Marketing your service without money. Is this possible?

simpletechIT

My startup is SimpleTech, which is a I.T Service & Solutions company. SimpleTech can save startups and small businesses up to 40% off I.T Services (managed.hosted I.T,network consulting, tech services and more), which our competitors can not even touch( did research). However , I have $0 for marketing.

What I have done-
Research research research. Social media seems to be a good resource and I have 2 leads thus far. Also their are good articles and videos that state this is possible.

My issue- I am not not a marketer and I feel very overwhelmed with what works what doesn't' work. Suggestions? Should I seek funding?

Marketing proposal- I am thinking about marketing/advertising my I.T Service company using referrals will get 30% of my monthly Managed I.T fee(3 months)- this can be $300-1000+/month referral payout. This seems like alot to invest but its worth it. I know my product will sell if more people know about it. Thoughts?

Carlbrewster

If you are low on funds and have some time to invest I will advise you take to learn some basic marketing stuff which you can easily find online & yes facebook is a good lead generating platform if you reach the right audience you can learn more about it and try it out! If you don't have time for that you can outsource your marketing activities at the much lesser price but you have to do some research to reach the right organization.

sterlingsolns

Email Marketing is best way to market your product as you are in B2B space, You can reach decision makers directly to pitch your product.

Cheers

DevBatch

Social Media Marketing is the best way to market your products and give some offers to your customers.

Ava Smith

You can do the SEO, and try to rank for the high search keywords this will take time but you will get good results and leads.

Steffi Dsouza

I will suggest to do the SEO by your self which will bring the organic traffic to your site which can be converted in to lead and more.

Tuah Bao

Yes, there are a number of marketing campaigns that require no upfront cost, such as:
1) Discount (as you have mentioned earlier) for successful referral.
2) Affiliate Program (similar to the above), you pay commission to affiliates only when they complete a sale successfully.
3) Articles (create backlinks to your site)
4) e-Book (write and publish)
5) Guest posting
6) Giving professional comments on the forum
7) Customer satisfaction/Money back guarantee (30/60/90 days)
8) Testimonials from your happy customer
9) Offering free advice (or minor works for free)
10) Free software (freemium) since you are running an IT firm.

There are a lot more to go. Cheer!

blantsimonetti

I hold the position that free marketing is possible only if you promote products yourself, and if you want to hire someone, you need money

SDRanchLDY

There are a lot of free tools out there that will help you get started with digital marketing and SEO specifically. I work with a company that provides just that and really works to educate small business owners on the best way to do DIY digital marketing. It's called Can I Rank? I haven't been around long enough to post a link to it, but a quick Google search will get you there. It's a great place to start. Good luck!

Entreflow

Hi,

SEO would be a good start for zero costs. It will allow your potential clients to find you on search engines. Building a referral strategy and using social media can be free as well. 
Lots of great suggestions have been listed above, the most important is to choose the channel and strategy that will be the most effective for your objectives and users behaviour. 

Helina Patience
Business Consultant for growing businesses
www.entreflow.com

Supymekoo

Of course. You can see videos on YouTube and do this your own. But! You spend not money, but your time. Too much

TheInternetPresence

Yes, but it is time-consuming and how much is your time worth? Write articles and blog posts, create YouTube videos to market online. Enter the social media world promoting yourself. Visit Q&A sites and answer questions are a few that come to mind. If your time is too important then delegate it to one of your employees. Network at the chamber of commerce and put on presentations solving problems that have to do with your product or service are a couple more that come to mind.

But all in all, it would be better to invest some money in reputable sources for marketing yourself.

jesus481

If you really don't have the budget, then you could always try posting it on Facebook pages that pertain to your particular niche. You'd be surprised at the amount of people you can find there.
Hope this helps!