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Today we will be going over some things I've learned about advertising your small business. I will be giving away some real jewels in this post so hold on and enjoy the ride. First of all its a Thursday night well now Friday morning at 12 Am. I am not out hanging with friends or even sleep. I am up awake, thinking of ways to get your attention and bring you to this website. I am a hungry entrepreneur doing what it takes. I NEVER STOP WORKING.
These are the things you will need to do to get where you want to be.
To promote locally you will need to get out there and get dirty. You will definitely need to network. That means printing some business cards out and taking them with you everywhere. Not only do I do this but I also keep stickers on me and stick them in random places. You can also get some business decals for your automobile. They sell magnetic and vinyl decals for your vehicle. Find out the prices for billboards in your area. You can rent them and put your banner or advertisement in high traffic areas. There are billboards locally set up soon you get off of I95 exit to enter our city you will always see the advertisement there. Maybe your city or town has something similar.
Get out here and go to the local events and network. In our city, they are always having something downtown rather its a festival or other local activities. You can find out about these activities in newspapers or social media groups. You Do not leave not one stone unturned. Let everyone know who you are and what you do. You can do that by wearing you custom t-shirts with your business logo on it. That goes for wearing hats, polos, and hoodies. You want people to be aware of your business. Don't forget to smile. You want to represent your business as being friendly.
Ask your friends and family to spread the words. Pay some of the kids in your community to hand out your flyers or business cards. Make sure they do it properly and are not soliciting in the wrong places. Check with your local laws on that. The best free business is word of mouth. You are getting vouched for without needing to spend a dollar. Make sure your family and friends have enough of your marketing material. Keep them with shirts and business cards just like you.
Volunteer at your local soup kitchens or at the local boys and girls club is not only great to do but you get to connect with the community. You can do things for the homeless such as give them free t-shirts, hoodies, and hats. You can also do an inexpensive pizza party for the homeless. You can order $5 hot and ready pizzas from lil ceasars. That's 40 pizzas for only $200. You can let others know what you are trying to do and maybe more people will show up with more food and volunteer to give them rides.
Sponsor a team in your community. This is something that is relatively easy for us. We have sponsored the girl's scouts with custom T-shirts that they needed. Maybe you have a business or service that can help someone. You may even be able to make a monetary donation. We print t-shirts for groups with sponsors names on the back of the shirts all the time. Maybe your business could be one of the names on the back or front of the t-shirt.
Television Commercials and radio commercials are good ways to advertise. Especially if you have a jingle that is catchy. They also cost a lot less than you think. Today you can make a high-quality commercial Ranging from $500 or less. To advertise on television locally is around $1 to $10 everytime they show it.
One of the first things your business is going to need is a website. If you do not know what to name your website make sure you try to use your business name. You are going to want a website before you do anything else. That way when you create your marketing material such as business cards etc you have your website address already. Making a website is not that expensive these days but you will want a professional website. I warn you not to use one of those websites builders for your website. The good thing is your domain name will be transferable if you do need to switch platforms.
You can advertise your business on Classifieds websites such as craigslist and Angieslist. There are sections that you can choose from such as services or products for sale. If you are selling products you definitely will want to sell your items on eBay and other websites like Amazon Facebook marketplace and Etsy. Websites like those can bring in new customers.
Join an online community such as a forum. Forums seem like they are dying because of things like facebook groups etc but they are here to stay. Joining an online community gives you access to years worth of information that others like your self may have asked or looked for. It is a great way to learn. You can also give you expertise and help others out. That is a great way to show them and tell everyone else about your business and what you have to offer. Being apart of a community is great and you should not join one with the sole intention of advertising. You might get kicked out the group for spamming. You should really consider being an active member of the group.
Learning Seo is not for everyone. If you are running a business you most likely won't even have the time to make what you are learning effectively. For those that are stubborn, it can save you some bucks in the long run but cost you more in time in the long run. That goes back to you can't be a successful businessman and think that you are going to run a business doing everything your self. You will eventually spend more time learning and completing other tasks then the service your business offers. What I'm trying to say is Just pay someone.
Just contact someone that is familiar with online marketing and let them know that you want your business to be highly recognized in your area. That will be the cheapest and the most effective way. You can branch out later but your main goal at this time should be local unless you have an online business. If that is the case then you may not need to even try local SEO. Just talk your ideas over with the consultant and they will get you started.
Using Google AdWords is a great tool. Let me be the first to warn you it is not cheap. You will want to have a budget of at least $300 a month. I believe with this budget you can get the google specialist to help you set your ads and run your campaign for you. The budget for them to help you might be a little bit more but worth the service you will receive.
Starting a blog can be a great idea. Blogging is time-consuming but you can interact with your customers and let them know whats new with your company and you can also write articles that can help others. If you get really good at blogging you can even use it to reach out to new customers. Did I mention you can also make money from blogging?
Press releases might not be as effective as they use to unless your company is really known. You can still get quality websites to pick up your press release and share it with others. This will bring others back to your website or to look you up and find out about you.
Social media is one of the most important resources for online marketing right now. It is free and easy to reach others. With the accessibility you have to others these platforms will want you to pay for ads so be prepared if you plan on taking it to the next level. Again learning how to correctly advertise on a platform like Facebook while using ads is not easy. You may want to hire a specialist to do this.
If you really want to be successful you are going to need to either be creative or pay someone to be creative for you. If you think about it how many other businesses do the service you do or sell the products that you sell? You will need to stand out and be the company that they remember. Are they going to remember you for a certain jingle? Maybe a controversy logo or business name. Have you thought about using a vanity phone number? A vanity phone number is using the last 4 numbers to spell a word. There are a lot of creative ideas that your competitors are not using. Think of them and use them. Think of ways on how to make your customer service better.
7 Comment(s)
Those are all very good ideas for an actual business. For us in the blogging world some of those are still fantastic ideas. We pretty much have to advertise to get our word out. I think advertising is the huge key once we have the content.
Promoting business locally and online both is a perfect idea but I'm more into online promoting since we have a large online community. People nowadays are more onto online thingy. I think it has a less cost advertising your business thru online.
This is really the best way to promote business! Staying creative and positive are always a big help.
Catching people's attention is definitely a huge aspect of marketing. You don't want to mold into the background with everyone else.
Yes these are all so important! I always forget to promote myself locally so I need to add that to my list of things to-do.
Thanks for these awesome tips.I don't sell online but my sister does. I will have to let her know about this. She and her husband's hobby of making hand-sewn leather wallets, key holders, bags, and belts is now a thriving business. However, I think she should invest more in marketing their product to reach more customers. I will share this post with her.
Online marketing is my jam! I love promoting online, especially on social media. So many ways to promote nowadays.
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