Whether you are in the business of peddling products, selling services or delivering information, the right marketing strategy is essential if you want to give your business the best chance of success. For start-ups, the challenge is even greater as, without a steady flow of income from existing customers, it’s difficult to quantify the right level of spending or to establish how effective your reach is. Here are five strategies to help get your business off the ground without breaking the bank.
Use social media
Whether you choose to hire a social media manager or to do the work yourself, the power of sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter cannot be ignored. The key is that your primary aim should be to provide information to users that is both relevant and useful. If you do that, potential customers who are searching for the products or services you offer will quickly find their way to you.
Social media is also a great platform to publish useful and shareable articles, engage with customers and share promotions and sales. Being active on social media also makes your business more trustworthy.
Set up a blog
Every business can benefit from a well thought out blog. Depending on the field in which you operate, you could aim to become an authority in a particular area, providing useful content on your own site but also answering questions on sites such as Quora or Reddit in order to further establish your credentials. As with other forms of content, the key is to provide your readers with genuine value. If you achieve that, they will keep coming back for more and your business will grow as a result. Blogging is something we strongly recommend at CurrantWeb. Our SEO West Midlands team implement this strategy with all of our clients & produce some outstanding results.
Make videos
No matter how fascinating a blog post or article may be, there will be people out there who have neither the time nor the inclination to read it. A far easier way of grabbing attention is to create a series of video presentations. These might be short films that explain new ways of using your products, insights into what goes on behind the scenes of your company or useful tutorials in which your products play only a minor role. Such films need not be slick, expensive productions – so long as they are authentic and useful, they will find an audience.
Master email marketing
The vast majority of visitors to your website are unlikely to make an immediate purchase. Instead, they may head off to sites of competing products or services in order to compare. Capturing the contact information for such users is essential and gives you a head start when it comes to finding new customers. Offer visitors something compelling and irresistible in exchange for their email, such as a free eBook to download, a money-off coupon for your service or the chance to join in with a webinar in a related field. Such options cost little but can dramatically boost the number of customers who sign up.
Be different
If your business is truly unique, make sure the world knows about it. However, even if you are offering a similar product or service to dozens of existing companies, you should still do your best to be as quirky and original as you can. The more you can stand out from the crowd, the more awesome your business will seem to be.