Tips for free promotion

When you want to promote or generate publicity to bring your initiative or project to the attention of a target audience, there are a lot of resources for that. Most of them cost money. However, you do not always have this at your disposal. Fortunately, we have some tips on how to promote for free. Read them on this page.

Use your own social media

Most people are active on one or more social media. If the same is true for you, that's about the easiest way to get promoted for free. Most social media are free to use. Always check how much use you make of them, though. If you suddenly start running ads from nowhere, people may perceive it as spam. In addition, the way you communicate is very important. Make sure you always stay a little personal, but look at the target audience and then decide how formal or informal a message will be. Don't blindly share posts you've created elsewhere on social media because that comes across as an advertisement. Your online friends follow you because they like you. So always remain yourself.

Word of mouth

'Back in the day' there was no social media. Word of mouth is actually a kind of 'offline' version of social media. Tell people at work, on birthdays, at the sports club and while walking down the street about your initiative and project. That way you keep it very personal and people can easily ask further questions. If you convince them then chances are that they will tell you further or they will look for you at home through digital channels. There are also many people online who perform the role of forerunner and are therefore followed by many people. Perhaps you can ask them to pass on your initiative or project to their supporters.

Promotion through your partners

In many cases, you work together on an initiative or project or you get to interact with others. These people or companies often have an interest in what you are doing or they like it. If so, they are probably willing to promote you as well. Take advantage of that and see them as partners in communication. You can simply ask them to share a post on their website or through social media. Perhaps they also know journalists personally or have other ways or bringing it to their attention.

Free publicity and press approach

A well-known form for promoting an initiative or project is free publicity, or press approach. This means that you try to "make the news" through press releases, for example. This comes across as a very reliable way because others are writing about you. Try to build relationships with journalists and give them the occasional scoop. Don't share all your information at once but spread it in pieces. Then it is more likely to be included more often. Also read our information on how to generate free publicity.

Take advantage of free event calendars and agendas

There are an enormous number of websites on which activities and events are announced. This is often done because certain media feel it is a duty to their readers. In other cases, the website specializes in them. Then they benefit when you advertise with them but they also often have an opportunity to highlight an initiative or project for free. Look at our list of calendars and di aries and take advantage of them.

Invite family and friends

When your initiative or project takes place at a certain time and location, you can invite people to stop by. Give your friends, family and relations free tickets or convince them to come by offering a few drinks. Often they will then bring other people along or tell others about it.

Create a blog

You can have a website created but this often costs money, if only because of the cost of hosting the website and buying a domain name. A free alternative is to write a blog. Then you use an existing website where you create your own place. Here you can, for example, take interested parties through the development of your initiative or project. Then communicate your blog via social media or tell others about it verbally. It is advisable to purchase your own domain name. Then you can communicate it to your supporters instead of an unknown url.

Crowdfunding

This is the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone. For example, you can use crowdfunding to generate revenue. We wrote an article about that for you. But through crowdfunding you can also promote for free. If you've set up a crowdfunding you're naturally going to share it through your own social media and tell others about it. The platform you use often also has several communication tools they can use. Your supporters, the people who are going to invest in you, are also undoubtedly eager to bring your initiative to the attention of others. They participate because they think it's a good concept or because they support you. Feel free to ask them to spread the word in their own circles.

Crowdsourcing

Whereas with crowdfunding you ask your target group for financial support, with crowdsourcing you engage other people in the development of your initiative or project. You literally ask your target group to think along with you. This can be about anything; they can suggest potential artists, they can help with the choice of materials or design or they can provide the necessary facilities. In this way, you create an involvement that makes people tell others about it. This often happens out of a kind of pride.

Be creative

When you want to promote for free, it is good to get creative. If necessary, ask a number of people in your area to think along with you. This way you create involvement and collaboration is also fun. Think of forms of guerrilla marketing that are free. A good example are the flashmobs that were very popular in the past decade. For example, you would regularly see a group of dancers performing a show out of nowhere in public spaces. You can link your initiative or project to this.


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