Marketing Hacks for the Entrepreneurs Who Skipped Business School

So far in your entrepreneurial journey, you’ve covered enough of your bases to finally get your business off the ground. The only problem in your way that’s keeping you from seeing customers buy your product or service is that they don’t really know that you exist yet. The good news is that you don’t need an MBA to know how to market your business. So, here are four tried and true marketing hacks that will help you reach your intended customer base.

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Customers rely on search engines to find what they’re looking for and you’ll want to make sure your business will show up in the search results. So, it’s important that your business has a website that utilizes specific keywords, has fast loading speeds, and has formatting that’s mobile friendly. You can also create a free Google Business profile which can help your business rank higher in local search results and maps.

2. Build an Online Presence

Brand awareness is what will bring your audience to you. That starts with the internet where we often spend a lot of time and are connected now more than ever. With constant scrolling on social media and refreshing email inboxes, having a strong social media presence and utilizing email marketing are two of the most effective ways to get the attention you need.

For social media, you don’t just want to create a series of posts advertising your product or service on multiple platforms; you also want to follow others, interact with other peoples’ posts, and add to conversations being had by the community you’d like to benefit from. Of course, this isn’t something random, as your business account should have a feed that reflects who your business is here to serve. For example, if you want to sell fitness apparel, your business account should follow other fitness apparel businesses, fitness influencers, and interact with gym goers. This way, you’re interacting with your audience, you’ll drive traffic to your page, and you can eventually do collaborations with other similar businesses and influencers.

For email marketing, which in 2026 is still highly effective, you can have campaigns and news reach directly to anyone who provides an email address on your website. This can be done by offering discounts, offers, or digital gifts in exchange for an email address or during the payment process.

3. Remember: Word of Mouth Is Powerful

In fact, word of mouth is highly effective as 88% of consumers trust friend recommendations over traditional marketing media. With this in mind, if you have customers, even if it’s a small amount, you’ll definitely want to develop a referral program for your business. Offer rewards like freebies or discounts to existing customers to encourage them to recommend your business to family and friends. Of course, this also includes allowing customers to review your products or services, so provide the option to do so on your website and on your Google Business account if you have one.

4. Paid Advertising

If you have the funds, you can pay money to place ads for your business in:

• Popular search engines like Google where your business can be bumped to the top of the search.
• Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
• Websites like Amazon.

Just keep in mind that while this can be a bit pricey, it’s effective nonetheless.

Be Patient

One last thing to remember here is to be patient. Reaching your intended audience, building a customer base, having a wealth of new and regular customers can take time. As long as you focus on consistently putting out a good product or service and making great first impressions when you put your name out there, you’ll have the customer base you want before you know it.

If you would like personalized guidance and advice from successful business owners for marketing and more, join the waitlist for the SideKix app, where you’ll get access to our Advisor Network.