and went viral on YouTube and Facebook and probably picked up a few customers for them.
So how can you relate this to your business?
Are you a local business? Create a funny post or video titled “10 Ways You Know You’re From [City Name Here]”. Or “10 Best Hidden Gems in [City Name Here]”.
Want to market a product? Create a video and use your product in the video.
For example, the first thing I see in front of me right now is a Workout Shaker Cup. If that’s what I was selling I would create a video titled “7 Items Only Gym Rats Use” and try to create a funny video based around that.
Want to market a service? Maybe you are an online fitness coach. Try posting fitness related tips daily on LinkedIn and ask people to share it
We live in a great time where we don’t have to spend a dime on marketing, yet we can build massive followings, customer bases, and businesses.
If you run a business I hope this article helped you think of an idea or two that you can use in your marketing efforts that won’t break the bank.
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*This article was originally published on my LinkedIn in 2017, but since it is still relevant today I wanted to update and share it here at Create Freedom!
Dan Garner
