Tight on cash but big on goals? You’re not alone. Fortunately, there are many ways to strengthen your brand’s visibility without spending a lot of money.

When it comes to marketing your small business, there are an abundance of ways to gain attention… with three that truly stand out as being leaders in the small business space. Nurture your marketing efforts with the following low-cost ideas.

1. Become an expert

As a leader in your niche market, you can begin to gain trust and attention from your target audience by positioning yourself as an expert. To help do this, it’s important to consistently be recognized in a variety of avenues that offer insight to your consumer marketplace. Strategies include contributing to industry blogs, providing local media with expert insight and even delivering presentations at industry and community events. Collectively, these actions add up to give you trusted recognition as a leader in your niche marketplace and as a result, help drive attention back to your brand. Don’t believe me? Consider this list from Vend POS that identifies the top 50 retail influencers in the world… I’m #3, and I took the same advice I’m offering you to help me earn this rank.

2. Increase digital marketing efforts

It’s reported that 70% of small businesses plan to invest in digital marketing in 2017, with 59.2% planning to invest in social media, 50% in mobile marketing and 42.3% in email marketing. The value in these investments include the ability to capture and ultimately review data received via each of these channels, as well as the low cost to effectively use and manage digital marketing platforms. Social media, for example, is essentially free but the cost to get engaged in sponsored posts or services aimed to manage social media are reasonable—allowing small businesses to effectively allocate marketing dollars to help their businesses. Additionally, using video as part of your digital strategy is another low cost or even free way to gain customer attention. The catch? Consistency pays off in every effort you make—but this is particularly true when it comes to digital marketing efforts. Create a strategy for your digital efforts and stick to it. Time will be a key factor in your success here.

3. Partner with like-minded businesses

Among the many perks of being a small business owner is being in control of how you market your brand—and there’s no better way to gain trust from consumers than to be referred by others who already have an established and loyal audience. Keeping this in mind, aim to create a group of non-competitive yet like-minded businesses that can support each other through an organized referral program. You can offer coupons to each other’s businesses, share fliers, offer reciprocal website links, bundle business promotions, cross promote brands via social media and more. These collaborative efforts will expand your customer base while also helping to position your business as a leader in its niche marketplace and local community. Likewise, the companies you partner with will gain similar exposure and attention, leading to more small business success.

Finally, remember that while marketing doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, it does need time and dedication to truly make an impact. Stay committed to the marketing efforts you move forward with in order to see a return on your investment… and a result, enjoy the perks of being a small business that is in control of how you market your brand while managing your budget.