If you have set up your own business you may often suffer from impatience, wanting to get your name out there, wanting to grow your business. Here are 5 great tips to help you set things up and bring you business at low cost, before you start paying for pricey advertising campaigns.

You might have cashflow pressure, the need to generate sales in the short term and of course, your own desire to prove to yourself (and maybe to others) that you are doing the right thing, your product or service is good, and you are capable of succeeding. 

You might feel like diving straight into some advertising as a way to bring you more business but will you be getting the most out of the money you spend if your business is not ready for it and if you cannot ensure your potential customers are being converted optimally? Here are 5 tips you should think about first:

1. List your Business in Directories.

Not only do some people search business directories which means you can get some direct business from them, but they also create authority for your website / business, meaning Google will rank it higher and you will appear higher in search results. 

Not only does the latter mean you get more online traffic from search results but it naturally means more credibility when someone checks out your business.

Make sure you do this in relevant directories, not with a scatter gun approach, but listing where it is relevant to your business, and it is vital your details remain coherent across the listing.

• You can find a list of directories here. 

2. Get on Google Maps.

There isn't much stuff that gets done without the Internet involved these days and people often search for a business, to see where it is, what it looks like and what others say about it.

So, make sure you set up a Google My Business page and make sure you complete it fully with all the relevant information and optimise it. This means you will show up for local searches and display relevant information helping those looking for your kind of product or service. Although used a lot less, it is worth also doing the same for Bing for Business.

• Learn more about optimising your Google My Business page.

3. Get people talking about you and embrace it.

The power of reviews has grown beyond all measure in the Internet age. It is fundamental you encourage people to review your product or service. This is relevant for your social media presence as well as your visibility on the likes of Google search results. A Google My Business page or a Facebook page with good reviews is infinitely more credible for a potential customer. 

Also remember to answer reviews, positive or negative to demonstrate how responsive and attentive you are. Just remember that reviewing needs to be organic - no incentives for people to review as that tends to contravene the rules of digital platforms.

With a bit of creativity you can also get local and online media to talk about you, perhaps win an award, get in the news and certainly build a good network of contacts.

• Learn more about using a VA to get in the news

• Learn more about using a VA to build your network

• Learn more about using a VA to win an Award

4. Co-operate with the local businesses.

Joining your local chamber of commerce, getting in touch with other small business groups not only allow you to hear about other potential customers but provides a good forum for you to gain encouragement, something which is vital for any small business owner or entrepreneur.

Meet Up can be a great way to get in touch with your local business community and find out how you can join in with meetings and networking events. 

You never know you may be able to set up some referral business with other like-minded small business owners in your area. 

5. Curate your Social Media and consider advertising on Social Media. 

Now, we are talking about what you should do before advertising and then I am suggesting you advertise which may seem counter-intuitive but bear with me. 

Social Media is important. You may think it isn’t for your business but generally, there will be one or more channels that your competitors are using, where you should also have a presence. 

The key is to make sure your Social Media content is coherent and curated; this means it matches up with your business information present elsewhere (as if it were a directory) , and you have attractive and informative content which is consistently posted. 

Consistent means on a regular basis, upon which people (and the platform’s algorithms) can rely on. Obviously, Facebook is different to Instagram, is different to Twitter (and so on), so it is important to make sure you know which social media your potential customers use and what appeals to them. 

Now, what about the social media ads? Well, here’s the thing - advertising on social media can be cheap and can also provide some good learnings for you. If you boost some posts or try some ads you will begin to find out what is most effective. 

Coupled with this you can target people based on their interests and, above all, you can target people local to your small business.

• Learn more about our Social Media Management packages, starting from £139.

Author: Thomas Smallwood is an outsourcing specialist. Having worked in companies around Europe, from the support desk to the boardroom, he founded bizee.co to help small businesses grow through efficient delegation to skilled virtual assistants. He is an award-winning blogger and a passionate advocate for mental health awareness.

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn.