While not a free marketing idea, it can be worth the investment if you find an influencer whose audience base overlaps with your own. 4. Manage business review websites.

However, if you want free publicity, you need to employ the right strategies. We asked a panel of Forbes Communications Council members to name their top strategies for getting free public relations.

How to get free publicity 1. Respond to breaking news. Is there something going on in the world—a trend, a news event—for which you can provide an expert opinion?

Free publicity is one of the best tools that you can use to promote and grow your small business or startup. P.T. Barnum used it to grow his little circus to international fame.

No one is in the business of giving you free publicity, but they are in the business of sharing valuable, interesting and good stories. So that is what you have to give them.

Free publicity — particularly on-message publicity that is likely to be read or watched by your business's target customers — is the most cost-effective marketing that money can't buy.

Other publicity outfits also will handle distribution of your release, especially if you're a small firm or lack a dedicated staff to make contact, handle releases, or do follow-up.

There are plenty of free marketing tactics small businesses can do that deliver results on little to no budget. EXPERT OPINION BY ADAM HEITZMAN , CO-FOUNDER, HIGHERVISIBILITY @ HIGHERVIS Feb 2, 2017 ...

Getting publicity in the 2.0 landscape is hard. Don't make it harder than it needs to be.

Specifically, I suggest that if you want to get some free publicity for your business, take these steps: 1. Have a good story. As they say, dog bites man is not news, but man bites dog is.