Top business promotion strategies
Get a social media presence
Almost 83 percent of Australian consumers are active social media users. One third say that they look at a company’s social media profiles before deciding to do business with them. Social media has become a powerful business marketing tool. Despite this, many Australian SMBs overlook social media marketing. When done properly, establishing a social media presence can be a highly effective and low-cost way to promote your business. Here are some ways you can use to attract attention to your business on social media:
- Host a social media competition: Giving away something for free in exchange for social media engagement is a great way to grow your reach. As you probably know, people love getting something for free. You don’t have to splurge on the prize, either. It could be something as simple as a product bundle. Ask your followers to like, comment, share and tag a friend to enter the competition.
- Share user-generated content: People tend to pay attention when other consumers talk about how much they love a product. This is because they see it as more trustworthy and less biased than branded content. Encourage your customers to share photos, videos and testimonials where they talk about using your products. Regularly search for your brand name or hashtag to find social media posts about your business. Just remember to ask for permission before from the original user before sharing the post to your page.
- Use videos: You only need to look at the success of TikTok to see how powerful video marketing is. Be sure to upload plenty of short videos to your page. Some video ideas: customer reviews; a behind-the-scenes look into your business; video tutorials about how to use your products or a livestream co-hosted with influencers who are passionate about your brand.
Build a website
A professional, visually appealing website is a must-have for any business. Even if prospective customers find you on social media, they will want to check out your website before deciding if they want what you have to offer. A good website doesn’t just promote your business. It tells the story of your business, conveys your brand’s personality, reflects your employer brand, attracts prospective employees and highlights what makes your business unique.
Creating a website with a professional look and feel is an investment. A basic small business website costs on average between $1,200 and $2,000 a year to maintain, while an ecommerce website can cost anywhere between $3,000 and $10,000 annually. However, it’s money well spent given the growth it will drive and the fact that it promotes your business around the clock.
Implement search engine optimisation (SEO)
Once you’ve created your stunning business website, the next step is to make sure it doesn’t get lost at the bottom of the Google search results. To do that, you need to optimise your website for search engines, namely, Google. Search engine optimisation (SEO) refers to all the things you do to improve the appearance and position of your website in the search engine results. In other words, it’s how you make your website the first one, or close to the first one, people see when they search for the products or services you offer.
Some search results appear at the top as ads. The unpaid listings below them are called organic search results. Search engines use algorithms to determine which search results are the most relevant to the query. SEO aims to align your website with these algorithms to increase its position in the search results. You can pay an SEO specialist to do the work for you or you can do it yourself for free, but it will require some research. Some ways you can use SEO to promote your website include:
- use relevant (to your industry and location) keywords in specific parts of your website
- regularly produce original, high-quality content and add tagged images
- ensure your page loads quickly and has good security.
Create a business blog
As mentioned in the last point, producing your own content is an SEO tactic that helps to attract traffic to your website, and therefore, customers to your business. And one of the best ways to produce original content is to start a business blog. A blog is collection of informative and educational articles on topics that relate to your industry. In addition to the SEO advantages, sharing your expertise through blog articles helps to build your brand authority and credibility. The topics that you write about should be targeted towards the questions and terms your ideal customers are entering into search engines. You’ll need to do some research to find out what these keywords are. Various tools can help you with this, such as Google’s Keyword Planner. The more content you produce with these keywords, the more likely it is that people will find your website.
Email marketing
Email marketing is highly effective, with a return on investment that beats almost any other marketing strategy. So, it’s an important one to have in your marketing toolkit. Email marketing is versatile and usually involves sending newsletters, seasonal offers and promotions to your customer base. It allows you to maintain a relationship with potential customers who aren’t ready to buy and keep them connected with your business, so that you stay at the front of their minds.
Start by creating something valuable that you can give away for free to people who visit your website. Digital info products work well. Then, create and send your new leads a series of emails that introduce them to your offer, establish your authority in your industry and inform them about relevant topics of interest.
How to promote your business locally
As a small business, you rely on your local community. So, here are some ways you can spread the word about your business in your local area.
Attend local events
As crucial as having an online presence is, it’s important to promote your business through as many channels as possible. Get away from your computer and meet people out in the community through local events, such as:
- networking events
- local markets
- craft fairs
- trade shows
Set up a booth to sell your products and don’t forget to take along some promotional products, such as brochures or gift bags. Your local council might be able to give you information about events in your area.
Host an event
Why not consider hosting your own event as well? Hosting a local event is a great way to raise the visibility of your business. You could have the event in your business or somewhere in the community where your ideal customers often gather, such as a local library. Choose an event that is best suited to your business. It might be a how-to workshop where you teach people how to use your products or a party, festival, charity event or anniversary sale. There are any number of options and it doesn’t need to be done on a huge budget.
Cross-promote with another local business
Running a promotion with another local business is a cost-effective marketing strategy and a great way to extend your reach. It works best if you team up with a business that provides a complementary product or service but isn’t a direct competitor. For example, let’s say you sell locally produced wine; you could join forces with a local cheesemaker. Some cross-promotion campaigns you could run include:
- offer discounts via each other’s email list
- promote each other on social media
- share the cost of setting up a pop-up shop
- co-host a webinar
- write an article as a guest blogger.
Advertise locally and offline
Place an ad in a local newspaper or magazine or through a local radio or TV station. These traditional paid advertising channels can help you reach your local target market. Make sure that you track the effectiveness of these offline strategies. One way you can do this is by using call tracking numbers or custom codes for your promotions or coupons. These allow you to measure the number of customers contacting you via your offline advertisements.
Turn your employees into brand ambassadors
When you demonstrate good management and treat your employees well, they will naturally become your best brand ambassadors. They will want to tell everyone they know about how much they like your business. You could encourage your employees to write articles for your blog, get them involved in the local events you attend, run family and friend promotions and encourage them to create or share social media posts.
