Starting a business can be difficult. Effectively marketing your company and reaching new customers is another endeavor you have to strive for. As Susan Ward from The Balance said, it’s akin to practicing scales when learning piano. It might not be fun, but you just have to do it. You don’t have to hire an expensive marketing consultant to get the word out. Sometimes, it only takes a bit of gumption, a dash of ingenuity, and little marketing know-how to promote your small business.
Here are five ideas how.
Market to a specific audience
You can’t just throw a bunch of things to the wall and hope that one sticks. Making your marketing strategy as general as possible won’t rake in customers. Try to market to a specific audience. If your business is still relatively new, think of your potential customer and use that. If your business is already established, think of your common customers. Who buys your products or uses your services? What’s their demographic? Develop your marketing efforts using what you know about your customers.
Use social media to your advantage
The easiest way to reach customers nowadays is through social media. The increasing dependence on phones and the Internet has paved the way for audiences to research first about a business before interacting with them directly. If they can’t see you on Facebook, they might not even consider going to your shop. Make sure to create a good social media presence that perfectly encapsulates your brand. From the tone and writing used to the pictures and media posted to how you talk to your customers, your social media must have a unified style.
Make people see your brand
Marketing materials is one of the oldest trick in the book when it comes to promoting your brand. You can create simple calling cards to give to your customers or potential business partners. Provide people with sample of your products or services. You can even ask a screen printing business to create shirts with your logo on it. Add a catchy slogan for it; make it memorable. Make your brand ubiquitous enough to the point that your brand is on top of your potential customers’ minds.
Optimize your website
Aside from social media, starting a website can help you promote your company. However, make sure to have it optimized for search engines. SEO companies can help your website be on top of searches. And if your website performs well in search engine results pages, your webpages will gain more clicks. This means more people will know about your products, goods, or services—from people who live in your city to those in neighboring towns.
Establish yourself with articles and blogs
Identifying a customer’s pain point—the reason why they’re looking for a product, good, or service over the internet—lets you market your product easier through blogs. Through making blog posts and articles about their problems and relating them with your products, you can establish yourself as an authority that knows how to solve their issues. You’re positioning your business as a solution to their woes, after all.
Marketing isn’t just about making your product known to the world. You also create long-lasting business relationships with your customer. With this, you build trust and rapport, giving you an endless supply of repeat customers. Make sure your small business has a solid marketing strategy.
