153. Budget-Friendly Ways Solopreneurs Can Market Their Business - Sound Bite Episode

Let’s be honest—marketing can feel overwhelming. Between ads, fancy software, and endless advice telling you to “invest big to get big,” it’s easy to think effective marketing is out of reach if you’re not rolling in cash.

But here’s the truth: You don’t need a massive budget to make a massive impact. 

In today’s short episode, we’re breaking down the myth that marketing has to be expensive. We’ll show you how to tackle the struggles that so many solopreneurs face—like figuring out where to start, finding tools that don’t break the bank, and making your message stand out without spending a fortune.

Because marketing isn’t about how much you spend—it’s about how smartly you spend your time and energy. So if you’ve been holding back because you think you can’t afford to market your business, think again. Let’s change that today.

Being a solopreneur is awesome but it’s not easy. It's hard to get noticed. Most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone...until now. LifeStarr's SoloSuite Intro gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one-person business.  So, if you are lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, or are having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even just lonely running a company of one, be sure to check out LifeStarr Intro!

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What is The Aspiring Solopreneur?

*Formerly known as Solopreneur: The One-Person Business Podcast*

Welcome to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the weekly podcast that dives deep into the world of solopreneurship. Join us as we bring you insightful interviews with industry experts and successful solopreneurs who have mastered the art of running their own businesses.

Are you a solopreneur looking for guidance on how to attract clients? Or maybe you're searching for ways to stay motivated and overcome the challenges of working alone. Perhaps you're even struggling with the intricacies of taxes and financial management. No matter what obstacles you face, The Aspiring Solopreneur Podcast is here to provide you with the knowledge, inspiration, and practical advice you need.

In each episode, our hosts, Joe Rando and Carly Ries, sit down with a diverse range of guests, including seasoned solopreneurs, marketing gurus, financial experts, and productivity specialists. Together, they unpack the secrets to solo success, sharing their personal stories, strategies, and actionable tips.

Learn from those who have paved the way before you, as they reveal their tried-and-true methods for growing their company of one.

Subscribe now and join our community of solopreneurs who are committed to achieving their goals, mastering their craft, and creating a fulfilling and prosperous business on their own terms. Get ready to unlock the secrets to solo success and become the best version of yourself as a one-person business owner.

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Carly Ries: 00:00

Let's be honest. Marketing can feel overwhelming. Between ads, fancy software, and endless advice telling you to invest big to get big, it's easy to think effective marketing is out of reach if you're not rolling in the cash. But here's the truth. You don't need a massive budget to make a massive impact.

Carly Ries: 00:16

In today's episode, we're breaking down the myth that marketing has to be expensive. We'll show you how to tackle the struggles that so many solopreneurs face, like figuring out where to start, finding tools that don't break the bank, and making your message thin out without spending a fortune. Because marketing isn't about how much you spend. It's about how smartly you spend your time and energy. So if you've been holding back because you think you can't afford to market your business, think again, and we'll change your thinking today.

Carly Ries: 00:41

You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Ries, and my co host Joe Rando and I are your guides to navigating this crazy, but awesome journey as a company of 1. We take pride in being part of Lifestar, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions. We help people work to live, not live to work. And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you.

Carly Ries: 01:20

So if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who've paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. So, Joe, we talk to solopreneurs all the time. And time and time again, the biggest pain point is lead generation and finding those clients. And it's interesting because for a lot of solopreneurs, they don't really need that many.

Carly Ries: 01:52

They just don't know how to get them. And I think there is, an urban legend at this point that you need to spend a lot of money on marketing to get noticed. And, yeah, you do have to pay to play for social a lot these days to get noticed, but that's if you're going the traditional social route. And I kinda today, I almost think the most effective marketing strategies are free. And I think it's just a matter of people understanding what those are. at the root of it, the way to make your marketing as inexpensive as possible is to niche down and to understand your audience through and through better than any of your competitors because then you won't be spending the wheel testing because as a solopreneur, time is also money. I think it all starts with just that firm understanding of who you're trying to address. Before I dive into some of my tactics, Joe, do we have anything you wanna piggyback off with that?

Joe Rando: 02:52

Well, I always say this, and I'll always will say it because I so believe it. And I have refined a little bit, but, that secret of marketing. Right? Build trust.

Joe Rando: 03:05

I added a second step which is create resonance.    Because I can trust somebody but not really feel like they're for me.

Joe Rando: 03:11

And then step 3 is inspire action. And then you repeat that, right? I have kind of looked at this from the perspective of things I can do to build trust that are free? What can I do to create residence that's free?

Joe Rando: 03:21

And what can I do to inspire marketing that's relatively free? I'm sorry, inspire action that's relatively free. So that's how I kinda attack this question personally. But I'd like to hear what you have to say, and then I'll kinda walk through my stuff.

Carly Ries: 03:35

Yeah. I think at the end of the day, it all goes back to relationship building. As a solopreneur, you don't need to send out a gazillion marketing campaigns. You need to establish those really strong relationships with just a handful of individuals. So a free thing you can be doing online on social media is getting to know people and actually, like, really building relationships with people.

Carly Ries: 03:55

Not like, oh, I stumbled across your website, and I'm an SEO person. I have recommendations. That's insulting. Don't do that.

Joe Rando: 04:03

Or the other one I love is, I've seen your post on LinkedIn, and you're a very interesting person with an interesting business, like completely generic. And I was like, oh, okay. And then have 7 people that they're linked to 1.

Carly Ries: 04:18

But commenting, I was a part of this "grow the podcast course". And one of the recommendations that they had was just to get in there, comment on people's posts that are within your niche, but, real comments. Not just saying, oh, cool. Or to tell you that, but offering something insightful so you get on their radar and then building those relationships because then people know who you are. They'll refer you more.

Carly Ries: 04:39

I mean, getting that referral engine going is so important because then that's less work for you. But also just even maybe starting your own community on social media. You don't need to do the standard Post post post the algorithms are constantly changing. But if you can curate an actual community on social media whether that be Facebook or another platform like we use mighty networks and, it doesn't have to be the main players, but just cultivating those communities, those relationships, that's all free. Sending building an email list, that's all free.

Carly Ries: 05:12

Being a guest on a podcast is another great tactic. It's free. You don't have to and if you niche down, you'll know what podcast to go after, and that'll help you get your name out there. I think people it's so easy for them to default to pay per click or PPC and get Google Ads going or Facebook Ads because it's kind of a low hanging fruit. You can't spend a lot of money in that way.

Carly Ries: 05:33

The one thing my one caveat, and costs a little bit, but it'll save you a lot of money in the long run, is you can run a very inexpensive ad or 2 inexpensive ads, run an AB test side by side for a week or 2 just to see your messaging and what resonates with people, not to necessarily convert, but just to see what kind of messaging resonates. And then use that in all of your other free tactics. There's just there's just so much you can do. And if it's a a time thing, that's where the niching down really gets important because then you're not spinning your wheels on, things that don't matter. You're focusing on what does, and you can allocate your time there.

Joe Rando: 06:14

Right. Yeah. That's a good idea. I mean, if you don't have to spend a lot on PPC in order to see which which message is working better.

Joe Rando: 06:24

That can be, you know, under a $100, you can probably answer that question. If you'd notice. But the tricky part for me in that is that setting up those systems to target the right people is really the hard part, right? And I don't find those those, you know, meta ad studio or whatever, all these things to be particularly intuitive to use.

Joe Rando: 06:47

So, that's the hard part for me on that. But, for me, again, I said, I kinda thought of that in the 3 steps, build trust, create residence, inspire action. in terms of building trust, you can network in person or online as you talked about. That's a really good way to meet people as long as you're doing it right. You're not being the sleazy salesperson.

Joe Rando: 07:09

You're going in and maybe, engaging with people, helping people. Those kinds of things are great. Referral programs, if they trust someone and that someone, recommends you, then, that can really build trust quickly. And, you know, if it's seeing a referral program, you don't pay them until that person converts to being a customer, and then they get a little piece of it. So that's kind of free.

Joe Rando: 07:34

The DIY public relations, we had the podcast, with Simone Sauter. I don't know that she talked about how to do DIY public relations. That can be free and very, very effective for building trust and now creating residence. You know, social media is a really good way to do that where where you're going in and talking to people on social media, adding value, having real honest conversations. Then people go, oh, I like what that person says.

Joe Rando: 08:04

Now they're, resonating. You know, content marketing, that's a great way to do that. If you write stuff that people like, then they go, oh, yeah. You know, Carly is somebody that I really like listening to.

Joe Rando: 08:14

And participating in online communities, as you talked about, you know, there's a way to to do that that will really let people know that they like where you're coming from. So but again, always keeping it not sleazy, not salesy, just kind of helping and being out there. And then inspiring action, you can, if you're collecting those email addresses like we always say, that can be used for that. You collaborate with other businesses, sometimes across Parocean, you buy this, buy that at the same time. You know, free workshops and webinars, and we like to call them webinars, but things like that that you can do that inspire people to then wanna buy what you have because they're seeing something that's really helpful.

Joe Rando: 08:55

So those are the kinds of things you can do to really have an effective marketing program without spending a lot of money.

Carly Ries: 09:05

And the only other thing I would say is if you have a little bit of a budget to spend money on ads and you're like, man, that's intimidating. I don't wanna outsource to anybody. I just don't know what I don't know, and I still need to figure out who my audience is. Take that PPC budget and instead go buy a cup of coffee with a person that you think would be in your target market.

Joe Rando: 09:26

Good one.

Carly Ries: 09:26

Pick the brain for 30 minutes. Just sit with them, get to know them, get to know what their whole life looks like so that you can kinda allude to messaging outside of what you're selling. Do that with 4 or 5 people. See if there's any common interest, any common ground across them. You'll understand your audience more, and you will spend less than if you did on PPC.

Carly Ries: 09:46

So that's just another way to get to know your audience if that whole back end intimidates you. But moral of the story, 2025 does not have to be an expensive marketing year. It could actually be your most effective marketing year yet. You just need to niche down and, build trust and inspire action.

Joe Rando: 10:05

Right.

Carly Ries: 10:05

Listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. We would so appreciate that 5 star review. We would love it if you would subscribe on your favorite platform, including YouTube, and we'll see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go.

Carly Ries: 10:29

So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.