35 Ways to Grow Your Local Service Business Without Spending a Single Penny on Marketing

November 22, 2016 by duarte0machado


  1. Retweet and Interact with local influencers i.e. journalists, youtubers, and bloggers.
  2. Get your site listed on every business directory imaginable. Start here: http://bit.ly/1hM6iyV
  3. Set up all social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, Google+) – Use the Buffer Chrome extension to syndicate interesting content you find browsing online.
  4. Set up Google My Business Page
  5. Create Web 2.0 Properties. Here’s a list to get started: http://bit.ly/2e1qVYq
  6. Set up IFTTT (If This Then That) to syndicate everything you post on twitter across other Web 2.0 properties.
  7. Respond to unanswered questions on Quora.
  8. Do a round-up blog post of common questions you find again and again.
  9. Search your keyword and niche on Buzzsumo.com for viral content. Use this for blog post ideas.
  10. Submit a free press release using a service like PRlog
  11. Develop story around your brand and pitch local journalist to write about you. Tweet them, or dig for their email address and send a snippet of your story.
  12. Sign up for Mention.com, respond to anyone that mentions one of your competitors, or asks a questions about your industry.
  13. Launch a topic at Scoop.it and post your website into your topic page
  14. Join Meetup and message coordinators asking for speaking gigs at local events. Make sure they know you aren’t trying to sell anything. Goal is to network and give back to local entrepreneurs like yourself.
  15. Film your speaking gigs and share videos of your talks on your blog and social media profiles. Pull out best quotes and overlay on image to post on Instagram.
  16. Use SEMRush to see who links to your competitors, email those websites and ask for links.
  17. Send personalized emails to your existing customers, give them discount codes to give to friends.
  18. Send emails to existing customers asking for feedback on Yelp and Google My Business.
  19. Create an infographic (or spend $5 for somebody to do it on Fiverr.com), syndicate this across all social media and web 2.0 profiles.
  20. Write a post called “Our Competitor vs Our Service” – Search Yelp for specifics complaints against your competitors and how you are better.
  21. Submit a presentation to Slideshare
  22. Give away a free e-book about growing a local business, ask users to sign up to your newsletter to download it. Speak openly about struggles you’ve faced, goals you have and what you’re doing to reach them.
  23. Create a “how-to” guide for something that is difficult in your industry. Share industry secrets.
  24. Promote your company in your email signature. Include small picture of your smiling face as well.
  25. Launch an email newsletter using MailChimp. Write about latest happenings in your business, and link to local things you find interesting.
  26. Get your service featured on existing local newsletters.
  27. Find what blogs appear in Google for your target keywords. Leave insightful comments on those blogs.
  28. Teach a class on skillshare.com about your business.
  29. Outreach to bloggers and influencers, invite them to share your content. Mention a post the blogger wrote to show you actually follow that bloggers content.
  30. Once you’ve built relationships with bloggers, offer to write guest posts on their blogs
  31. Join local Facebook groups and get involved. Never directly pitch your service. Comment and support group members actively. People will start to remember your name and automatically be curious about what you do.
  32. Giveaway your product for free to Youtubers and review bloggers in exchange for reviews. Do a giveaway for their readers using a service like Gleam.io
  33. Start a drip email marketing campaign. Use a series of 5 follow up emails that introduces your business, provides some background info on what you care about, and offers coupons and discounts.
  34. Run monthly giveaways on your website. Additional entries are earned by sharing on social media and emailing to friends.
  35. Manually reach out to Twitter followers of similar companies in your space. See what opportunities you have to develop business for one another.