If your marketing and advertising budget is feeling a little stretched, you can try alternative, organic promotional strategies. Many of these marketing techniques don’t require a large investment or are completely free. Organic marketing strategies will help your business achieve greater success.
Here are some methods your team should use to increase your customer base and boost your earnings.
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Organic marketing is promotion that relies on time and effort, not ad spend.
- The most effective organic business marketing methods include industry events, relationship-building, press releases, online reviews, social media posting, and audience engagement.
- Publishing a blog helps your business earn long-term visibility, educate prospects, and support other marketing channels.
- Strong customer service drives word of mouth, referrals, and repeat business, which fuels organic growth.
- Local community involvement (events, groups, Chamber of Commerce) increases exposure and builds trust with nearby customers.
What Is Organic Marketing
Organic marketing is how you grow your brand without paying for ads. You earn attention through helpful content, SEO, social posts, email, and word-of-mouth, so people find you because you’ve shown up with real value.
It takes more time than ads, but it builds trust and steady traffic that can keep working long after you hit publish.
Word of Mouth Goes Way Back
My grandfather was an insurance agent, and he went door to door in the early 1930’s and got to know everyone in town. If I were with him anywhere, he always met people he knew along the way, even many years later.
1. Attend Industry Events
First, start being active in your industry by going to events. Be on the lookout for industry events in your region, such as conferences, meetings, galas, and networking parties.
Sign up for seminars or classes as a participant to learn more about your industry.
Consider leading presentations or courses for other people in your industry to make connections and meet more people in your sector. It also makes you a credible leader in your field.
Step-by-Step Networking and Lead-Gen Checklist
- Pick the right event based on your buyer, not your bias
- Set one main goal and two backup goals
- Define what a good lead looks like (so you don’t waste time)
- Build a short “what you do” line you can say in one breath
- Update your online presence before you shake a single hand
- Create one event-specific landing page (even if it’s simple)
- Bring one lead magnet that matches the event’s theme
- Make your business cards work harder (or skip them)
- Start with easy conversations to build momentum
- Listen for “trigger phrases” that signal a real need
2. Build Relationships
The next part of increasing your company’s impact is to build more relationships with people in your industry. You should also aim to secure stronger connections with vendors, competitors, and potential customers.
Connecting with people across your niche can help you reach more customers organically. This type of marketing takes longer than traditional methods, but it pays off more for your long-term goals.
Building Business Relationships Checklist
Here are some things to do when building new relationships for your business:
- Get clear on who you’re trying to help
- Lead with a simple, honest value promise
- Make your online presence match what you sell
- Use content to start relationships before the first call
- Pick one primary channel for consistent outreach
- Start conversations with context, not a sales line
- Reflect back on what you heard in plain language from prospective clients
- Share relevant proof, not a random highlight reel
- Know when to walk away, and keep it respectful
3. Write Press Releases for Effective Organic Business Marketing
Another low-cost organic marketing method is to use a press release. Companies write press releases about newsworthy events within their organizations.
Then, they submit a press release to a media outlet, such as a newspaper, online publishing group, or television station, to get them to either write a news story. Or run a video segment about the information.
The news story serves as a promotional piece in a more natural way, without feeling like an annoying advertisement. If you don’t have time to do these yourself, you can hire a marketing firm to handle them for you.
I use 38 Digital Marketing at $97 per press release. It includes their distribution to 400+ major news outlets. AP Exchange – reach out to over 3,000 journalists at locations like USA Today, LA Times, NY Times, and Wall Street Journal.
A Checklist for Creating Great Press Releases
Here is a checklist to help you prepare for effective press releases:
- Find a newsworthy angle
- Write a captivating headline
- Prepare the first paragraph
- Add a quote from you
- Include your contact info
- Choose one link for the press release
4. Encourage Online Reviews
You can also achieve great results by putting effort into online reviews to attract more new customers. Most people use Google to research a business before choosing a product or service to try.
Having lots of strong five-star reviews from your customers can put you at an advantage. Encourage your existing customers to leave positive reviews by offering incentives and reminders.
Checklist for Obtaining Reviews
Here are some tips to obtain online reviews for your blog or business:
- Pick the right review platforms (and stick to them)
- Build a simBuild a simple “Review Us” page you can link everywhereple “Review Us” page you can link everywhere
- Make the review request easy to act on in under 60 seconds
- Turn private praise into public reviews (with permission)
- Respond to reviews so people know you’re listening
- Handle negative feedback fast and with a plan
5. Post Social Media Content for Organic Business Marketing
Social media is the next tool you should invest time and effort in to help your marketing efforts. A basic social media account on major platforms doesn’t cost you anything but time.
Have your team post consistent content on your social media channels. Post pictures, videos, updates, and more about your business to help promote special events, services, and products.
How To Measure Social Media Success
Here are some ways you can measure the success of your social media posts:
- Review count growth
- Event follow-ups booked
- Social engagement rate trend
- Blog traffic over time
6. Interact Online
Then take your online marketing push even further by engaging with users. After posting, make sure you also contribute by responding to your followers’ comments.
Start conversations with visitors online and maintain interactions so potential customers can associate your brand with a personality.
This helps shape your brand identity and improve your organic marketing efforts.
Checklist to Interact Online Effectively
Here is a checklist to interact effectively online today:
- Lead with your intent, not your emotion
- Match the tone of the space you’re in
- Read the full thread before replying
- Be clear, not clever
- Ask better questions that move the conversation forward
- Give the smallest helpful answer first
- Share your experience without making it about you
- Handle criticism like a pro, even when it stings
- Give credit loudly and often
7. Publish A Blog For Organic Business Marketing
Blog publishing can also be a big part of your organic marketing strategy. Any type of content you post online about your company can also be used for promotional purposes.
If you have a website, start a company blog and contribute to it regularly.
This is another effective way to get your message out, introduce new products or services, and create buzz for existing ones.
Checklist for Building A Blog for Organic Traffic
Here are some tips to get started building your business blog:
- Start with a blog niche and a reader profile
- Choose a key strategy that matches your site’s age and niche
- Build content clusters instead of random posts
- Create a simple site structure that’s easy to crawl
- Nail search intent before you write a single paragraph
- Write titles that earn clicks without clickbait
- Use headings that help readers skim and help Google understand
- Publish evergreen content that stays true longer
- Add personal experience and proof to build trust
- Use Internal Linking to guide readers and spread authority
- Publish on a scheduleIncluding updating older posts
8. Be Active In Your Local Community for Greater Organic Business Marketing
Your local community area may also offer some organic marketing possibilities. Join local organizations for your community, such as the area’s Chamber of Commerce.
When people see you out and about in the community, they will get to know and trust you.
Participate in local community events that include:
- Fairs
- Yard sales
- Carnivals
- Sporting events
- Charity walks
- Gatherings where many people are expected to attend
This marketing strategy increases your company’s exposure to potential local customers. People will know you are in business when you show up with your logo on your t-shirt, etc.
9. Focus On Top Customer Service
Most importantly, you need to perfect your business model and prioritize delivering an amazing product or service. Go above and beyond in your customer service methods to leave clients with a positive impression of you.
Companies that are good at what they do and that show they value their customers’ experience tend to achieve more organic growth through word of mouth and referrals.
Checklist For the Best Customer Service
- Respond fast to inquiries
- Listen carefully before responding
- Don’t set expectations so high that they can’t be reached
Conclusion: Organic Business Marketing Methods
There are many ways to promote your company. Traditional advertising can cost thousands of dollars, and sometimes, the return on investment isn’t strong.
Make sure to include some of your promotional plans for organic marketing. These methods aren’t expensive and can be much more effective. Always remember, time=money.
What type of organic business marketing are you using for your business or blog?
Frequently Asked Questions About Organic Business Marketing
Organic marketing is promotion that does not cost money to place; it focuses on earning attention through relationships, content, community presence, and customer advocacy instead of paid ads.
Common high-impact methods include attending industry events, building relationships with customers and partners, writing press releases for newsworthy updates, encouraging online reviews, posting consistently on social media, engaging with followers, and publishing blog content.
Online reviews help new customers trust your business before they buy. A strong base of positive reviews can improve click-through and increase new customer inquiries, especially from people comparing local options.
Consistency matters more than volume. Pick a schedule your team can keep (for example, a few posts per week) and stay active by replying to comments so people see your business is responsive.
Great customer service leads to word of mouth and referrals. When customers feel valued, they are more likely to recommend you, leave positive reviews, and come back.
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 14 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
Lisa helps her clients with social media, email marketing and some SEO.
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Succinct, practical and eye-opening. Thank you. I’m going to share this on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
We’ve mostly relied on social media, posting on our blogs and a few others such as word of mouth referrals, Google Reviews and connecting with people in our industry.
Hi Marhsall, welcome to Inspire To Thrive. Thank you, glad to hear you found it share worthy. Have you done any organic marketing? Have a great day Marshall.
You know that I love building relationships and publishing blog content from this rocking list, Lisa. The secret is to fall deeply in love with the process to trust in it through thick, thin and all else in between. That works, if you remain patient and believe in following the basics which always work over the long haul. Be patient, be persistent and your work will expand organically through creating and making blogging buddies.
Ryan
Hi Ryan, Oh yes, you do use organic marketing the most Ryan from what I can see. I think those old fashion ways like my grandfather used to do work all the time. These methods can be timeless. I appreciate your coming by and taking the time to provide your input on this one Ryan. Have a great weekend ahead there in London.