Ways You Should Be Promoting Your Business
Promoting your business has never been easier. You don’t need a huge marketing department or budget to get your name out there. Options for smaller companies are plentiful and cost-effective; you just need to know where to look. Here are a few ideas to help you promote your business.
Merchandise
Branded ‘merch’ is not just for the big players; YouTubers are the latest to the party, children up and down the country are adding their favorite YouTuber’s merch to their present lists. Popular merch you’ll see are branded t-shirts and soft toys carrying the YouTubers logo. It is a clever marketing strategy that increases brand awareness at a low cost. Particularly by way of comparison to the more traditional methods such as TV ads or billboards.
Branded merch allows you to get your business name out there and build up your brand recognition. Giving away branded items can also be a great incentive to pre-existing or new customers. They are receiving something for free, which everybody likes to do, but at the same time, they are carrying around your company name and potentially telling their friends about it. Another great piece of merch is branded t-shirts, and depending on your business, these can do wonders. Events, for example, can give out embroidered t-shirts with the relevant logo and/or information of the event and the next one, think music concerts listing show dates. Customers also love this type of merchandise as it shows their participation in an event. Do your research on how you can utilize this type of branded merchandise; start by taking a look at screen printer services to see what they can offer when branding your merchandise and how it might work for you.
SEO
Moving away from the more traditional forms of advertising to the digital world. If you have a business, chances are you have a website. Does it get many visitors? Would you like to have more? This is where SEO comes in. Search engine optimization is the process of trying to make sure web pages appear on page one of Google, bringing more traffic to your website and, in turn, generate more leads and more business. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as it sounds; it is a multi-dimensional task. Trying to rank on Google in an already very crowded marketplace requires a particular skill set. Do some research and consider hiring professionals to help you improve your SEO.
Social Media
If your business isn’t on social media, it should be. Social media is the social hangout place of your audience. It is where they spend their time, talk to friends and even shop so it stands to reason that you should be there too. When done correctly, social media allows you to improve your brand awareness, increase brand loyalty, and generate more business leads. You don’t need to be on all social media platforms. Consider your audience and what channels they are most likely to use and start there. You do, however, need to spend a lot of time on it. Growing a following will not happen overnight, and you need to be present to engage with your audience as much as possible. Think how many hours a day your audience is likely to spend scrolling social media - they are showing up with or without you, so make sure you don’t miss out. The ever-expanding world of social media has seen the development of social media marketing companies. If social media marketing seems a task out of your depth, then consider taking on the specialists.
The cost of opening up a physical store can be great. If you’re going to do so, we highly recommend keeping these three things in mind. They’re not the most obvious costs to account for, but before your first week of business gets underway, you’ll need to see about them.