You’ve done the major legwork to create a business, and now it’s time to promote your business. You have started with that killer idea and jumped through all the legal hoops to get setup. Now that you’re all ready to go, you need to get customers in the door.
The unfortunate truth is that many owners don’t know how to promote their businesses. Around 40% of small businesses don’t even have a website. If you want to succeed, you must know how to put your good name out there and catch the attention of valuable customers.
Here is how to promote your business in 10 easy steps that you can start today.
1. Set up Google My Business:
This is perhaps the easiest step on this list. By putting your business on Google My Business, it becomes much easier to find information about your hours, location, and what you provide. It will also help you appear in local search results, which will undoubtedly translate to more customers.
2. Give Referral Bonuses
Many service-based businesses offer bonuses for referrals, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t either. By giving that incentive, you’re motivating customers to bring more business to your door. It could be a certain dollar amount off a purchase, a gift card, or a free item.
3. Create Social Media Pages
Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that social media is an important tool for any business. You don’t need to use every social media platform but having a few is good practice. Facebook and LinkedIn are the big ones, but your reach will largely depend on what you provide and who your ideal customer is.
4. Incorporate Call-to-Actions
Many businesses promote by using trendy lingo or trying to entertain others with a cute commercial. That rarely works for small businesses. You must tell your customers what you want them to do with each marketing effort, otherwise known as a call-to-action.
5. Learn to Write Well
Of all our tips on how to blog, this is the perhaps the most important one. You have to be a good writer. If you struggle with grammar, spelling, passive vs active voice, and more, then there is some work to be done. Your content could rank well and have all the SEO checkmarks needed to succeed, but if it’s not good writing, people won’t read it. Look at successful blogs in your industry. See some of the writing techniques they use to make their content interesting. What do you like about it? What would you do differently? Writing isn’t for everyone, so if you find yourself struggling or not having enough free time, then you could always hire someone or contract a freelancer to do it for you.
6. Offer Discounts
Sixty-four percent of online shoppers wait until an item goes on sale to buy it. By offering discounts, you can motivate customers to commit to products they’ve had on their wish lists for a while. Many businesses will offer discounts to those who subscribe to an email list, ensuring that they’ll receive routine advertisements.
7. Create an Email Strategy
Email marketing is still an effective way to promote your business. By coming up with a solid email strategy, you can set up a way of regularly engaging with your customers and rewarding them for opening your messages. Emails are extremely flexible and are often used in addition to other marketing channels.
8. Get Good Reviews
Good reviews are crucial for any business. When potential customers search your shop and those 4-5 star reviews pop up, they’re much more likely to choose you. As part of your social media or email marketing strategies, you can offer discounts to those who leave reviews.
9. Pay for Ads
While it is daunting to start putting money into your advertising, it’s a strategy that often pays off when done well. Google and Facebook both have commonly used and intuitive systems in place for you to advertise effectively.
10. Give Quality Products/Services:
Before you know how to promote your business, you must ensure that you product or service is top notch. If customers aren’t satisfied with what you provide, no amount of marketing can undo that. Be the best it is at what you do, and the results will speak for themselves.
