Marketing on a shoestring

3. Invest in Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising

PPC advertising can be cost-effective as you only pay when a potential customer clicks on a link to your website, usually after they've typed specific keywords into a search engine.

The trick is to make sure PPC is effective.

That means researching target keywords to bid on so that when potential customers search for that term, your PPC ad appears at the top of the search results.

You'll need to identify keywords relevant to your business, such as 'Leeds gardening services'. Create a web page that potential customers land on after clicking your PPC ad that tells them about your service.

4. Take advantage of free credits

Companies such as Google, Facebook and TripAdvisor regularly offer free advertising credits for businesses.

With free advertising worth up to £150 on offer, it's worth snapping up free credits and using it to test advertising before committing your money to it.

Some platforms, such as TripAdvisor, are best suited to particular businesses, such as hotels and restaurants.

Anthony Quinn, founder of The Pudding Pantry in Nottingham, says using free credits opened the door to new business.

“We're probably spending a few hundred pounds on TripAdvisor each month, which has been fantastic. We ignored it in the past, but they offered some free credits, which we used, and suddenly we saw a huge surge in sales,” he says.

5. Create social media ads

Social media advertising is different from PPC. It allows you to target a specific customer demographic - for example, women aged 40-50 living in Birmingham - and show a sponsored post or ad in their social media feed.

For some businesses, this can be highly effective.

“I invest quite heavily in ads including Facebook and Instagram ads,” says Susan. “I outsource the ads, and we went from spending maybe £5 a day in ads to now hundreds of pounds, but it has completely paid for itself.”

6. Build an email mailing list

An active email mailing list can save a fortune in marketing spend in the long term.

Provide incentives to encourage customers to sign up for email newsletters by offering discounts and special offers via regular emails.

Make sure you get their permission to send them marketing.

Email services such as MailChimp, HubSpot and Sender are usually free to use when getting started, with costs kicking in once your email mailing list hits a certain size.

Many services include design tools to create professional-looking emails easily.

Look for email tools that automatically send emails to customers when triggered, such as reminding them that they have products in their shopping basket but haven't completed their purchase.

Read our guide to email marketing tips for your start-up

7. Encourage customer referrals

Positive word of mouth can work wonders, especially for local service businesses such as dog groomers and gardening services.

Create discount offers such as 'refer a friend' to encourage word of mouth.

Jane Crane, founder of Your Tribe in Newcastle, relies on customers telling their friends. “There's nothing better than a referral because people saying how much fun they've had is the best form of advertising you can get.”

Kate agrees: “I've never spent a great deal of money on marketing and advertising. It's mainly been through word of mouth. We ended up getting a good reputation, and so other people would book.”

8. Get listed in directories

Make sure your business is listed in as many directories as possible.

These can be general business directories such as Yell, trade-specific ones such as Checkatrade, or industry bodies that list companies such as accountants or marketing agencies.

It's worth investigating joining industry memberships, especially those that include member directories that customers can use to find services. Many offer discounted memberships for start-ups.