If own your own business, especially if you are a small or micro business owner, it’s important to promote your company and yourself. Even though you can leave it up to word of mouth to help promote you, you can become more successful by cross-promoting. As a professional in the world of advertising I can definitely say there is a difference in success between someone who self promotes and one who does not.
By promoting yourself, as well as utilizing your connections, and/or clients you have a better chance of getting your name and company/products recognized. Today there are many ways of doing that.
For example, if your client posts something on Facebook about your product, they may have 200 or so viewers see their post. On the other hand, if you also have a Facebook Page and share their post or your own post you may have hundreds more people see the post. Even if you only post once a week, you still have helped yourself become more successful.
Another example is having printed promotional materials made, such as flyers or brochures. If you had a flyer made for your products/company, that flyer will be 100% focused on you. Many local business have a place for flyers and business cards, so utilize those spaces. You can also print materials for mailings, such as postcards, flyers, and folded mailers.
Here are some easy and inexpensive ways to help promote yourself:
Links to examples of promotional materials I created: