Nine times out of ten, people start a business because they are good at the initial phase of the process. They are able to meet customer demand since they are knowledgeable in their field.
The tough portion comes in the second. How do you get the proper folks to see your offer? Or, to put it another way, how do you advertise your company?
We all know that promotion and marketing are the lifeblood of all businesses right? However, not all businesses know how to promote their products and get in front of thousands or millions of customers.
Here are a few quick and easy marketing tips that you can use to promote your business.
Use Influencer Marketing.
This is by far one of the best and quickest ways to promote your business. How does it work?
Well, what happens is a social media influencer is found in your niche (your choice of industry) and you pay them to promote your product for a fee, a discount code, or a free product.
Let’s say that you sell beauty products. You would then go on Instagram and type in beauty influencer, then select one based on the results. Their bio will often tell you how much to promote your product.
The key to finding the right influencer, is to take note of the number of followers they have and their engagement (this is the number of people that interact with their posts). It is best to find an influencer with a following of between 10,000 to 500,000 with a high engagement rate.
That means people are loving and engaging with their content. You don’t want someone with 1,000,000 followers yet their posts only have 1 like each. That is a red flag to say that their followers may have been generated by bots so they don’t have true engagement or simply put no one likes their content.
This is bad news for you. You want someone that will actively push your product to an audience that’s listening.
By using influencers you can get a lot of sales because they often have huge audiences that you get access to by promotion with them. You would not have been able to find those customers otherwise.
Some influencers also accept having a personal discount code made just for them. What this does is every time they share their code with their followers they get paid a percentage of the sale.
So you get your business promoted and they make money. Businesses can also get influencers to promote their products by sending free products that influencers promote by unboxing to their audience.
Businesses can use social media
Using social media to advertise their business and get thousands of eyes on their products. These platforms have access to billions of customers that are waiting to buy. These platforms allow you to create ads for a specific audience so your product has a greater chance of being bought. Social media ads are a very common way of promotion for businesses and often create quick sales.
So you create a budget for your ad then you are off running. It is best to get someone who knows how to run an ad manager to do this for you because otherwise, you can lose a lot of money if you don’t know what you are doing. Businesses should also know their target market before choosing a platform.
Facebook is known for an older audience 40 – 65+, Instagram is for an audience 30 – 45 and TikTok tends to be for 18 – 30. If you are selling beauty products for example who are you targeting? Men or Women? Single Moms? Married Women? Older Ladies?
Which country are these ladies from? When are they (the chosen group) online? Know your demographic and target audience by using your platform’s insights that will give you that information.
By word of mouth (Referrals)
This is by far one of the best ways to promote your business as no one can promote your business as well as a satisfied customer. They will recommend others to you based on how they were treated via customer service and the whole experience that they had with your business.
To get a promotion this way, all businesses have to do is simply ask the customer to refer the business to someone they know that might need the service. Word of a good business travels like wildfire!
By having giveaways.
Businesses can promote their business by having giveaways. We as human beings, we love stuff especially free and we love to win! It’s human nature to compete and be the person that gets the prize. For example, your business could say refer 1000 persons to us that shop and get a gift basket.
I know that is something I would definitely go for! You can even give away some of your own company products in a giveaway to introduce customers to it, which also leads back to point number 4. They will be able to tell others about it. Win-win for you. You get your product out there plus free promotion!
By running ads on conventional methods
Businesses can promote via conventional methods like radio, tv and newspapers. TV ad slots are often one of the biggest generators of advertising for a business.
They may cost a lot but they are totally worth it as you will have access to millions of viewers, especially if your ad is shown during a popular program time.
Why do you think companies like Pepsi and Doritos pay top dollar to advertise during the Super Bowl halftime? Because they know that everyone and their mama is watching the game so that’s a lot of marketing. Plus during the game what do people need? Snacks right?
So if those companies can associate your mind with their companies when you think of snacks, who do you think the consumer is more likely to buy from?
The answer is Pepsi or Doritos as they are right in your face! It’s marketing genius really. So find out from your local tv station about advertising and get the promotion running.
A lot of consumers also still listen to the radio so having a radio ad slot can also be beneficial to businesses. It may not have as much pull as television, but it is still a noteworthy pull as it puts you in the line of sight for different customers.
Newspapers are the last on the list, however, they do get your ads in front of thousands of people, who you would not have had access to otherwise.
So try using some conventional methods for promotion, or use all of them if you wish. Advertising can never be too much for a business. It is the blood that keeps your business flowing in a healthy way, which at the end of the day all businesses need to survive.
Test, review and learn
Regularly assess which of your postings is more effective. The majority of social networking networks include a dashboard that displays the most popular content in terms of views, likes, and shares. Create a theory explaining why the successful patterns were effective when you’ve spotted them, and then test your idea with further postings.
Be genuine: Utilize the social media personality of your business. Concentrate on what makes your company distinct. On social, authenticity is king.
Create a website and blog
If your business doesn’t have a website in today’s online environment, you might as well not even exist. Developing a website is always the first step in promoting your company online. Make sure it contains your contact information, information about your product or service, and marketing materials like endorsements, videos showing the product in action, and good reviews. Once you’ve finished, you can now add a blog.
You may establish yourself as a thought leader and draw in the appropriate kind of clients if you create a blog about your sector that is full of interesting issues and stimulating discussion. A blog encourages discussion and informs readers on topics that are important to them. You’ll start to get more business as soon as you establish yourself as the subject-matter expert in your field.
Leverage online reviews and publicity
Because almost everyone reads internet evaluations and believes them to be reliable, they are one of the most low-cost strategies to market your company. Create a method for collecting and managing consumer online reviews so you can highlight your best ones and address any issues that are brought up by unhappy customers.
News coverage is another free publicity strategy. If you have a particularly knowledgeable and devoted consumer, tell a writer covering local companies about them (with their permission and involvement, of course). For the most exposure, be sure to post this news on your social media.
Final Comments
You are now prepared to begin marketing your company since you know how to do it. A brand-new company typically lacks a sizable marketing budget and is in dire need of excellent marketing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t advertise your company in an effective and cost-effective manner. Business owners that are savvy and well-organized have a range of options to engage with clients and win their loyalty.