Promoting a small business is one of the most important tasks business owners can have. These companies need to deal with a lot of competition and the only way to stay ahead is to have a clearly defined brand which will be promoted from day one.
This doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor. In fact, if you know your customers and are willing to model your marketing campaign based on their needs, even a smaller scale campaign can have a deep and lasting impact.
Influencers
Social media have rules of their own and it often happens that a person who’s famous and influential online, may not even be recognizable outside their follower circle. These influencers could help immensely with creating hype around your company and making it seem like social networks are buzzing about your brand.
An important thing about using influencers to promote your business is honesty. It seems obvious, and forced if an influencers start using and showcasing your product all of sudden. If you want to make the campaign seem natural and smooth – be honest about whom you’re paying to spread the word about your company.
Be a part of the community
Small businesses aren’t just places to buy goods and services; they are pillars of community they are based in. Try to include your business into the life of a community and promote and support worthy causes that your customers and employees feel passionate about.
This can be tricky because you want your customers to know that by supporting your business they are also funding worthy causes, but you don’t want to seem boastful about the charities you’re involved in. A skillful marketing team needs to find that precious line between the two.
Promotional products
Promotional products are often overlooked when it comes to creating a marketing campaign. However, it’s a mistake not to use them because they can greatly help a small company and they are rather inexpensive to create and use. These promotional items are often also useful products and that’s why they are exchanged by countless companies and individuals.
It’s best to choose products, such as mugs, USB flash drives, wallets or other office material that can be used to display your logo and other relevant information. When it comes to the return on these investments, promotional products are probably the most effective promotional tool.
User generated content
The improvements in technology allow everyone to create their own content in almost any kind of media. This provides a great opportunity for businesses because they get to use a lot of versatile content with little to no expenses and infrastructure.
All that businesses have to do is to find and cultivate those users who provide valuable content. This is less expensive than hiring a professional marketing team and it can have added benefits because the content appears to be more genuine and democratic. Videos are especially subset of marketing content because they create this feeling of authenticity more than any other.
Offline marketing
It may seem like online marketing is all that there is, at this point. However, this is hardly the case. A good marketing campaign can lead to great profits and it can promote your brand and make it memorable and genuinely loved.
Traditional sales and coupons can mean a lot to establish a small business and they are relatively inexpensive to promote. These initial sales can help you create a first customer base and later on expand on it. The best way to go is to use both online and offline promotional tools and to cross-promote the two.
Promoting a small business takes both time and effort, but it can be done with limited funds. It’s essential for businesses to do so because there are always competitors looking to take over their customer base.
