Promoting a business is almost like creating a web of a spider. You have to start your journey from a single source and, eventually, branch out to make your strategies even more diversified and efficient. Doesn’t it sound too good to be true?
Well, in truth, how to promote your business can be pretty intricate, especially for someone who isn’t accustomed to it. If you take even a single wrong step, it can affect your branding awareness, business operating, and many other things.
So, here, we will walk you through a dedicated guide to offer you an idea about promoting your business. However, before that, we are going to share some insights on the common obstacles of marketing. Let’s begin!
Marketing Challenges – A Brief Overview
The primary aim of marketing or promoting your business is all about improving your overall online earning. However, the road to achieving your goal isn’t easy at all. During your venture, you will encounter several challenges, which may affect your carefully-crafted strategies. Here are a few of them –
- The issue of gradually-decreasing online visibility due to SEO purposes
- Not being able to keep up with the strategies and trends in the field of marketing
- Trusting the wrong organizations or services when outsourcing different marketing activities
- Producing poorly-written content and making a mess while delivering them
- Inconsistently executing your marketing strategies
- Choosing the wrong social media platform for promotional purposes. For example, you cannot use Twitter to promote your delivery goods business
- Not having enough resources, such as people, budget, or time
Promoting Your Business – A Step-By-Step Guide
According to several social media marketing services providers, you need to consider five things when creating a promotional strategy. These are –
- Personal selling
- Advertising
- Sales promotion
- Direct marketing, and
- Public relations
So, we have curated our guide while keeping all these aspects in mind. Hopefully, it will be beneficial for your business.
Step – 1: Consider Listing Your Service Online
Creating a website is, indeed, the first step to making your business visible online. However, your job doesn’t end there. In addition to this, you will also need to list them on Google Places and Yahoo! Local. Bing also offers a similar type of service.
So, you can sign up for it as well!
But what’s the reason behind such a suggestion?
By listing your business online, you can make it much more visible than usual. People will find you easily, especially when they are searching by naming one of your services. Besides, you can also get more authentic reviews through this method.
Hence, it will be a win-win situation for you.
Step – 2: Create A Blog
In recent years, content marketing has become a substantial part of promoting a business. And, for good reasons as well!
For starters, writing relevant blogs on your website can help you improve your website’s SEO. So, you will rank higher on Google and generate organic traffic. Additionally, it will also become easier for you to build trust and maintain your online identity.
Content writing will also help you attract the attention of your potential consumers. So, you can create different online marketing strategies suitable for your purpose.
Pro-Tip: Use a CTA at the end of every blog to ask your readers to perform a task. It can be about clicking on a link, buying a product, or anything as such.
Step – 3: Opt For Social Media
There was a time when most businesses used to consider social media as just another exposure-gaining tool. However, now, it has become a must-investment for an organization. Let us explain the reasons behind this phenomenon.
- Social media helps you build trust and recognition by keeping you connected with your clients and buyers.
- You can gain new consumers and keep them engaged by posting new updates and images daily.
- Increasing your web traffic will become easier if you paste a link to your website at the end of your posts.
- Launch ads and events on Facebook or Instagram without spending too much money.
Social media is all about conversing with new people and converting them into your consumer. So, if you can play the social media game correctly, it can turn out to be an excellent weapon for your marketing future.
Step – 4: Offer An Introductory Discount
We, as consumers, like buying high quality products and services. But, do you know what do we love even more? The answer is – purchasing them at a discounted price.
So, when you are starting up your business, try providing an introductory reduced-rate offer to your clients.
The deal can come in various forms, such as –
- Offering a coupon or voucher with a purchase
- Providing your products or services at a discounted price
- “Purchase one and get one for free” deal
- Gifts for making a referral
- Doubling up the points of an already-established loyalty program
- Joint promotion with another business (preferably from a different niche)
Step – 5: Share Customer Reviews
If written positively, a customer review can sometimes work as a base of trust for your potential clients. But, wait, let us tell you how you can make it work.
So, to begin with, you have to offer an introductory discount on your best products. This way, it will be easier for you to attract new consumers. Now, once they buy something, you can turn to their social media or email and ask them to provide a review on your offering. A customer testimonial about how you supported the customer with your product or service, the customer purchase process, etc., will also work perfectly.
Remember, sometimes, you will get negative reviews for your products as well. So, instead of ignoring or deleting these comments, you should try answering everything correctly. It will make your clients consider you as a helpful and trustworthy individual.
Step – 6: Utilize The Convenience Of Targeted Email Marketing
Once you have built a decent consumer base, you can start utilizing the benefits of email marketing to the fullest. Here are some tips that may help you out –
- Send similar emails, which your client hasn’t opened, try using another subject line.
- Write an enticing preheader text.
- Add all of your CTA buttons contextually (and not forcefully).
- Trim the subject to make it stand out amongst mobile users.
- Try using a cliffhanger in the subject of your mail.
- Maintain your email list properly. Remove invalid emails or bounced email addresses.
- Keep your email short and to the point.
Summing It Up!
Building a business empire from scratch and garnering an excellent consumer base isn’t a “single day’s work.” The road to achieving your goals will be filled with failures and obstacles. So, being patient and determined will be essential for you.
In any case, if you are encountering any hardships while promoting your business, make sure to adhere to our guidelines. It will help you get a headstart and build an excellent base for your future strategies.