How To Promote Your Business in 2026: 16 Top Ways

You’ve developed a stellar product and officially launched your small business—congrats! Now comes the next challenge: how to promote it. 

Whether you run an ecommerce store, a brick-and-mortar shop, or both, attracting new customers requires strategy. You need to reach your target audience and build enough brand trust for them to make their first purchase. 

You also need to engage multiple marketing channels to stay competitive: 52% of marketers use five to eight marketing channels, and only 6% use just one or two, according to HubSpot’s 2026 State of Marketing Report.

The good news? Promoting your business doesn’t have to drain your budget. With the right mix of digital and traditional marketing strategies, you can effectively promote your business while minimizing your spending.

Below, explore 16 cost-effective ways to promote your business, with insights from successful merchants who have learned what works first-hand.

1. Create a Business Profile on Google

A Google Business Profile is essential for businesses with an in-person component. It puts your business on the map—literally on Google Maps—and creates an official listing that appears in Google Search results. 

To be eligible for a Google Business Profile, you need to make in-person contact with customers during your stated hours. Note that online-only businesses aren’t eligible.

“A Google Business Profile gives local businesses a separate online presence other than their website,” says Amy Falcione, founder of local marketing agency Big Picture Marketing. “Your listing provides a brief but detailed description of what your business offers and who you are.”

Amy explains that potential customers often search for your Google Business Profile to verify your legitimacy. When your profile appears, they can read your Google Reviews, building trust.

Creating a Google Business Profile is free. You can add:

• Photos of your store
• Your address and contact info
• A brief company description
• A link to your website
• A link to your appointment booking software
• Social media profiles

Here’s an example of what the Google Business Profile for boutique Awoke Vintage looks like in Google search results:

2. Get listed in business directories 

Both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar businesses can benefit from listings in online directories. These listings help establish your legitimacy and build customer trust. 

For physical stores, local listings in directories help local customers find you when searching for products or services nearby. They’re also a key part of a local SEOstrategy.

Consider listing your business in these directories:

• Yelp
• Better Business Bureau (BBB)
• Yellow Pages
• Foursquare
• Apple Maps

These platforms double as review sites. Reviews can show potential customers that your business is trustworthy.

Here’s an example of a Yelp profile from boot brand Tecovas. This details its location in Fort Worth, Texas.

3. Encourage customer reviews

As an opportunity to hear directly from customers, reviews—both good and bad—make a huge impact on your business.

“Customer reviews are pure gold,” Jake Miller, founder of kitchenware brand Fellow, says on Shopify Masters. “Every entrepreneur and any employee should obsess over what feedback you’re getting from your customers.”

Reviews provide insights into what customers like and dislike about your products, helping guide your product development. “Weekly, as a company, we’re reading the feedback that we get, both the good stuff and the bad stuff,” says Jake. “Then our product team translates the bad stuff into product improvements.”

Reviews are also an important type of social proof, which can build brand trust among potential buyers. This refers to the effect that hearing others’ opinions has on our own.

Make reviews visible on your product pages by using one of the many product review apps available in the Shopify App Store. These apps include widgets that display photo and video reviews on your site and on platforms like TikTok.

Fellow uses Bazaarvoice to share reviews on its product pages—here’s what they look like.

To encourage more reviews:

• Ask for feedback via SMS messages and emails
• Add review links to delivery confirmation emails
• Incorporate review requests into your loyalty program
• Send dedicated messages asking for customer feedback

To maximize the impact of positive testimonials, share them on your social channels. These reviews provide fresh content, build trust in your brand and products, and help drive traffic from social media to your store.

4. Improve your search ranking

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your store, and it’s an essential part of a thorough marketing plan. The goal of SEO is to reach the top position in search results for relevant keywords, so when shoppers search for that phrase, they find your brand, click, and hopefully make a purchase. 

SEO marketing is a multifaceted process that includes:

• Incorporating popular search terms (called keywords) in your website’s text 
• Making your site easy to navigate
• Improving site speed
• Optimizing images with alt text and correct specs

Ecommerce platforms like Shopify include built-in SEO tools such as sitemaps and auto-generated tags to help you with the more technical aspects. You can also use free SEO tools to help you find relevant keywords to target. Check out our guide to ecommerce SEO to make sure you’re covering all the essentials.

When done well, SEO can help you rank on search engine results pages (SERPs) when customers search for terms related to what you sell. For example, athletic apparel brand Gymshark ranks first for the Google search phrase “gym clothes.”

You can also use SEO to influence your product offerings, as sustainable products marketplace Zero Waste Store did. The company researched commonly searched items in the sustainability space and worked to offer those products in its store.

“We spent about six months researching and testing,” says Zero Waste cofounder Sarah Cieslinski on Shopify Masters. After using SEO research and testing hundreds of products, Zero Waste Store launched with shampoo and conditioner bars, which continue to be its bestselling products.

5. Start a blog

Unlike paid advertising, blogging can create a pipeline of free traffic—though it takes consistent effort. A content marketing strategy that includes starting a blog can help drive new visitors to your site, which is a great option for promoting your business.

Think of your blog as a mini magazine for your audience. You might publish gift guides, in-depth industry articles, or analyses of trending topics. As you brainstorm blog post ideas, focus on your first-hand experience and expertise, asking yourself what your brand has authority to write about. 

You can also use a generative AI tool like Shopify’s Sidekick to help you come up with blog post ideas. Then, use SEO tools like Semrush or Ahrefs to evaluate competitor blogs, looking at what content performs well. 

If writing isn’t your strong suit, you can use an AI writing tool to help you draft and fine-tune your prose. Just be sure to infuse your perspective and unique expertise into the content. Don’t publish writing that comes directly out of an AI tool, as the results can come across as generic and inauthentic.

Blog SEO strategies can help you improve the overall SEO of your website.

“In today’s world of SEO, content is king, and blogging is the most important thing,” Zero Waste Store cofounder JJ Follano explains on Shopify Masters. JJ recommends using keyword research tools like Semrush to identify popular search terms, then building articles that address these topics.

As you write, you might try to boost your blog’s credibility by featuring industry experts as guest contributors or interview subjects. These contributors might also share your content with their followers, expanding your reach.

Take olive oil company Graza. Its blog content ranges from educational articles like “10 Fun Facts About Extra Virgin Olive Oil” to recipes to deep dives into new products. Many posts feature guests like chefs, cookbook authors, and even notable comedians. 

Graza smartly distributes blog posts through its email newsletter. This helps the brand stay in constant communication with its customers and drives subscribers back to its ecommerce site. Creating newsletters is easy with an email marketing software like Shopify Messaging.

6. Get press coverage

Press mentions can build your brand’s credibility, improve SEO through quality backlinks, and help you reach wider audiences. This approach to how to promote your business is a form of referral traffic, which Shopify global SEO team lead Amanda Cruz-Lombraña calls “rocket fuel for your SEO performance.” Securing press coverage, however, takes strategy and persistence.

The traditional route is hiring a public relations (PR) firm. PR professionals maintain strong relationships with journalists and know how to craft newsworthy pitches that get noticed. But PR services can be expensive for new businesses. 

For a more DIY approach, pitch journalists directly with press releases and press kits that include business assets like high-quality photos. Build a targeted list of journalists who cover similar businesses or products, then find their contact information through Google searches or social media profiles.

Write a compelling press release by connecting your pitch to newsworthy moments like award wins or product launches. You can also pitch broader stories with compelling angles—like a sustainable manufacturing process, or an interesting founder backstory, for example.

Look for press outlets that share your target audience to increase your chances of readers clicking into your website, which improves your SEO. “We know that quality backlinks signal credibility to Google,” says Amanda. “But here’s the kicker: When referral visitors actually engage with your content, it sends even stronger signals.” 

Consider offering samples to writers and editors, and suggesting your products for gift guides from notable outlets like Wirecutter or The Strategist. You can also target smaller publications like Substack newsletters. If you share a target audience with the author, getting coverage in these newsletters can help you reach your ideal customers.

You can also incentivize coverage with a performance PR strategy. This blends traditional PR with affiliate marketing. Instead of linking to your product with a regular URL, publishers will use an affiliate link that lets you track the traffic source. You can provide these links to publishers, then pay them a commission every time a shopper makes a purchase through their link.

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7. Focus on email marketing

Email marketing can be a low-cost way to promote your business. If you’re on Shopify, you can even use the email marketing software Shopify Messaging for free. The tool provides free templates that lend your emails a professional look. Shopify’s AI tools can even help you draft emails and optimize send times.

The first step to launching an email marketing strategy is creating an email list. You can capture emails during checkout, but you should also share your email sign-up link across social media and place your lead capture form prominently on your website. 

To encourage sign-ups, offer an incentive like a first-purchase discount or exclusive content. Use engaging language that embodies your brand voice, like pantry staple brand Fly By Jing does with its invitation to “Electrify your inbox.”

Now that you have an email list, you can use Shopify Messaging to set up automated email campaigns like welcome messages, order confirmations, and abandoned cart reminders. You can also create a newsletter, which allows you to share regular, relevant content with your subscribers.

You can target email campaigns to promote specific products or sales. To do so effectively, segment your audience to make sure you’re reaching the right people with the right messages. (Shopify also has audience segmentation tools.) For example, maybe you promote heavy winter coats to subscribers in New England, but send emails about light canvas jackets to subscribers in Florida.

“Email marketing is both an art and a science,” says Josh Rosenblat, a senior editor at Shopify who works on editorial email marketing content. “The science of it is picking and choosing how you would like to segment your audience based on their audience behavior, how long they’ve subscribed, or different demographic aspects like gender, location, and language. The art of it is being able to write and create emails in such a way where you’re able to stand out from everyone’s super crowded inbox.”

Josh explains that subject lines can be particularly important in standing out. You can track email marketing metrics like open rate to measure your success, then improve. “You’re able to iterate on which messages are successful and which messages might not be successful,” says Josh. “And then you can change and adjust based on what you see.”

8. Create a referral or loyalty program 

Referral programs turn satisfied customers into brand advocates by rewarding them for recommending your business to family and friends. These programs promote your business while encouraging existing customers to return and make additional purchases. They’re often combined with loyalty programs, in which you reward customers for shopping with you or taking other dedicated actions. 

“Loyalty and retention is something we really started hyper-focusing on this year, because acquisition costs for ad spend to get new customers has risen exponentially over the last few years,” says Jen Yu, co-founder of skin care brand Jaxon Lane, on Shopify Masters.

Jaxon Lane’s loyalty program awards customers points for making purchases and taking actions like referring friends, following the brand on Instagram, and signing up for texts. Customers can then redeem their points for discounts. 

“We do everything we can do to help our customers be successful in their skin care journey and enjoy shopping with us,” says Jen. Customer retention strategies may include offering top-tier customer service and sending handwritten notes with purchases. 

To create your own referral or loyalty program, start by defining clear program parameters. What rewards will you offer? Do referrals need to meet specific requirements? For instance, you might give referrers a free gift when their friend spends at least $50. Consider creating benefits for both parties in the referral to incentivize referred customers to make their first purchase.

9. Build a TikTok presence

TikTok can be a powerful channel when it comes to how to promote your business. In fact, 78% of TikTok users have found new brands through the platform. 

For businesses, the beauty of TikTok lies in its accessibility—the platform thrives on authentic, DIY-style content created on smartphones. That means your content can be successful even without professional video or photography equipment.

Michelle Razavi, cofounder of protein dessert company Elavi, talked about her brand’s TikTok marketing strategy on Shopify Masters. Michelle recalls when TikTok became popular in the United States around 2020.

“You started to see more of this unfiltered, raw, vulnerable, off-the-cuff type of content,” says Michelle. “That for me was a breath of fresh air, because I would spend so much time obsessing over the editing, the lighting, and making sure my face looked perfect. I don’t have the time for that. Most entrepreneurs don’t.”

This less polished style that’s popular on TikTok does more than just save time. “It allowed me to have permission to share our story in a more authentic, raw way,” says Michelle. “And the numbers were stronger. People resonated more with a more casual, random video versus very polished, perfect professional photography.”

• Sneak peeks. Preview upcoming collections or individual products.

• Behind the scenes. Show your business process—from designing to shipping.

• Tips. Share helpful knowledge relevant to your products. If you sell cookware, for example, you could demonstrate proper care techniques.

• How we got here. Offer chapters of your brand story to connect with followers on a personal level.

• Interviews. Post conversations with customers, employees, or partners about why they love your brand.

• Trends. Adapt viral videos to highlight your brand and products.

Always align content with your brand personality. For example, a luxury clothing brand with a sophisticated image might skip trend videos in favor of behind-the-scenes looks at their photo shoots.

10. Start a YouTube channel

YouTube is the most popular social media platform in the United States, with Pew Research reporting that more than 80% of American adults use the video site. This makes it a great channel to promote your business to a wide base of consumers.

One way to use YouTube as a brand is to create educational content relating to your products. Take hair extension and accessory brand Luxy Hair. Founder Mimi Ikonn posts hairstyle tutorials on Luxy Hair’s YouTube channel—and now has more than three million followers.

“As long as you can learn something and easily explain it to others, you can make videos about any topic,” says Mimi on Shopify Masters. “If you can simplify it for people, people will watch and they will engage with that content. For me, it was just learning different hairstyles that I personally wanted to know how to create on my hair.”

Luxy Hair gained popularity with longform videos, but the company now posts YouTube Shorts, too. YouTube Shorts (the platform’s short-form video format) present an opportunity to jump on social media trends. If you opt for Shorts, you can cross-post your content as Instagram Reels or TikTok videos for maximum reach. 

Here’s an example of a YouTube Short from Luxy Hair. This video iterates on a trend (“Get ready with me”) while showcasing Luxy Hair products.

11. Highlight user-generated content

User-generated content (UGC), like photos of customers using your products or videos of customers sharing positive thoughts on your brand, are forms of social proof. They show potential customers that people already love your company—which goes a long way when it comes to how to promote your business. Reposting UGC also helps create community around your brand, since you’re including your customers in your business’s marketing efforts.

Instagram is a strong channel for collecting UGC, since many consumers use the platform to post lifestyle content that could include your products. Your exact approach will depend on what you sell. Food brands might ask followers to share recipes and photos featuring their products. Clothing companies could invite customers to post styling ideas featuring their pieces.

You can solicit UGC by asking customers to tag your company or to use a specific hashtag. This makes it easy to see what your customers have posted about you. Once you’ve found a compelling piece of UGC, repost it on your profile—with permission from the original user, of course. 

Here’s an example of UGC from Los Angeles–based coffee brand Canyon Coffee. The brand reposted a customer’s photo of its café on its Instagram Story.

12. Work with influencers

Influencers significantly impact purchasing decisions: 58% of people have made a purchase because of an influencer endorsement, according to a 2025 study by BBB National Programs and The Benchmarking Company.

Study your competitors’ influencer partnerships to identify which content types and platforms work best for your industry. Then, choose influencers who already post about topics related to your brand and audience. This helps ensure their sponsored posts feel authentic, and their content ends up in front of consumers who are likely to buy from you. 

Start by connecting with nano-influencers (500 to 10,000 followers) and micro-influencers (10,000 to 100,000 followers), who often charge less than creators with larger followings. Influencer prices will depend on the platform, the size of the influencer’s following, and the engagement level of their audience. 

Growth strategy expert Jaclyn VanSloten, who runs the marketing firm Femra Consulting, outlines how much you can expect to pay TikTok influencers: “Nano influencers might be $100 to $500, micro would be $500 to $2,000, macro would be $2,000 to $20,000, and then celebrity would be $20,000-plus.”

If your budget is limited, consider starting an affiliate program for your store. Affiliate marketing is a form of cost per acquisition (CPA) marketing in which you pay the influencer only once a customer places an order through them. 

“It’s the only marketing model that guarantees that a business only pays when it achieves real results such as product sales,” says Jerrid Grim, head of publisher marketing at partnership management platform Impact.com. Consider joining an affiliate network to connect with creators or reach out to influencers directly.

You can also pursue influencer gifting. With this method, you give creators free products in the hopes they’ll post about them. To incentivize posting, offer something valuable beyond the free items—like exclusive early access. Food brand Good Girl Snacks leveraged this strategy with its viral Hot Girl Pickles, partnering with popular influencers like Alix Earle and Kit Keenan.

“We have a theory that because the name of the product is Hot Girl Pickles, it serves as a hook for these content creators in their videos,” says Good Girl Snacks cofounder Leah Marcus on Shopify Masters. 

For effective influencer marketing partnerships, create clear content briefs while allowing for some creative freedom. You can then formalize the relationship with a contract that outlines details.

Tie your influencer marketing strategy into your larger marketing plan. For example, maybe you want to invest in influencer marketing to promote a new product line or drive sales during a particular time of the year. 

13. Partner with other brands

Joining forces with another brand can be a great way to promote your business. In a brand collaboration, you team up on an exclusive product and promote it together. With this tactic, you can access the other brand’s audience and borrow their credibility. 

Look for collaboration partners in your industry, but avoid direct competitors. Tinned fish company Fishwife, for example, partnered with Fly By Jing to create its popular chili crisp smoked salmon, and the partnership proved to be a success.

“We’ve gotten millions of media impressions from the collab alone, interest from retailers who knew Fly By Jing before they knew Fishwife, and credibility and a ‘brand halo’ from being associated with this brand that had solidified its reputation a couple years before we did,” says Fishwife founder Becca Milstein. 

While Fishwife’s collaboration with Fly By Jing went off without a hitch, Becca notes that entrepreneurs should always create contracts before entering partnerships. “With most collabs where serious time, effort, and cash is invested, you need a document to establish your mutually agreed upon deliverables so that there’s no confusion,” says Becca.

14. Join conversations on trending topics

Being topical and timely is crucial for attaining brand visibility on social media and beyond. That’s because social media algorithms often prioritize content related to popular conversations and trends.

Social listening tools like Hootsuite can help you identify emerging trends. On TikTok, check the Explore page to see what’s gaining traction. Your personal social feeds can also reveal patterns. For example, maybe you see multiple Instagram Reels on the same topic or friends sharing variations of a particular meme.

When addressing serious topics, make sure your posts align with your brand identity, and are thoughtful and inclusive. Most importantly, only join conversations where you can contribute something meaningful and authentic.

For lighter trends like memes, you can be more playful. Sustainable shoe company Rothy’s, for example, often customizes popular meme formats to promote its products. In this video, the brand puts its spin on the “How your email finds me” trend:

15. Try retargeting ads

Retargeting ads through platforms like Meta Ads and Google Ads help you reconnect with potential customers who have already visited your store (and opted into cookies). This strategy focuses your marketing budget on people already familiar with your brand, and helps you move these potential customers down the sales funnel.

You can customize these ads based on specific browsing behaviors to promote your business. For example, you might show a customer the specific product they viewed but didn’t buy, reminding them of their initial interest and encouraging them to complete their shopping journey.

Setting up Meta retargeting ads is easy with Shopify. Install the Meta pixel to your site, which tracks user activity across your website and lets you target those users on Facebook and Instagram. You’ll also want to install the Facebook & Instagram app for Shopify. This lets you sync products seamlessly from your Shopify store to the native shop on those platforms.

16. Host or attend in-person events

Markets, trade shows, and other events offer opportunities to promote your business, meet customers, and build brand awareness. These events allow shoppers to experience your products firsthand and give you a chance to engage your local community. This can be particularly important for items that don’t fully translate in photographs, like premium fabrics, scented goods, or food products.

Hosting your own events can also help spread the word. “Another way to promote your business locally is through workshops and lectures,” says Amy Falcione, founder of local marketing agency Big Picture Marketing. “For example, if you run a candle making business, you can run local workshops to teach people how to make their own candles. It’s a great way to build your reputation in the community and increase brand awareness.”

Before planning any event, clearly define your objectives—whether that’s generating immediate sales, establishing credibility through partnerships, driving traffic to your online store, or simply increasing brand awareness. 

You can also take your events strategy on the road. Canned goods company Heyday Canning Co. created a memorable experience with their four-day “bean swap” pop-up in New York City. Visitors traded cans of beans for branded merchandise like bean socks, and Heyday matched each donation and gave all beans to the NYC-based food bank City Harvest.

“The objective very much was to cut through the noise on TikTok,” Heyday founder Kat Kavner explained on Shopify Masters. “We really wanted to create an experience that we felt had a high probability that people would capture and create UGC if they went.” The creative concept paid off, going viral on TikTok and drawing lines down the block.

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