In the modern era, you don’t need a degree in marketing to promote your business, although professional help can be advantageous. If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur with a limited budget, you can still market your business on your own. The internet provides a broad range of marketing tools and, by familiarizing yourself with them, you can develop a marketing campaign to build recognition for your brand. The resources mentioned below can be used by anyone with an internet connection and a modest budget.
Start With a Website
Every business needs a website to market their business in the modern digital age, and setting one up has gotten cheaper and easier in recent years. To get started, you can use a pre-made template and inexpensive hosting service to help you get online. As your business grows, you can invest in a more advanced site that offers more features that your site’s visitors will enjoy. In the meantime, your website should have a blog, and you should post content to that blog on a regular basis. Your blog posts should be authoritative, contain relevant keywords, and they should be related to your field or industry.
Create a Social Media Presence
You should also be making regular posts on your social media accounts since this is the best way to build up an online following. Your posts should be relevant to your business, and they should always link back to your blog. Your time online should also be spent interacting with your followers. When you respond to a comment or like a post in which you’re mentioned, you’ll be encouraging more engagement. You’ll also increase the likelihood that the user interacting with your account will share your page with their own followers. Finally, make sure to use hashtags in every post to help other users find your content.
Participate in a Community Event
If your city hosts an annual fair or carnival, inquire about renting a booth to promote your business during the event. You can also get involved in conventions and conferences. If you believe you’re too busy to get involved in a public event, try using event management software to help you keep your participation organized. You can even use the software to create an event of your own on your business’ property. Public events draw crowds beyond the customers who are already loyal to your business, so a small investment in organizing an event can have a big payoff. Some ideas to consider include hosting a cookout, wet T-shirt contest, or car wash.
Partner With a Charity
Consumers love brands that show a measure of corporate responsibility. It doesn’t matter what charity you choose to support with your business as long as it’s a cause you feel strongly about. Additionally, there are many different ways to get involved. You can donate money or get more involved with specific charitable events. For example, consider donating some of your employees to help out with a food drive or trash clean-up project. You can also host events such as a fundraising march for cancer research. Once you start looking, you’ll find that there are multiple ways your business can get involved with philanthropic events. This will show consumers in the area that you care about them and about the community at large.
Reach Out to Past Customers
Another way you can take advantage of word-of-mouth advertising is by reaching out to consumers who have previously bought your products. Send them an email or text message that asks them to rate their experience with your business. In addition to helping you find out how you can improve your customer’s experiences, you’ll be showing your customers that you care about their opinions. You can also offer a discount on their next purchase or a free gift upon their next visit to your business. You’ll be getting old customers back into your business, and you’ll also be giving them a reason to boast about your business to others.
As your marketing efforts begin to pay off, you’ll be able to invest more capital into your advertising campaigns. In the meantime, you can expect gradual progress from utilizing these free and low-cost marketing tools. Don’t discount the power of word-of-mouth advertising in the modern digital age. The internet is a powerful tool that can benefit new or small businesses in expanding their reach.
