Did you just start a business and you’re looking for effective ways to promote your business? You don’t need to worry as this post has got you covered.
Business promotion is one of the challenges that many businesses (especially the small ones) face.
Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for years now, these proven advertising and marketing strategies will help your business find new customers without having to spend a fortune.
Before online advertising became very popular, small businesses could promote their businesses cheaply through printing out fliers or sponsoring little local events.
Now, there are various kinds of opportunities out there on the Web, you just need to know where to look.
Those opportunities range from listing your business on listing services (Google, Bing, or Yahoo) to paying for advertising (like PPC and CPA advertising).
Table of Contents
Create a Brand & Logo
Creating a brand and logo is one of the most essential visual ways to promote your business.
Widespread brand recognition is your long-term goal, and your business needs to inspire credibility and persuade others to spread the word about your amazing work.
You need to make a brand you can build on from the start.
Start by noting the inventory of your business’ unique value proposition, its personality, and the values that define it.
After that, you can start to think about your visual brand.
Get some Business Stationery
You need to have business cards, but you also need to put out a lot of other documents in the course of doing business.
Make sure all of your stationery has your business name, business logo, contact information (including web address), and tagline on them.
List your Business on Listing Services
Here’s another popular strategy you can use to promote your business.
When you register your business with Google Places, your business can be found more easily on Google searches and it shows up on Google Maps.
All you need to do is to fill out the form and register, then get your business verified via their confirmation process, which can be done either with a phone call or post office mail.
Yahoo! also has a large database of businesses called Yahoo! Local. This service is free, and it’s certainly worth the few minutes it takes to set up.
Microsoft’s Bing also has a similar service that’s easy to sign up for.
Review Your Online NAPs
NAP is an acronym for Name, Address, Phone number, also sometimes referred to as citations.
If you’ve already listed your business on Google My Business, you need to ensure the details there are the same for all your online listings.
If any of the details somewhere else is not the same as it is listed in Google My Business, then you will probably not be “rewarded” by search engines and it could also harm your search ranking.
Create a Website
Creating a website and blog is another effective way to promote your business.
If you don’t have a website, you should really get one set up.
A functional website is important for promoting your business even if your business has a big social media following.
Depending on what you sell, your website serves as a lead generation tool, catalog, online brochure, and information source for your potential customers.
You have full control over how you market your products and services on your website and how long promotions and other content are visible.
Set Up your Business Profile or Page on Social Media
You should set up your business profile and other necessary info on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Make sure your business profile has a good description, keywords, and a link to your website.
Search for groups or conversations that talk about the type of products or services and participate in the conversations.
But don’t spam them with frequent promos for what you sell.
Put up Multimedia on YouTube and Flickr
YouTube offers a free way to distribute innovative promotional videos. But in order to succeed, you must have content that people want to view and are related to your business—a simple ad will not work.
A Flickr profile can also assist by offering you a place to compile all the photos for your business and permits you to link back to your website.
Create An Email Marketing Strategy
Email marketing is an important fundamental in online marketing and also a very important way to promote your business.
From a technology stance, email has withstood the test of time as a communication means. Also, from a marketing stance, email converts at a higher rate than almost any other channel.
Email marketing permits you to sustain relationships with potential buyers over time.
It also allows you to place visitors who aren’t ready to buy into a funnel that keeps them associated with your business instead of having them forget about you.
Offer a Free Or Discounted Product/Service
Offering something free or at a reasonable discount is a great way to attract new customers.
Based on your business model, it can even be viable to take a loss on this to pull in market share.
There are many reiterations of this that can be used to increase leads, sales, referrals, etc.
E-commerce stores specifically have had astonishing success with introductory discounts.
Give A Presentation or Webinar
This strategy can be effective both online and offline.
By offering a webinar or workshop, you can draw in your target audience and gather their contact information for future follow-up.
First, locate where your target group hangs out then set up meetings.
Create Content That Attracts Your Audience
Creating a blog that has compelling content is another effective way to promote your business.
People love reading blog content online, and it’s highly not likely that your niche is exempted.
In order to benefit from that demand, you just need to create content that draws in the same audience you wish to sell to.
Implement Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way to optimize a website for search engine visibility and improve your search engine rankings.
The goal of SEO is for your product to show up when a relevant keyword is searched on Google
Unlike most other promotion strategies, making your site rank for various keywords/keyphrases will increase the amounts of traffic over time, or at least for as long as people continue to use search engines.
Comment on Blogs in Your Niche
Commenting on blogs in your niche doesn’t only help you promote your business, it also an off-page SEO strategy that’ll increase your rankings.
Dropping a comment on other related sites can help rank your content on search engines faster, because:
When you add your site link in another site’s comment section, Google and other search engines pick it up, and if the site you’ve left a comment on is reputable, search engines are likely to index your site content with a higher ranking, because of your association to the website via the link left in your comment.
If your comment adds more value to the topic, it may get attention from potential customers who are so impressed by your comment that they click back to your website.
Pay For Advertising
Many of the strategies provided in this post help to build a customer base over time, but one of the best ways to get a quick and consistent promotion is to pay for advertising.
Here are four of the most popular advertising methods:
1. CPA Advertising
CPA which is sometimes referred to as cost per action/acquisition is an online advertising measurement and pricing model that refers to a specified action.
Some of the actions it refers to include sales, clicks, or form submits (e.g. contact request, newsletter sign up, registration, etc.)
The goal to be reached is set up by the advertiser.
Some of the action CPA advertising platforms offer to advertisers includes;
1. Download – Cost Per Download (CPD)
2. Sales – Cost Per Sales (CPS)
3. Signup – Cost Per Registration (CPR)
4. Traffic – Cost Per Click (CPC)
5. Call – Cost Per Call
To start CPA advertising and to start benefiting from the various types of CPA Ads, you will require a well-known company in that niche.
One of the best CPA Advertising companies out there is Adbirt.
It is a CPA advertising platform that helps advertisers achieve their goals at their own budget.
On this platform, advertisers can set up a campaign with as little as $0.1.
To create an account, you just need to visit Adbirt.com and sign up as an advertiser.
Then create an account, fund your wallet, create your first ads, and set your budget.
After creating an account, you can now create your first campaign and let affiliates or publishers promote your brand/products across their websites, blog, and all social media platforms.
You also get charged only when your action is performed on your Ad.
2. PPC ads
3. Facebook ads
4. Television ads
List your Business in Business Directories
Another way to promote your business is through business directories.
You can get a free advertisement on different directories, so take advantage of this offline promoting method.
Yellow pages directories are updated and distributed to millions of households yearly.
They also have an online format and offer small business discounts for buying advertising in both formats.
There are also other free and paid-for local directories out there.
Outdoor promotion
Though it is quite expensive, it’s a very effective way to promote your business.
This type of promotion involves a billboard ad. But this type of promotion is considered expensive for small businesses.
However, getting one out in a strategic location – e.g. in close proximity to your firm – will probably cost about the same as an advert in a newspaper
It will also last far longer and be seen by your potential customers.
Word of mouth
About 92% of people put their trust in the recommendation of friends and family
You can use this fact to your advantage, specifically in a local community-based setting.
Getting your first few customers is the most difficult work you’ll have to do.
When you’re working with your first few customers, have it in mind that you’re already indirectly promoting to their circles of friends and family.
Go the extra mile for your customers, and they’re more likely to inform other people about your business.
By going the extra mile, you’re making it easier for them to recommend you through referral and rewards schemes.
Donate a prize to a local fundraiser
If you make or sell physical products, you should try donating some of your products to be a prize at a local fundraiser.
If you offer services, you can likewise donate a gift certificate.
Not only will you be assisting the local causes, but you’ll also be increasing your brand exposure in the local community.
The better the prize you donate, the more people will talk about it, and the more money the charity will make, too.
Conclusion
With this post, we trust that you’ll now have better insights and strategies to promote your business.
Also, there is no single guaranteed winning strategy for promoting a business.
It’s a lot of trial and error, and this post should get you started.