How Small Businesses Can Score Big Marketing Wins Without Much Money Just because you're a mom and pop with a limited budget doesn't mean you can't make a splash.
This story appears in the September 2024 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
When a business is short on money, their marketing budget is often the first thing to go. But when you're a mom & pop, being short on money is the regular state of affairs. Still, there are plenty of low (or no( cost ways to get customers' attention, and rally your community. We asked the businesses on our list of America's Favorite Mom & Pop Shops to share their most "viral" marketing moments, and selected some to inspire you next time you're looking to make a splash.
1. Find unexpected (non-internet!) places to reach customers.
"We partnered with a neighborhood filmmaker to make an advertisement to play at our local independent movie theaters. He shot it on 35-millimeter film and it looks so cool. While we do a fair amount of digital and social media marketing, it's nice to reach customers outside of their phones or computers." — Michael McCrory and Lauren Crabbe, owners of Andytown Coffee Roasters in San Francisco
2. Hand out free swag. It's great advertising.
"We've always offered our clients a free, high-quality T-shirt. I see most businesses charge for that, but I've never understood why. Getting our clients to share their fitness successes with friends, family, business clients, and patients is our No. 1 way to promote our business. I often see clients and friends wearing our swag around town, and I see it as free advertising. When a conversation about our studio is initiated, our clients offer the best advertising available." — Jeff Eckhouse, owner of Back Cove Personal Fitness in Portland, Maine
Related: 5 Small Business Marketing Tactics to See Results This Quarter
3. Increase your visibility with giveaways.
"I make art, and in the late '90s, I sold a piece for $5,000. Before that, I hadn't sold any originals for over $2,000. I used this money to make prints of five of my best works. I brought them to all the local frame shops in the French Quarter, and gave them two each for free. I left my card saying, 'My work sells well. So when these sell, call me so you can order more.' About 25 frame shops ultimately carried my prints. My work was in every corner of the most touristy areas. I didn't realize what I had done at the time, because I was just trying to bring in some extra income, but flooding the market tripled my household income." — Terrance Osborne, owner of Terrance Osborne Gallery in New Orleans
4. Share milestones from your personal life with customers.
"I don't do much advertising, because we have a merchants association that does good advertising for the whole town. But my most engaged-with post on social media was a personal one about the shop being closed while my wife and I celebrated our anniversary. Part of the appeal of a small business is knowing the people involved." — John Cioci, owner of Paoli Art Shop in Belleville, Wisconsin
5. Make your customers feel seen, even when it costs you.
"At the start of our second year, January hit and sales dropped off. It was our first postholiday slump. We talked about sales and campaigns, but none of it sat right. Instead, we decided to host a 'Guest Appreciation Day.' When each guest got to the register, we told them, 'Everything's on us today. Thank you for making what we do possible.' People were everything from shocked and happy to embarrassed and giddy. The next day, our sales went back up and didn't slump again. From that day on, we had a completely different relationship with our regulars." — Matthew Wendland, owner of Moonshot Coffee in Seattle
6. Give people something to photograph (and share).
"Our best marketing spend has been on a giant fiberglass cow that sits in front of our store. We are always looking to add something exciting for visitors and thought a 10-foot cow would fit in perfectly on our farm. We hoped it would work as a good advertising and photo opportunity, but it turned out better than we expected. It gets shared on social media often, and when we first got the cow, we did a naming contest that received thousands of submissions — which ended up turning into a story on a local news channel." — Ken and Jackie Feltz, owners of Feltz's Dairy Store in Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Related: 5 Scrappy Ways to Create Quick Marketing Wins
7. Volunteer your space or services for buzzy opportunities.
"Our most impactful marketing boost came at zero cost to us — in fact, we were paid! Our studio has attracted several photo shoots and TV filming opportunities, including season 12 of American Horror Story. The production team compensated us generously for a four-day studio shutdown, and our space was prominently featured in an episode, garnering local buzz and social media exposure. This exposure not only elevated our studio's profile on a national platform, but also generated interest in the local community. Our members talked about it for months!" — Jill and Adam Levy, owners of Sound Body & Mind yoga studio in Huntington, New York
