You figured out the service you want to offer – Great! Now you are wondering, how to get your name out there?

There are a few options, both paid and unpaid:

Free Advertising Options:

• Word of Mouth: Ask your friends and families to recommend you to someone. This is the most effective free way to get some clients and help your passive income business get started.
• Social Media: Instagramming, Twittering, and Facebook are great social platforms to build your business if you are a brilliant marketer and if you get lucky to get the ball rolling early on. Social media is a wonderful free option. It does take months to grow your social account and acquire an engaging audience, patience is required.
• Posting on Classified websites: Kijiji and Craigslist is one of the best ways to get some calls and emails. You will have to stay consistent with posting your services because it can easily get lost by the end of the day since thousands of people post on both sites.

Paid Advertising:

• Newspaper Ads: Believe it or not, newspapers are still a thing. It does cost money to put ads in the newspaper, and in my experience, it is not very effective unless you are taking a whole page out of a prime newspaper, like The Toronto Star, or you are in real estate (even then, I would not advise it unless it is in the open house section).
• Google Adwords: The cost for Adwords can easily add up considering the different variables and who you are competing for your targeted keywords, example “plumber in Toronto”. You will need a website to do advertising on Google. You can learn to do it online, but there will be a learning curve, and its always better to do pay per click (search engine advertising) with experienced SEM consultants.
• Social Media Marketing: Facebook advertising is still one of the most popular methods to get leads and clients online. For e-commerce businesses, Instagram is another good option for social marketing. The cost of social marketing is cheaper than Adwords, but it is also less targeted.