You have successfully launched your small business and now comes the tricky part – you have to market it.
The process of marketing your business can be somewhat confusing. With so many marketing options, tips, and tools available, choosing the ones that are the best for your business can be hard.
That’s why we’ve compiled this article that contains 7 simple, creative, and inexpensive marketing ideas that will help you grow your small business.
1. Social Media
With their amazing functionalities, social media platforms are the best channel for small businesses to connect and communicate effectively with their customers.
However, that doesn’t mean that you need to use every social media network out there. You can also hire social media marketing agency like We Interactive who can do research to determine where your target audience is present and then use your insights to develop a social media plan.
Each platform allows you to market your business in a different way. For instance, Instagram is great for sharing beautiful images of your offerings, whereas Twitter is excellent as a customer support tool.
2. Newsletter Emailing
Email newsletters are an ideal way to present special offers and new products to your loyal customers. However, if your email newsletters are not well designed and executed, they will most likely end up in the spam folder.
Depending on your professional field, it’s important to find the newsletter that best fits your needs. A good business newsletter delivers fresh content, updates, and upcoming products directly to your subscribers’ inboxes to keep them engaged and entertained.
Customers like receiving newsletters from brands, with a whopping 70% of email readers opening emails from brands in search of a discount, coupon, or deal. Experiment with different elements of your newsletter (such as the copy, delivering times, etc.) to find out what makes your recipients open your newsletter or, even better, click on links and CTAs.
3. Start a Blog
When done properly, blogging will help attract more visitors to your site and convert readers into buying customers. It can also help you establish yourself as an authority in your industry by building trust in your brand.
Another advantage of blogging is the fact that it gives you an opportunity to implement SEO tactics that will make your site rank higher in search engines and drive even more traffic. Find the best keywords that relate to your specific audience, and then distribute these words and phrases throughout your content.
4. Giveaways and Competitions
Everybody loves a chance to get a freebie with minimum effort. Competitions and giveaways are an excellent (and very cheap) way to boost brand awareness, expand your audience, and collect potential customer data such as emails.
You can run contests and giveaways on your own or you can team up with another similar brand and run one together. If you both market the contest on your accounts, you’ll be introduced to a whole new audience.
5. Team Up With an Influencer
Consider collaborating with an influencer relevant to your market. Do some research to find out who your target customers are following and then reach out to them to see if they would be interested in working together. The main question is micro-influencers vs macro-influencers, who should you work with?
In general, small businesses benefit from micro-influencers. i.e. influencers with smaller but highly engaged followings whose fees are fairly affordable.
Working with an influencer can help you increase brand awareness, build trust with customers, boost engagement, and so on.
6. Establish a Customer Loyalty Program
While gaining new customers is crucial, keeping the ones you already have is even more important. A customer loyalty program can be very beneficial for your business as it shows your existing customers how you value and appreciate them.
This is where you can get very creative, thinking of ways to entice people to come back for repeated purchases. You can offer small gifts on their birthdays, a free product for every ten orders, 5% off their next order – the possibilities are endless.
7. Customer Reviews
Use your existing customer’s own words to tell potential customers what makes you so great. According to BrightLocal, more than 90% of local consumers use reviews to determine whether a company has a good or bad reputation, and over 70% of them don’t decide to take an action (download, make a purchase, etc.) until they’ve read customer testimonials.
Encourage your customers to leave a review on your social media accounts or your website. You can even offer an extra incentive (such as a small discount on their next order) if they leave a review.
Then, use the testimonials in blog posts, social media posts, feature them on your product’s landing page, or even on a dedicated testimonial’s page.
Final Thoughts
Creative marketing is much easier today when we have so many options to choose from. You can experiment with different approaches to see which ones fit your business and audience best, but the most convenient way to reach as many people as possible is by combining free and paid marketing tactics. Trying different methods and strategies might generate new original ideas and increase the chances of success for your business.
