My last blog was on the benefits of blogging for small businesses, but blogging isn’t the only tool available to market your small business online. Here are 20 other marketing tools business owners can explore to market their small business themselves:
1. Email Marketing: Email marketing is a cost-effective way to reach out to existing customers and keep them engaged with your business. You can share news, updates, and promotions, and even segment your audience for more targeted messaging which hopefully will result in more sales.
2. Social Media Marketing: Social media marketing is an excellent way to reach a wider audience and build relationships with your customers. You can create and publish content on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share information, promote your brand, and interact with your audience. The more quality content you post online the greater chance you have of your followers interacting and sharing your posts. This is one area where both quality and quantity matter. You want to be consistent with uploading content and you also want to be conscious of which social media platforms your targeted customers or audience utilize the most.
3. Video Marketing: Video marketing is gaining popularity and is an excellent tool for engaging with your audience. You can create videos that showcase your products, services, and brand, and share them on your website, social media channels, and YouTube. However, you can also go live with webinars on zoom or Facebook live. Again, quality and quantity matter so be consistent with your posts and put some effort into them.
4. Content Marketing: Content marketing involves creating and sharing engaging, informative, and valuable content that your target audience will find useful. This can include blog posts, articles, e-books, webinars, e-courses, infographics, memes, podcasts and more. This is the content you use to post on your social media, your website, and anywhere else your target audience is. Don’t be afraid to get creative and think outside the box when creating your content. Research what’s working and what’s trending but be different and don’t be afraid to try new things.
5. Search Engine Marketing: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) involves promoting your website through paid advertising strategies such as PPC (Pay-per-click), display advertising, and Google AdWords. Use the data from these advertisements to figure out what’s working and what’s not so that you can make the necessary changes to be successful and gain more sales, clients, or a bigger audience.
6. Influencer Marketing: Influencer marketing involves partnering with influencers in your industry or niche to promote your brand and products. This can help you reach out to a wider audience and build brand awareness. Doing guest blogs is a good example of this type of marketing
7. Webinars: Hosting webinars is a great way to engage with your audience, build your brand, and demonstrate your expertise in your industry. You can host an online or even an in person or hybrid webinar and teach your audience about your product, how-to, or get creative! Either way make sure your webinar relates to the products you're selling or relates to your business so that you can end in advertising it. Another good idea is to host a contest during the webinar. Free products will bring more people to attend your webinar and engage and this means more potential customers. Checkout Live storm the #1 webinar platform for small business
8. Podcasts: Similarly, producing and sharing podcasts is a great way to build authority, share your knowledge, and engage with your audience. A podcast gives your target audience the confidence to trust you and your knowledge of your business. Once you gain loyal fans/customers/followers the possibilities are endless. I always advise people to start with building a brand and becoming an online influencer. Loyal followers are everything in business and without them you’ll fail as any business owner.
9. Guest Blogging: Writing as a guest blogger for someone else’s posts in your niche is a great way to reach out to new audiences, build relationships, and establish yourself as an authority. Likewise you can be a guest speaker on a podcast or a guest on someone else’s webinar and you can have guests that will bring their audience to you.
10. Press Releases: Publishing press releases can help you reach out to news agencies, bloggers, and journalists, and get your story, content, and brand in front of a wider audience. Networking is a huge part of business and getting your name out there anyway you can. The more people you know in your industry and the more people that know you the better chance you have.
11. Local SEO: Optimizing your website and online presence for local organic results can help your small business rank higher in search engines and attract more potential customers.
12. Online Review Management: Managing your online reviews is essential to your business’s online success. Ask customers for feedback, respond to reviews quickly and professionally, and show appreciation for your customers’ support. If you’re an avid Amazon shopper like me or an online shopper period than you know how big of an influence the reviews have in whether you buy a product or not. Good reviews can ultimately mean more customers because others have endorsed you and vouched for your product which gives customers more confidence when buying.
13. Google My Business Listing: Claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing can help you increase your business visibility in Google’s search results, website, and maps.
14. Customer Referral Program: Encouraging satisfied customers to refer friends and family members to your business can be an effective way to generate new business and build customer loyalty. Think about how many people you know and then think about how many each of those people know and then those people. People are happy to help more than you think, all it takes is asking for the extra help!
15. Social Contests: Running social contests on your social media channels can help you engage with your audience, build brand awareness, and even generate leads. I mentioned this in the webinar but it doesn’t have to stop there. You can hold a contest on any social media platform! For example, if you sell notebooks make an engaging post that lets people know that the 1,000th customer will receive a free customized notebook and one for their friend.
16. Retargeting: Retargeting is a form of online advertising that targets potential customers who have already visited your website or social media pages.
17. Display Advertising: Display advertising involves placing banners and other visual advertisements on websites where your target audience is likely to visit. Check out Canva my favorite go to platform for banners.
18. Ads: Social media advertising can be a cost-effective way to reach a wide audience on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Do your research first on your target audience to find out which platform they utilize.
19. QR Codes: Including QR codes on your printed marketing materials can help you track your marketing efforts, and help potential customers quickly and easily access your website or social media pages.
20. Influencer Outreach: Similarly, reaching out to industry influencers and asking them to share your content or products can help you tap into their audience and gain more exposure. Always be respectful and don’t be a pest.
In conclusion, there are many marketing tools available to small business owners to promote their business and reach out to their target audience. While blogging is an excellent starting point, exploring other tools will help you diversify your marketing efforts and create a robust marketing plan for your business.
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