When you have a tight pocket and a not-so-tight idea of a small business to run, it can get difficult for you in terms of marketing. You end up thinking of alternative and cost-effective ways to succeed in your small business. While traditional marketing methods are steep, you have no choice but to opt for cheap marketing techniques.
Not to worry, because, with so many digital tools online and offline; today, it is easier to reach more people and introduce them to your products or services. In this article, we have shared some relatively easy and cost-effective marketing tips for small businesses.
1. Organize a website professionally
If you have a website for your business (which you should), organize it professionally. The Website is your business’s forefront, and when you have a convincing website that satisfies a visitor’s needs, business marketing is half done. Ensure that all of your product or service relevant information is there, structured in an orderly fashion. Hire any of the professional web designing companies like Redesign.co. and choose a theme that’s pleasant to the eye, use a font that’s comfortable to read. Try to contrast the site’s background with its contents so that the visibility becomes better and more apparent.
2. Content marketing
Content marketing has gradually become one of the most important marketing methods nowadays. It is the process of creating, optimizing, and distributing relevant content and sharing them to attract a certain group of interested consumers. Regularly publish engaging content relating to your small business’s product or service, and keep in mind that your contents should be:
- Grammatically correct
- High quality
- SEO optimized
- Reader optimized
- Relevant or linked to your business
- Consistent in making
3. Hire a phone answering service
Your business is likely to have a contact number, and if you have done a little marketing, chances are, you’re going to get a lot of calls. Today the consumers don’t wait or call back if they don’t get picked up instantly. You can’t blame them, because, in this rapid communication age, everyone expects their queries to be answered immediately. It’s not always easy to operate all of the business activities and commit to answering enquiries at the same time.
To properly handle customer service, you should hire a professional phone answering service. They are experts and digitally live at the reception of your business. Furthermore, they use a predefined script to ensure the prospect believes they are speaking with someone from your business. The professionals will answer all of your consumers’ queries and make sure they are satisfied with their needs. In this type of marketing, your visitors are intrigued by the satisfaction and have a high chance of coming back.
4. Email marketing
Email marketing is a great way to direct new prospects to your business, and it is one of the core components of digital marketing. Building relationships with the latest and maintaining relationships with old customers, email marketing does a lot in long terms. You can create an option for newsletters in your website, or offer a free service trial, or a coupon to get visitors’ emails and generate valuable leads.
Email marketing is a popular digital marketing channel because of its convenience, low cost, and easy global reach.
5. Local marketing
So far, we have covered more or less the easy online marketing techniques and how to utilize them. If we turn to offline, local marketing is the method to look for. Local marketing is making your business known to your neighborhoods, or the area your product and services are targeted for. It can be of different forms:
- SMS marketing
SMS marketing is a great way to reach potential consumers, keep them informed and in the loop of your business. It merely is sending text messages to prospects’ phones, promoting and offering your product or service in the process. Smartphones are barely out of the reach of our hands these days, and SMS marketing can easily be used to its advantage.
- Business card
Get a nice business card for your business and try to make it stand out from regular ones. A simple, concise design of a business card should do it. Hand it out to every person you meet to make most of the people find out about your product or service.
- Focus on local SEO
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- Google My Business:Google My Business or GMB is one of the most effective local marketing systems you can think of. It is filing your business in Google’s local business (GMB) listing so that when people from the surrounding region search for relevant products or services, yours have a chance to come up. You can quickly get into the GMB list by optimizing each section of your business’ online presence, getting good reviews from customers, and others.
- Local listing: Focusing on local SEO should be the very first thing you do in the local marketing of your business. Local search boost mainly comes from local business directories. It’s not just for local ranking; they can generate referral traffic as well. There are several business directories you can opt for based on your business region—for example: Yelp, Yellow Pages, Foursquare, and others.
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6. Establish networks
Establishing networks is another way to get your business known to mass people. There are forums, networks, and blogs about your business on the internet, find them out, and make use of them. You can start by forum posting, networking with related business interested persons, selecting a topic, and opening discussions. The more you connect and communicate in different networking platforms, the more chance you have to become familiar in the respective business.
7. Engage in social media
Here comes one of the most essential and widely effective marketing strategy for any business. Social media have become our everyday companion, and all of us has at least one account on any of the social sites. Since it has the audience, using social sites for marketing is the best way to reach the public. You can use various platforms in this case.
- Facebook: It’s almost evident that Facebook will be the first to choose among social sites. Create a Facebook page for your business, regularly share your product update and relevant content. You can also ask on-topic questions to invoke discussions and engage traffic.
- Instagram: Instagram is a more concise social platform, and has excellent potential to become a marketing tool. Follow businesses similar to yours, follow your possible prospects, and regularly share posts relating to your business to engage visitors.
- LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the professional social site where we can find genuine prospects and generate leads. Create a LinkedIn profile for your business, connect with people, and share your business with your network.
- Twitter: Create a Twitter account and start following your business industry experts and influencers. Reply, retweet, and share concerns regarding your business topic to engage interested audiences.
8. Word of Mouth marketing
Word of mouth or WOM is a type of marketing where your customers spread the word of your business. It is an essential and effective marketing strategy for small businesses. You don’t necessarily have direct control over WOM, but you can make clients satisfied by providing easy service. If you can successfully adhere to their need, you have the advantage of using their potential and network.
Wrapping up
It’s not always how much you’re spending on marketing for your business, but it’s the techniques, methods, and dedication that matters. We have shared some easy and inexpensive marketing tips for your small business. The rest is up to you. Try and make the most of these methods, and always keep on improvising. Because with marketing, it’s an ever-changing process.
Liam Barnard is a freelance writer, social media marketer, and an independent blogger who writes about small business, sustainability, technology, globalization, and home improvement. He aspires to become a professional writer and make a difference in society and the world we live in. He is always enthusiastic about promoting brands like Call Service. They are a phone answering company designed to assist businesses of all sizes in managing incoming calls and looking out for workers in emergencies.