Marketing Ideas for Small Business Owners

There are many ways to grow your business’s success—from keyword research to user-generated content—and you don’t necessarily need a large budget.

Below, we’ve provided 35 actionable marketing ideas for small business owners to help you get more traffic, leads, and customers.

SEO Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

SEO helps make your business easier to find when your target market searches for solutions online.

By increasing your business’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). This way, more people see the listing and click through to your website.

Use the following small business marketing ideas to optimize your site for SEO and improve your online presence.

1. Optimize Your Site for SEO

While SEO involves many components, you can start by creating an SEO Project and conducting a free Site Audit using Semrush.

Once you’ve done that, you will see domain analytics for your site, including an authority score, organic traffic, and referring domains.

Next, you can set up various Semrush tools to audit and improve your rankings, like Position Tracking , Site Audit , On Page SEO Tracker , and Backlink Analytics .

2. Research SEO Keywords

Keywords are the search terms people use to find online information—including your business. Use keyword research to identify the terms people use when searching for products, services, or content like yours.

To get started, use the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool to generate keyword ideas based on your business’s products or services. You can conduct up to 10 searches per day for free.

3. Improve Local SEO

Your small business can benefit from local SEO if it has a physical presence or serves a geographic area.

Local SEO improves your ranking on local search results and gets your business in front of people in your community.

Even better? It’s a low-cost strategy that can pay off in a big way for any business that relies on local customers and foot traffic.

4. Perform a Technical Audit

Technical issues on your website can prevent Google and other search engines from crawling (discovering) and indexing (ranking) your pages.

Addressing these issues through a technical audit can improve SEO performance and help your website generate more organic traffic and conversions.

If this is your first time using Search Console, read our Search Console beginner’s guide to learn how to set it up.

If you haven’t used Site Audit before, this tool will analyze your website and provide data and insights on a wide range of potential technical SEO issues.

To get started, head to Semrush, select “SEO” from the menu on the left, and then click “Site Audit.”

Enter your URL in the “Domain” field, enter a project name in the “Project Name” field, and click “Create project.”

When you select your domain, the “Site Audit Settings” window will pop up. You can use our detailed setup guide to change the settings. For now, use the default settings.

Click the “Start Site Audit” button at the bottom of the window to begin your audit.

Site Health indicates your website’s health on a scale of zero to 100. It also shows how your site measures up against the leading sites in your industry.

The report also contains an overview of technical issues ranked by severity level: errors, warnings, or notices.

Switch to the “Issues” tab to get a complete list of all the technical issues on your site, along with the number of pages affected.

Click the “Why and how to fix it” link next to an issue to get a description of the issue, guidance on how to fix it, and links to tools and resources.

Check out our detailed guide to technical SEO audits for more info on using Site Audit to optimize your website.

5. Create a Free Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) highlights your reviews, website, phone number, hours, and address so people can find you.

This helps you appear in search results when someone searches for your business’s name or related keywords on Google Search and Google Maps.

Creating a Google Business Profile is free and can help increase brand visibility, gain credibility via reviews, and improve your local SEO results.

Get started by visiting the Google Business Profile site and adding or updating your business’s information, including a description, photos, and more.

Content Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

You can create content on your website (like blog posts, ebooks, or white papers), for social media sites like Instagram or TikTok, or for other websites such as contributed columns and guest posts.

In short, content is anything that entertains or informs people and makes them want to know more about your business. It costs nothing to start—just ensure it’s valuable and satisfies search intent.

6. Discover Useful Topics

Uncovering topics based on audience research can help you create a content strategy and plan that resonates with your target market.

How-to guides, top 10 lists, tips and tricks, best practices, and business insights are all great ways to provide value.

Use the Semrush Topic Research tool to create a list of high-quality and relevant content ideas.

Enter your chosen topic in the “Enter topic” field, then click “Get content ideas” to start your research.

After a few moments, Topic Research will provide an analysis of your topic and a set of expandable cards with the most relevant subtopics.

Clicking on a subtopic card will bring up 10 popular related headlines. Topic Research sorts the headlines by the number of backlinks on each page.

The color of the bullhorn next to the topic shows that topic’s resonance—the impact or influence this topic may have on your audience. The green bullhorn shows the headline(s) with the highest resonance.

Click the plus sign to the right of any headline to add it to your favorites list:

The subtopic card also contains common questions people ask about the topic. Use the list of questions to tailor your content for a particular search intent.

Finally, the subtopic card contains a list of related searches. Address these searches in your content to increase its relatability.

7. Maximize Engagement with Video

Create videos showing how to complete a task, like repairing a washing machine or building a digital marketing campaign to provide solutions to common pain points for your audience.

Video is also a great way to share product demos and interviews, announce new products or features, and share news about your business.

Pro tip: Save money by using your smartphone and apps like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook to make and share engaging videos with your target audience.

8. Recycle or Repurpose Popular Content

Find your most successful content from any medium or channel and brainstorm ways you can repurpose or repackage it.

Build community and engagement with user-generated content (UGC). Encourage your social media followers to create content around your brand so you can share it on your other channels and social media.

The simplest way to generate UGC is by asking. Even your company’s biggest fans might not think to create a video or a tweet about your product. But if you ask them, they might be more than happy to help spread the word.

They have a branded hashtag to collect UGC, and encourage shoppers to “hashtag your look” on social media. They even incentivize it with a $50 gift card for the best content.

Build a social media presence to increase brand awareness and engage potential customers. Create high-quality content to build a following and drive traffic to your website.

Use the following social media marketing ideas for small business owners to boost your engagement and create a professional presence.

Choose the right social media platforms —Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and X (formerly known as Twitter)—to reach your audience.

A business account lets you share contact information, reviews, updates, and news. It also lets you create and manage your own social media community.

Take advantage of cover and profile pictures to share news and promotions like we did with our 100,000th customer celebration on the Semrush Facebook page:

Ensure your business profile information is up to date so customers will be able to reach you.

11. Engage Your Audience

For example, athletic accessory brand Outway had the perfect reply to a customer’s question: it was prompt, friendly, helpful, and concise:

By replying to comments, it shows that person—and countless others—that the brand cares about its customers and that they actively want to engage with them.

12. Promote Your Content

One of the best free marketing ideas for small business owners is to promote blog posts, videos, and other content on social media channels.

Tease content with article snippets or ephemeral story features (like Facebook and Instagram stories) to attract visitors to your website

Include social media tags in your content pieces. Encourage visitors to share the content on their own social media networks.

Consider how you can recycle or repurpose your content. Rather than simply linking to a blog post on your website, could you rewrite and format the content to work natively on LinkedIn or as a thread on X (Twitter)?

13. Join Industry Discussions in Niche Forums

Beyond the major social media platforms, there are specialized sites and communities around the web you can join.

For example, the Social Media Today LinkedIn group is a great place for social media professionals and marketers to find resources and networking opportunities.

No matter your industry or niche, you can find groups and forums to match—or start your own if you’d rather. This could include Facebook Groups, niche social platforms like Untappd, and sites like Reddit that discuss a wide variety of topics.

Start discussions, provide useful insights, and discuss your business challenges. Check potential customers’ profiles to see what groups they take part in to find relevant sites to join.

14. Increase Reach with Hashtags

Incorporate relevant hashtags into your social media posts like #fallfashion, #fitness, and #homedecor. Be specific, and don’t make them overly long. Location-based hashtags are also a great addition to posts—think #newyorkrestaurantweek and #arizonaevents.

You can also use hashtags to participate in global or national events. Just ensure it relates to your business.

For example, bidet maker Tushy participated in #NationalToiletPaperDay to engage their audience, reach new followers, and indirectly promote their product:

While you’re at it, use a social sharing plugin like Social Warfare or Revive Social to encourage readers to share your website and blog content online.

Email Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

It’s inexpensive and scalable, making it another powerful and cost-effective marketing tool for your small business.

Use a budget-friendly email marketing tool designed for small business owners like MailChimp or Brevo .

In your newsletter, include snippets of popular and relevant content, news about your company, and new promotions and offers. Include a call to action for each section of the newsletter like “Read More,” “Learn More,” and “Sign Up Now.”

For example, Skillshare used multiple calls to action, including “Don’t Miss Your Free Trial,” in the following marketing email:

Pro tip: Grow your email newsletter subscribers by offering a signup incentive like a one-time discount code, chance to win a free product or service, or exclusive content.

17. Run A/B Tests

Optimize your email marketing efforts by testing different email formats with an A/B test. Most email marketing platforms will offer this capability, making experimenting with different subject lines, images, content, layouts, and offers easy.

You can also measure KPIs like open rates and conversions to see what resonates best with your audience.

Use what you learned to tweak your emails and try again. Continue measuring and refining your emails until you find a top-performing format.

18. Personalize Emails for Better Open Rates

Use marketing personas, targeted email lists, and user data to personalize your offer and improve engagement.

According to McKinsey , 76% of subscribers are more likely to buy from a brand that personalizes their experience, and 78% are more likely to refer that brand to a friend.

More advanced options include segmenting your list to send customized content to specific groups or individuals.

For example, if someone browses your website’s selection of phone cases, you could send them an email with a link to a buyer’s guide for choosing the right one.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Paid advertising is a subset of marketing that involves paying for advertisements to promote a product or service.

While pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns can get expensive, you can set a predetermined budget upfront to stay within your means.

19. Discover PPC Keywords for Your Business

Keywords are the foundation of your PPC campaign. They determine when and where your ads appear and how much you pay for each click.

However, you’ll need to choose the right keywords for your business and product to reach your target audience, increase conversions, and manage your marketing budget.

You can use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to find keyword suggestions along with monthly search volume, competitive density, and cost per click (CPC). Use this information to plan and manage your PPC campaign.

Open Semrush, click “Advertising” on the left-hand menu, and then click “Keyword Magic Tool” to begin.

Enter a seed keyword (a general search term related to your market or business) into the search bar, select the country where you want to search keywords, and click “Search.”

You’ll see a list of keywords. Use the filters to refine your results and identify keywords that make the most sense for your business.

Select relevant keywords by checking the boxes and then clicking “+ Add to keyword list” to export them to Keyword Manager.

Keyword Manager stores all your keywords in a central location. It also lets you generate keyword clusters, sort the clusters in a mind map, and access real-time metrics.

Once you’ve built a list of relevant and high-opportunity keywords, you can import your list directly into Google Ads to set up a campaign.

Social media platforms like Meta (Instagram and Facebook) and Pinterest make it easy for small business owners to run PPC campaigns.

If you’re new to paid advertising, start with a small budget and use filters to refine your audience as much as possible.

Most platforms provide in-depth guides to setting up, managing, and budgeting for your campaign, but generally, the same rules apply.

The more you know your target market, the more tightly you can focus and target your ads—which gives you more value for your money. Invest time in keyword and topic research and customer demographics to improve your understanding of your audience.

Creative Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

The ideas below, from influencer marketing to podcast advertising, can help you connect with your audience in unique ways.

21. Build Partnerships with Influencers in Your Niche

Seek out and connect with influencers in your niche to promote your brand. Influencers can appear in ads for your brand, promote your business on their account, and even hold livestreams where they unbox your product live or use your service in real time.

Keep in mind that nano- and micro-influencers will be the most affordable. These influencers have small but highly engaged niche audiences that can help your brand build authentic and meaningful connections.

Nano- and micro-influencers typically charge anywhere from $10 to $500 per post , which is great for your potential ROI.

22. Advertise on Podcasts

Buy ad or sponsorship spots on podcasts related to your niche. This gives you instant access to an already-engaged audience. It also helps you build brand credibility and trust with your audience.

Many podcast platforms like Buzzsprout and Soundcloud now offer a self-serve ad platform like Google Ads or Facebook (Meta). This means you can plan and run your own campaign and set a budget that works for your business—big or small.

Music streaming service Spotify also offers low-cost interactive podcast ads starting at $250 per campaign .

23. Offer Free Trials

Offer a limited free trial of your product or service to let customers try before they buy. Check in with the customer during the trial to offer tips and tricks and answer questions.

At the end of the trial, ask the customer for their feedback. If they chose not to purchase your product, ask them what influenced their decision. Use this information to improve your product and free trial experience.

Referral Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

In its 2022 Consumer Intelligence Survey Series on Trust , PwC reported that 91% of consumers are likely to buy from a company they trust, and 88% are likely to recommend the company to others.

When customers trust your business, they are more likely to recommend it to their friends and family.

Encourage customers to share their feedback on Yelp, Google, social media, and other local business directories.

When a happy customer talks about a positive experience with your business, it will inspire confidence in prospective customers.

For example, Green Earth Pest Control’s customer Ben M. left a five-star review and positive feedback on Yelp about their experience:

Encourage customers to rate and review your business simply by asking. Email, text, and in-person review requests are a great way to receive a steady stream of online feedback.

Pro tip: Target customers who are likely to give you a great review. Email a satisfaction survey to customers and then send a follow-up referral request to the ones who rate your business the highest.

25. Offer Referral Incentives to Existing Customers

Offer existing customers a free product, discount, or another perk to encourage them to refer friends and family.

Promote your referral program on your website, social media, and store if you have a physical location. Automate the process with referral tools like Influitive or ReferralCandy .

As long as the value of the incentive is less than the value of a new customer, this can be a profitable strategy for you.

To take advantage of this free marketing tactic, highlight testimonials on your Google Business Profile, social media channels, website, and marketing materials.

Affiliate Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

With affiliate marketing, you can earn money in two ways: by creating an affiliate marketing program for your business that others can join and by joining a complementary business’s affiliate marketing program.

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where individuals or businesses (affiliates) earn a commission by promoting products or services of a company (advertiser) through unique referral links, and generating sales or leads for that company.

27. Join an Affiliate Network

Join an affiliate program like the Semrush Affiliate Program to earn extra money. If accepted, you can promote the affiliate program’s product(s) on your blog, social media, email, and more using an affiliate link.

You can also join popular affiliate networks like ShareASale , CJ (Commission Junction) , and ClickBank , to be considered for a wide variety of affiliate opportunities.

If you don’t want to promote others’ affiliate products in your content, consider creating your own program for others to join.

28. Try Joint Marketing Campaigns

Enter into mutually beneficial relationships with another business or brand through joint marketing or co-marketing campaigns.

Cross-promote each other’s companies or work together on a marketing campaign that promotes both parties to take full advantage of this free marketing tactic. Use affiliate links to track conversions.

You can also join forces with another small business to create unique events that you both promote on social media.

For example, local Arizona restaurant 32Shea teamed up with another small business in the area, Shea Cheese, to offer a wine and cheese tasting:

Local Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

If your business has a physical location or serves a specific region, local marketing is a fantastic way to reach area customers.

29. Try Guerilla Marketing

Guerilla market uses creative, low-cost strategies to raise brand awareness. Done right, a fun guerrilla campaign can generate massive attention via social media and traditional media.

Public art: Use stencils, stickers, or sidewalk chalk to broadcast hashtags, your web address, or other promotional messages. You might also consider sponsoring public artwork at a local abandoned building. (Research local laws and regulations first.)

Publicity stunts: Publicity stunts are any public display or act that generates attention via news or social media. Stage your own stunts or sponsor an existing one.

30. Advertise with Your Local Chamber of Commerce

Get promoted on your local Chamber’s website, social media channels, and publications to expand your advertising reach. Consider sponsoring (and taking part in) social and charitable events like Chamber golf tournaments.

Ask your Chamber about hosting seminars or lunch and learn events where you can showcase your business.

31. Get Featured in Local Media

Gain exposure by pitching story ideas to local media, magazines, radio, and TV stations. You can also use free sites like Help A Reporter (HARO) to be connected with local journalists seeking expert quotes.

Another marketing idea for small business owners is to ask about advertorial and sponsorship opportunities with local media networks or content producers.

Consider producing a regular article, podcast, or community TV show to share advice or insights from your business. For example, you could host a show or webinar on personal financial planning if you provide financial consulting services.

32. Join Business Directories

List your business in local online business directories like Chamber of Commerce, trade, or online directories such as Zoominfo . Keep your information up to date so people can reach you.

Save time by using the Semrush Listing Management tool to help you find business directories and add your information.

Navigate to Semrush, click “Local SEO” from the left-hand menu, and click “Listing Management” to open the tool.

Listing Management will scan major directories for your business. When it’s finished, it will provide “Your Local Visibility Report” with the following information:

Under the report, you’ll find a list of directories you can join to expand your coverage.

Full paid access to the Listing Management tool includes powerful features, such as automatically adding your business info to directories and review management, to help you optimize your local visibility.

33. Host Community Classes, Events, and Workshops

Build local connections and reach potential customers by participating in your community. Host free or discounted community classes or webinars to share expertise and promote your services.

Join local business groups and attend networking events and trade shows to connect with other businesses. Combine resources with other local businesses by partnering on co-hosted events.

Take part in your community. Sponsor charity events, school programs, or local sports teams by donating money or services. For example, accountants could offer free tax preparation services to low-income families.

35. Use Direct Mail and Business Cards

Create postcards, brochures, coupons, and business cards and send them to targeted local audiences. Direct mail advertising is an effective and inexpensive marketing idea for small business owners.

For added marketing value, include a promotional code, QR code, or email address people can use to contact your business. This will give you an estimate of how many people engage with your ads.

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