by Michael Totten

Created on: August 26, 2008   Last Updated: February 24, 2010

While there are many forms of marketing which can be achieved at very little overhead, this article will focus only on those which have no direct advertising cost. In most cases, the only associated costs of the promotion will be those business expenses incidental to the promotion, such as office supplies and travel costs, and a few minutes of your time. In the penultimate examples, the company will incur the base cost of the promotion, but not of the media coverage. In the final examples, the company will incur an upfront wholesale cost in kind and sometimes in lost labor, but the media coverage will still be free and the expenses will be entirely tax deductible as a charity donation.

The primary, and weakest, form of free marketing through traditional media is the press release. To give this some perspective, the average midsize city newspaper receives up to a hundred of these every day, with space to print maybe two dozen once a week. Even if yours does make the cut, the press release won't receive more than an inch of column space, buried among several other announcements of the same general type. Still, this kind of free publicity never hurts. Press releases more likely to make the cut include changes of high level executive, major new acquisitions, contracts, or innovations, implementation of new programs such as some of those listed below, or announcement of dividends.

A much better newspaper option is to find out if the newspaper would be willing to consider accepting a column or article of general community interest, in which the writer's credentials and business may be mentioned directly or as part of the byline. For example, a landscaping business operator may write a column about the use of water features in the garden. Industry trade magazines regularly accept these types of articles, but here it is far more likely that many similar businesses will be competing for the few available print sections. Well-written articles which are topical and relevant to current trade interests stand a better chance of being accepted.

Sometimes the local press will consider highlighting a local business, especially if it ties in to a greater news angle. Changes in currency exchange rates may impact local businesses which have international market share or whose continued production of widgets is directly influenced by the major manufacturer which uses them in their newest car model. Scientific innovation especially can draw news attention as nothing else. For example,

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