Looking for a great way to drive traffic to your business? No million dollar ad budget last time you checked? The solution may be to harness the power of grassroots marketing.

Grassroots marketing is simply taking the unconventional approach to getting people interested in what you offer. It's driven by creativity and energy-the stuff we entrepreneurs have a lot of. And it doesn't require a lot of money-the stuff we have the least of!

To get started with grassroots marketing, consider these three ideas:

1. Get trendsetters to be customers, even if you have to offer freebies. When everyday people see the "cool" people buying in, it can transform them into customers. Reach out to performers, celebrities and athletes. Depending upon your product or service, identify local people who are high profile-like the popular kids, the "early adopters" who have all the latest gadgets, or fashionable women who others copy.

2. Sponsor local events where the audience is strategic for you. Buy a big banner and make sure it's hanging in full view at the events. Studies show that familiarity alone can positively influence people's buying decisions.

3. Ask local merchants to cooperatively promote your offering. Find the ones who are not competitive with you but whose customers fit your target market. Print up inexpensive fliers and locate them at their cash register. Or, provide merchants with a coupon they can offer when someone makes a purchase. That becomes an incentive the merchants can use to close sales, and it gets your marketing material-the coupon-in the hands of consumers who've proven they are spenders.

When it comes to grassroots marketing, you're limited only by your imagination and your tenacity.

Our bottom line:

To make sure your business is as verdant as it can be, fertilize your grassroots marketing.

For more information about Richard Sloan and the Sloan Brothers, please visit StartupNation.com.