Being a small business owner is a brave yet challenging thing. We are glad that you decided to get out of your comfort zone and start your business. However, there are many obstacles you will have to pass in order to improve your business and potentially achieve the long-term business goals that you established.
When starting a small business, there are many ways you can build business credit in a quick and efficient manner. Starting a limited liability corporation (LLC) is one of the best ways to do this, as banks and other financial institutions are more likely to trust official business entities with loans and grants. Learn more about business credit and how to build it quickly.
The quality of the products or services needs to be at the highest level. That is the only way to impress the customers and get their trust. But, that is not the end of your job. If you do not know how to approach and reach your target audience, then you will certainly have a big problem. No one will know that your products even exist if you do not use a good marketing strategy.
On the other hand, keep in mind that every small business in the world is aware of the importance that quality of the products/services has. Because of that, you are not going to be the only one who is going to offer the quality. A good marketing strategy is the only tool that can split you from the mass of other businesses.
That is the reason why we would like to highlight a couple of useful strategies for marketing your small business online. You will certainly have to digitalize your business and get more familiar with the way online marketing functions. Here are a couple of tactics that we suggest you use!
1. Email Marketing
There is a big lie that is spreading over the online world in the last couple of years. After the creation of social media, many people believe that emails are no longer a source of communication. The same rule counts when we talk about advertising. Many small business owners believe they will not reach good results if they decide to promote their business via email. But, that’s wrong!
There are multiple ways how you can get the emails of your target audience. For instance, you can allow them to subscribe to your newsletter by entering their email address. On the other hand, you can give them discounts in case they enter their email address (the only requirement). This is the first stage of the funnel known as a lead magnet.
Logically, you will need to understand the needs and characteristics of your target audience. That way, you will manage to write content and design an email in a way that will attract your customers and convince them to purchase your products. However, do not be too promotive! Instead, focus on explaining who you are and which values you provide.
Why is email marketing good? Well, you will not have to spend a lot of money, the reach is going to be outstanding while the conversation with customers will somehow be personal as people will feel like you are directly talking to them. You can also easily track and optimize the results you achieve which is an amazing opportunity as you will know whether you need to change or improve something!
2. Content Marketing & SEO
You need to find a way to distribute valuable content to your customers and try to grab their attention with some important information about your business and products. We are not talking here about the direct promotion where you will write about the characteristics of your products. Instead of that, you should focus on the long-term results. Step by step, you will experience growth in terms of the number of visitors, leads, and customers. But, you also need to know what you are exactly doing!
Generally, this part of the job is not easy and requires a high level of creativity as well as technical knowledge about Search Engine Optimization. You can, for instance, optimize your content for SEO by adding relevant keywords, backlinks, etc. However, keep in mind that you do not write for robots. That is the reason why your content needs to be optimized for readers as well.
Logically, the textual form of content is not the only option you have. Because of that, despite blog posts, you can boost your brand awareness via online courses, podcasts, videos, and other stuff.
As a rule of thumb, people that do not know how to handle this form of promotion will usually hire an expert that will help them establish a good marketing plan. Because of that, we suggest you connect with marketing experts like Paul Aroloye that will help you reach your goals. Doesn’t this seem like a legit solution that will save your money and time?
3. Organize Webinars
As previously mentioned, the purpose of online marketing is not to focus on the direct promotion of your business. Instead of that, you should strive to provide something valuable for people and convince them to become your loyal customers. That is the reason why webinars (online seminars) are a great option. There are multiple forms you can choose from such as demonstrations, discussions, and presentations. Which option you will choose depends on the goals that you have and the industry that you are working at.
Generally speaking, successful businesses use webinars to get leads for email marketing. However, they can be good for one more thing – you will manage to boost your credibility and reputation for the existing subscribers that are regularly following your work.
Indeed, typical videos are also good, but webinars will certainly improve the engagement rate. For example, the webinar can be a typical live Q&A where you can answer all the questions that they have.
4. Use the Impact of Influencers
Last, but not least option that you can use to advertise online is influencers. Collaborating with influencers on social media is going to be a good option only if those individuals are connected with your industry somehow. It is not the point to find profiles that have millions of followers and thousands of likes on every post. Instead of that, you need to find individuals that truly have a trustworthy relationship with their followers. Despite that, as mentioned, they should be connected with your industry.
Let’s say that you sell sports equipment. Would someone who posts content about law or economy going to be a good choice? Of course, the answer to that question is NO. Because of that, we strongly recommend you analyze the influencer you plan to collaborate with before even contacting him/her.
