Small business owners hoping to make their offerings stand out in a crowded market don’t need to break the bank to do so. In fact, they can accomplish this relatively cheaply.

Every business is looking for the opportunity to increase brand awareness in today’s competitive consumer market. For small business owners with limited resources, there are some inexpensive ways to make your offerings stand out from a slew of competitors.

Here are a few cost-effective actions to increase the visibility of your product and brand.

Develop your Message and Offering
Successful marketing isn’t about having the loudest message. It’s about communicating with people and building relationships that allow a company to introduce or expose its products and services again and again. However, your company can’t be all things to all people, so it’s impossible to build an effective marketing campaign without narrowing your focus to a specific range of customer types. This will enable your firm to construct a more streamlined and, ultimately, more appealing campaign to raise awareness about key products or services.

To start, identify who your ideal customers are, what’s important to them and why you haven’t reached them yet. Observe and define your target market, then give the potential customers a reason to choose your product over the competition’s. Create an offer based on serving a purpose in these potential customers’ lives. Make every offer and all content relevant and engaging.

Increase your Online Presence
In many cases, a website is the best place for a company to make its first impression with customers, which is why establishing or improving your firm’s presence on the Internet is vital. There are many tools today that will help you set up shop online and drive potential new customers to your website, including those that keep you up-to-date on search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.

Be sure to interconnect all parts of your online presence. Your website, blog, LinkedIn company profile and any other social networking links should all be prominently featured and easily accessible to both current and potential customers. Get listed on outsourcing sites and business directories, and ensure your listings are correct.

Promote your brand and expertise on others’ sites and online profiles. Look for industry sites and publications where you can contribute content. Pen your thoughts and tips, and publish them in articles, columns and whitepapers on industry websites. Frequent industry forums and blogs within your field, and answer questions that others may have.

Leverage your Social Media Tools
Establishing an Internet presence no longer requires an elaborate website (though even a basic one certainly helps), as even a one-man enterprise can now harness social networking platforms to get involved with the customer base. Social media has amplified the power of word-of-mouth. Customers can now broadcast their experience with your product to hundreds of their Facebook friends or Twitter followers, or to thousands of people reading their blog posts or online reviews. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or Google+, businesses are finding social networks useful for expanding their customer base, mining information that can help them improve their products and bottom line.

To extend your reach, create a corporate Facebook profile and incorporate a Twitter feed into your firm’s site. Then update both with relevant information as it becomes available. Be personal and authentic. It’s better to use your new media, including a blog, to solve potential customers’ problems or share your resources, rather than simply shill your products. However, something as simple as announcing contests, samples, discounts and giveaways or leveraging client endorsements and customer testimonials on Facebook and Twitter can be a powerful trigger without turning your site into a repository for press releases.

Promote Champions of your Product(s)
Use current satisfied customers and clients to help generate references and referrals by continually reminding contacts who have been happy with your product to tell their friends, family and network.

“Once you have sold to them, customers can help you sell to others by offering positive testimonials and leveraging a refer-a-friend campaign created by your business,” Inc.com suggests. “This technique also employs word-of-mouth marketing. Help customers help you by giving them the ammunition they need to tell your story to others.”

Consider offering samples to reviewers and industry bloggers to build a genuine public overview of the product, and share product reviews on your site. Provide your own endorsements and testimonials on supplier profiles, as this will often prompt them to do the same for you. And be sure to thank your sources for their continued advocacy of your business, whether it’s with a simple thank-you note, a box of chocolates or a gift certificate.

Resources

13 Marketing Activities You Can Do For Less Than $20 A Day
by Ivana Taylor
AMEX Open Forum, Sept. 8, 2011

How to Define Your Target Market
by Mandy Porta
Inc.com, June 22, 2010

Tools for Online Success
Google and the U.S. Small Business Administration

Drive Traffic to Your Business Blog
by Michelle V. Rafter
Inc.com, March 1, 2008

10 Ways to Turn Your Blog into a Lead-Generation Machine
by Ann Handley
Entrepreneur.com, Sept. 7, 2011

Could Your Small Business Survive Without Social Media?
by Rieva Lesonsky
AMEX Open Forum, Aug. 23, 2011

4 Reasons Why Contests Should Be Part of Your Marketing Strategy
by Christina DesMarais
Inc.com, July 27, 2011

How to Use Samples to Promote Your Product
by Drew Gannon
Inc.com, May 26, 2011

An Expert’s Guide to Discounting
by Teri Evans
Bloomberg BusinessWeek, April 3, 2009

When Giving Away Your Product Or Service For Free Is A Smart Move
by Shira Levine
AMEX Open Forum, Aug. 25, 2011

Is Your Business Ready for Social Media?
UpwardAction, July 25, 2011

Put Your Customers to Work for You
by Jennifer Lawler
Entrepreneur.com, June 21, 2010

Five Ways to Boost Referrals to Find Customers
by Diana Ransom
Finding Customers (Entrepreneur.com), May 24, 2011

How to Find New Customers and Increase Sales
by Elizabeth Wasserman
Inc.com, Dec. 1, 2009

How Thank You Cards Build Loyal Customers
by Ramon Ray
AMEX Open Forum, Aug. 22, 2011