As a business, you’re always looking for ways to advertise to boost your profits, however often the thoughts of the costs that come with it can be a daunting prospect. There are many ways of getting your message out there to potential customers without breaking the bank by using low cost yet simple and effective marketing techniques!
Get your website in order!
There are tons of free web hosting providers available online if you don’t want to invest any money in your business website.
Alternatively you can use third party advertising platforms like Friday-Ad to give your business an instant online presence (see below). You can advertise your services and even create a business profile to entice potential customers and stand out from the crowd.
Take advantage of advertising platforms
Make use of all the free advertising platforms out there that offer free listings such as Friday-Ad where you can post an unlimited number of ads at no cost. Benefits include: Having a free online business page, reviews attached to your profile and the option to have the business featured and target specific audiences.
Utilize Social Media
Social Media is your free ‘shop window’ to advertise products, services and any current promotions. It’s also a brilliant way to engage your audience and connect with your customers on a much more personal level. Social Media platforms also enable you to quickly respond to customers and answer any questions they may have.
Business profiles to set up..
- Setup a Facebook Page
On your Facebook page you can include any vital information such as your phone number, email address, opening times etc You can also drive direct sales using your Facebook page by taking advantage of the button on your page which you can edit to suit your business for example ‘shop now’. It is also good to use your Facebook page to post a mix of engaging non salesy posts too to entice your audience and form a positive connection with them.
Paid Facebook ads
You might want to consider facebook advertising for your business which makes it possible for you to target a huge audience, as well as much more specific demographics too ensuring you are reaching out to the perfect customer base. You can also split test the ads you create to experiment and work out which targeting groups are most successful and where to re-channel your budget.
2. Instagram
Instagram is all about images and videos. It’s a great way to show off your business or products in an aesthetically pleasing and creative way. Top tips include ensuring any images you add are of good quality and to follow the followers of pages that might attract a similar audience to you.
3. Twitter
Twitter is a brilliant platform to tweet any news or updates about your business that your customers need to know about.
Following relevant Twitter profiles and liking and retweeting posts that are related to your customers interests can help boost your profile engagement.
Try Content Marketing
Posting content online is a brilliant way to increase your business or brands profile. If you;re going to do so, ensure that it’s unique, relevant and valuable information and that the content is targeting the right people. The purpose of your content should be to build trust and position for your business as an authority in its industry. Improving your search engine optimization is hugely beneficial in terms of people finding you online and Google likes to reward sites in search results that regularly update their content, so this is something you should definitely think about. If this is something you’re good at, you might want to try blogging on your site too. Content that receives good engagement, such as people commenting and social shares, is great for SEO.
Do a guest blog post
Writing a guest blog post for a website that has a similar target audience to you is something really worth thinking about and there are many reasons why it can strengthen your business. Traditionally a common way small businesses have always tried to get traffic is by asking people for a link back. However, you’ll probably find many people don’t even bother responding. On the other hand, if you offer them something that’s of much higher value to them or their site then they are much more likely to return the favour. For example if you are a local gardener you will have a lot of knowledge around seasonal gardening tips. Therefore it may be an idea to approach a local website that sells gardening equipment or advertises local gardeners, (such as Friday-Ad) or a relevant blog. For example the collaboration could be that you write a guide for their audience ‘Winter Gardening Tips’ and in return you are getting free exposure to their audience helping you to get seen by new local customers. On top of this, by promoting content like this over your socials you are also helping to increase engagement too.
Email Marketing
There are many reasons to use email marketing to benefit your business. If you have people signed up to receive your emails, then this is your free tool to announce to your customers any news, new products, offers or company updates you may have. If your audience is very small and you want to get your message out to a large group of new potential customers then you might want to think about reaching out to a larger company that offers email marketing. This will help you generate more leads and grow your own database too. Find out more about email marketing on Friday-Ad.
Encourage Reviews
Wherever possible, encourage customers to leave you a review. Positive reviews will help to improve your credibility, increase sales and they also help you to rank higher on online search results.
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