Side Profit Insider: Issue 03

This week's issue includes some ideas on how to market your brand without spending money you don't have yet on paid ads.

June 17, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Welcome to the third issue of Side Profit Insider.

Here’s what’s inside this week’s issue:

  • A guide on how to promote your brand without paid ads

  • Free courses and resources

  • A free sales tracker to track your profits, expenses, and revenue

  • Side hustle tools for helping market your brand

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🧠 This Week’s Picks:

Tool of the Week

A sales tracker you can download for free or pay what you want if you are feeling generous.

  • Can be edited for your needs

  • Automated features

Book Excerpt

“Growth, as a primary focus, is not only a bad business strategy, but an entirely harmful one.”

From Company of One by Paul Jarvis:

If you feel pressured to go big or go home this book offers a refreshing take.

Free Learning Resources: Google Digital Garage

The Google Digital Garage is an excellent place to start your journey or polish up on some skills you’d like to improve upon, with a 40+ hour course on digital marketing alone you are bound to learn valuable skills.

There is also other courses for skills that you can make money off of, such as coding, customer service, public speaking, and even networking in general.

Take a look for yourself:

Newsletter Recommendation: Minimalist Hustler

If you like Side Profit Insider, you’ll probably enjoy Minimalist Hustler, a short and sweet newsletter that sends 3 valuable resources straight to your inbox everyday.

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🚀 Featured Service:

Need help with taking high quality product photos?

Good and bad product photos are very often what stands in the way of making a sale or not making a sale, especially if there aren’t any trust indicators. With high quality product photos you can make sure that your branding is consistent from ads to landing page which will make your store instantly more trustworthy.

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💸 Marketing Your Brand Without Paid Ads

Whether your brand is just starting out or you are looking for alternative strategies

There are lots of ways to market your brand and sometimes paid ads either aren’t possible with your budget, or you’d like to try new strategies, whatever it is here are some ways of promoting your brand without paid ads.

Content Marketing

Creating useful content is one of the most economical tactics, it includes creating blog posts, how to videos, infographics, podcasts, eBooks, webinars, just to name a few.

Here are some content marketing strategies:

  • Write Blog Posts - Cover topics your customers care about. Explain common questions or how-tos in clear language, using relevant keywords for SEO.

  • Create Videos - Shoot simple demos, tips or behind-the-scenes tours with your phone. Video is highly shareable and can go viral at no cost. (Post on YouTube or social channels.)

  • Design Infographics - Use free tools (e.g. Canva, Visme) to turn data or processes into visuals. Infographics “drive up referral traffic and links” because they’re easy to digest and share.

  • Host Free Webinars - Run an online workshop or Q&A on Zoom/Teams. Webinars position you as an expert and capture leads, all with virtually zero budget.

  • Repurpose Content - Turn one asset into many (e.g. a webinar > blog post > slideshow > social snippets). This expands your reach with minimal extra work.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Optimise your website for organic search queries for a cost-free way to attract new customers. SEO involves tweaking your website and content to ensure you rank higher on Google or other search engines.

Here are some SEO strategies:

  • Keyword Research and On-Page SEO - Identify terms customers use (try tools like Google Keyword Planner). Incorporate the keywords into page titles, headers and body text.

  • Technical Site Fixes - Ensure your site loads fast, is mobile-friendly, and has a clean structure (proper headings, alt text, schema markup). These signal quality to Google.

  • Local SEO - Create or claim a free Google Business Profile. A GBP listing makes you appear on Google Maps in the UK and the “Local Pack” for nearby searches.

  • Quality Backlinks - Encourage other sites to link to you by producing shareable content or writing guest posts. Links from reputable sites boost your domain authority for free.

  • Regular Fresh Content - Publish keyword-focused blog posts or FAQs frequently; this both helps SEO and gives you material to share on social media.

The best part? SEO compounds over time. Once your content is optimized, it continues to attract visitors for months or years at no extra cost.

Social Media Marketing (Organic)

Social media platforms are free stages for your brand story.

Use platforms where your audience hangs out (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.) and apply these tactics:

  • Consistent posting - Share engaging content (images, videos, stories, live videos) regularly.

    Show behind-the-scenes glimpses, product uses, or team snapshots. People connect with genuine, not overly polished, content.

  • Engage followers - Reply promptly to comments and messages. Encourage audience interaction with polls, questions or calls-for-opinion.

    Building a dialogue strengthens loyalty.

  • Hashtags & trends - Include relevant hashtags and participate in trending challenges or themes.

    Broad hashtags boost brand identity, while niche hashtags (like “#sustainability” or location tags) help specific audiences find you.

  • Tagging - Mention customers, partners or influencers in posts. For example, if a client shares a photo of your product, ask permission to repost and tag them. Tagging others extends your visibility into their networks.

  • LinkedIn & niche networks - Don’t overlook professional networks. On LinkedIn, share articles, comment on industry news, and connect with peers.

    Join relevant Facebook or Reddit groups and contribute value (avoid hard-selling).

When creative content hits the mark, it can “go viral” organically.

Partnerships and Collaborations

Joining forces with others lets you tap into new audiences.

For example, team up with a company whose customers overlap yours (but is not a direct competitor). Tactics include:

  • Joint content/events - Co-host a webinar or workshop, or produce a co-branded ebook. Each partner promotes it to their audience, doubling visibility.

  • Cross-promotion - Mention each other on social media, blog, or newsletters. Share each other’s posts or offer a guest blog spot.

  • Influencer outreach - Engage micro-influencers by sending free samples. Even if you don’t pay them, a mention or review taps into their loyal followers.

  • Swap expertise - Interview a partner’s expert on your blog (and vice versa). This provides content and introduces each audience to the other brand.

Community Engagement and PR

Building an engaged community and getting free press are powerful. Activities here include:

  • Participate in forums and groups - Help out on platforms like Reddit, Quora, Facebook or LinkedIn groups related to your industry. Answer questions and share insights (with a soft link to your site).

  • Guest posting & interviews - Contribute articles or quotes to other blogs, podcasts, or trade publications. Many sites accept expert submissions at no cost, giving you free exposure and links back to your brand.

  • Press releases & media pitches - Write a compelling press release for any newsworthy story (product launch, award, etc.) and send it to journalists or local news outlets. Many online PR sites are free or inexpensive. Being featured in an article boosts credibility enormously.

According to expert case studies, companies that engage deeply with their community and share expertise see huge returns.

Conclusion

In summary, marketing your brand without paid ads requires a lot of consistency and a major focus on quality and value.

Over time these unpaid routes of marketing your brand can actually lead to better results than paid ads if you stick with them for long enough and keep producing quality content that resonates with your target demographic.

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Thank you for reading the first issue of Side Profit Insider!

I hope today’s story gave you a nudge forward and helped you see the real path to long term success and the resources have given you an idea of how to get started on that path.

If you or anybody you know has a story you think could help inspire others, please let me know!

See you next week when I will be talking about how to find your niche.

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Although just signing up is greatly appreciated, you can support Side Profit Insider even more by donating here!

If you want to start your new store, I recommend using Shopify, it’s beginner-friendly, fast to set up, and what most successful stores, including my own, run on.

To get a free Marketing Guide eBook, refer two of your friends!

Disclaimer: This newsletter contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make any purchases through them, at no extra cost to you. Using my links really helps support this newsletter and allows me to keep bringing you helpful content. Thanks for your support!

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