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From Facebook adverts and newsletters to traditional print and PR, there are so many ways to promote your small business. But how do you know which is best? Here, we’ll walk you through the seven most popular ways to market and advertise a small business, both online and offline...
Also known as PR, media relations is simply getting articles about you and your business in publications and on websites. Perhaps you’ve won a new contract, launched a new product or service, appointed new people or achieved record results.
It might be that something quirky has happened within your business or you’ve reached a milestone, such as an anniversary, or you’ve sold a significant number of items. Another way to get coverage is by giving advice or having strong views about a subject and being prepared to openly state them.
Social media is a great way to connect with people who already engage with your brand and introduce the business to people who are yet to discover you. Recent research revealed that 58 per cent of consumers visit a brand’s social pages before visiting their website. But before you begin developing a social media marketing campaign, you need to consider your business goals.
Do you want to reach a wider audience, generate more traffic to your website or increase sales? It is also important to understand who your target audience is, what platforms they are likely to use, and what kind of content they will find useful and engaging.
Targeting specific audiences, executing data-led strategies and delivering measurable results are only a few of the benefits of marketing your business via digital advertising. The main digital advertising channels are PPC (Pay-Per-Click), display and paid social.
All of them run across mobile and desktop devices. Digital advertising can be a minefield, but it’s completely transparent and accountable – you will be able to see, down to the penny, where your budget has gone and which aspects of your campaign have been the most effective.
To be effective in magazines and newspapers, your advertisement needs to be both big and bold. If your advertisement doesn’t stop someone in their tracks and make them take notice, then you will have wasted your money on buying the space.
The headline, text and images you use are crucial. Rather than focusing on what you want to say, think about your target customers – what do they want or need to hear from you? Get inside their heads, think about a message that will resonate with them. Focus on the benefits of your product or service rather than the features.
Direct mail can be wonderfully effective, provided you follow three key rules:
- Use good quality data - If you manage your own database, make sure it’s clean and up-to-date. Alternatively, consider buying data from a reputable broker – it’s far more affordable than you might think.
- Send content that is relevant to the recipient - It’s pointless promoting a children’s nursery to a database of over 70s.
- Make sure your mailer piques interest by standing out and featuring intriguing messages that resonate with the recipient.
Although direct mailers are more expensive than e-shots, they can be far more impactful and effective. Emails can be easily deleted and go unread, whereas it’s far harder to ignore a physical mailer which also has a longer shelf life, especially if the creative content is strong.
It has become essential for most companies to have a well-optimised website and this is where SEO is crucial. In order for your webpages to show up for relevant search terms or ‘keywords’ in search engines like Google, they need to be optimised across three different areas: technical, on-page and off-page.
Technical SEO ensures that Google understands and can easily and quickly access all pages you want to rank. Having a technically sound website is only one aspect of great SEO. Ultimately, users want to read about your product or services, so you need high quality, engaging content that’s optimised in order for Google to rank it.
The key to generating great sales is being able to communicate clearly and in a timely manner to your target audience. Email marketing is great for creating short-term urgency and adding incremental revenue as part of your regular marketing activity. You can use emails tactically to drive a limited time offer, end of season sale or to promote a new service.
Email marketing is:
- Cost-effective
- Measurable
- Immediate
- Scalable
- Efficient
The above is an excerpt from a detailed guide to marketing your business that appears on the X-Forces Enterprise Knowledge Exchange Hub. The Hub is free to join and packed with expert advice across a huge range of topics vital to the success of your small business.
The above is an excerpt from a detailed guide to marketing your business that appears on the X-Forces Enterprise Knowledge Exchange Hub. The Hub is free to join and packed with expert advice across a huge range of topics vital to the success of your small business.
