When starting a business with limited capital, investing money into marketing might seem like the last thing you want to do.

Although it is important to focus capital in the key areas of innovation, testing and product development, small businesses must maintain healthy brand awareness and strong social engagement, to see their business grow in the long run.

Fortunately, as Internet usage and social media penetration are increasing, new avenues for marketing and customer engagement are opening up.

Research indicates that nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide now use social media, with this number increasing by 18 per cent between 2012 and 2013. Social media has become a cost effective marketing and customer engagement tool for both small and large businesses.

Peer reviews and online forums have also become highly influential as increasingly competitive markets are causing brand loyalty to dwindle. Maintaining an active blog, engaging in social media channels like (check out DesignCrowd on Facebook) and encouraging referrals, reviews and testimonials are simple and cost effective ways to grow your business identity.

These three tips are sure to help you grow your small business in the short term, without spending huge amounts of capital.

1. Start a Blog

Blogging is an excellent way to build a following and establish the main offerings of your business.

Launching and maintaining an active blog is a simple way for you to showcase your knowledge of the industry, demonstrates how you are innovating to stay ahead of the curve and provides a way for your business to make comments about your industry in a public space.

Blogging is also a useful SEO technique that will make your domain name more recognisable for search engines. Publish articles that are relevant and trending, and use a variety of buzzwords that will make your content stand out from the rest.

Top tip articles, tutorials, case studies and socially relevant pieces are the best options, and may even be republished on other blogs and media sites. Make sure that your blog is a part of your website as the added content will help boost your URL portfolio.

2. Become Active on Social Media

One of the cheapest ways to grow your business is with social media. Keep in mind that this can also be time-consuming, if you don’t use the right tools.

The best method for monitoring your social media channels and engaging with your followers, without spending hours, is to use an account manager like HootSuite, SocialOomph or Tweepi.

Be active across all channels that your audience uses, and build your profile on LinkedIn, Tumblr, Behance, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Check out DesignCrowd's Google+ page!

It is important to note that you don’t need to be extremely active on all of your social media sites equally. Use the inbuilt tools that social media sites offer to see which platforms you get the most engagement on and tailor your approach to suit.

When starting out, vary your content to find out what your followers are most interested in. Mix up a variety of photos, videos, links to articles and coupons to find your sweet spot.

Via a seemingly chaotic mix of tactical tools like limited time offers & coupon codes layered beneath integrated and multi-channel marketing you can observe and gradually build an initially blurry but increasingly sharper picture on the p&l correlates of social media activity and success which you can leverage for competitive advantage.

Most importantly, if you start using social media as a tool to communicate with your customers, you must maintain your presence. Failing to respond to requests and complaints will be seen by your whole community, an image that no business wants to project.

3. Encourage Referrals, Reviews and Testimonials

An excellent way to build credibility is with referrals and reviews. Nothing speaks more favourably about your business than positive reviews and testimonials from your satisfied customers.

Incorporating a Google Review Widget for website can streamline this process, displaying real customer feedback directly on your site for visitors to see. Tools like WiserReview make this even easier by helping you collect, manage, and show reviews in a clean and effective way. Many business leaders are often hesitant to ask for reviews, but if a customer has had a truly exceptional experience, they will be more than happy to speak up for you.

Make the feedback process as easy as possible. Provide a feedback page on your website or include it as a part of the transaction, offering discounts for comments and feedback.

Be sure to be as transparent as possible in this process by outlining that all feedback, good or bad, is acceptable. In fact the presence of the occasional less than favourable review can often serve to increase customer trust in the validity of your favourable reviews - increasing the efficacy and impact of your review tools in general.

Many businesses will also include videos or pictures to accompany testimonials, making them authentic and personable.

Dan Ferguson is Chief Marketing Officer of custom design marketplace DesignCrowd. This article was first published on Yahoo Small Business.

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Written by Jo Sabin on Thursday, October 30, 2014

Jo Sabin is Head of Designer Community at DesignCrowd. She's led the company's public relations and social media programs since 2012. With more than ten years' experience working with Australian and international tech startups in the creative industries, Jo has been instrumental in meeting DesignCrowd's objectives in Australia and abroad. Get in touch via Twitter.