From boosting your online presence to rewarding a loyal customer base, there are numerous ways to effectively and affordably spread the word about how good your business is! Marketing your business doesn’t have to be a complete mystery, since there are now ways to do this utilising online platforms that won’t put a hole in your wallet. Here we cover some of the more creative ways for you to market your business.
Taking advantage of Google
Customers will typically use Google to find a specific service or product. You don’t necessarily need to hire an expert in SEO to be taking advantage of the tools that Google offers us. By simply creating and verifying a Google Business Profile, you allow your business to appear in Google Maps results, the local part of Google Search results, and also the Knowledge Panel on the right-side of the screen in Search results. Once the profile is verified, you can also link to your website, update store hours, and provide contact information to potential customers.
Rewarding loyalty of customers
On average, it costs five times more to acquire new customers than retain old ones. Attracting newer customers can be both time-consuming and expensive. Rewarding loyal customers is a fantastic way to take advantage of a marketing opportunity with high return-on-investment. Rewards can be something as simple as points earned on a purchase or discounts on future orders.
Creating video
A startling statistic is that social media videos generate 1200% more shares than image and text content in combination. Videos can be pretty inexpensive, and marketing ones can take a variety of different forms. From customer testimonials to tutorials and interviews, to live streams, there are plenty of ways you can be marketing your business in the video format. Sites such as Canva, Biteable, Animoto and Adobe all offer free options for creating high-quality video content.
Using marketing via e-mail
Combining video content with e-mail can be an incredibly effective to market your business. Adding video to your e-mails that are sent to customers can increase click rates by as much as 300%! The great thing about this is that are also plenty of free e-mail marketing tools to use on the website.
Sharing expertise
Positioning yourself as an expert in your field can open plenty of marketing opportunities for any business. Sharing the knowledge that you have acquired from starting your own business with others that might be interested is a great way to build a fantastic reputation and solid trust with customers. Beyond using video content to share expertise, podcasting and blogging are two other ways to accomplish this. Joining Facebook and LinkedIn groups can also provide opportunities to share with the wider community.
Customer contests
People (customers included) love a challenge – fostering a friendly competition is a fantastic way to connect with your current customers while attracting new ones. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok are all commonly used platforms for hosting various contests, and this can work for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Reading blogs and inspiration from marketing experts can help you gain some inspiration and vital insight here. Grabbing the attention of customers today is no easy task, and clearly takes a creative and well-established marketing endeavour.
Link Directories are Gloucester’s leading local independent directory, linking local businesses with the local community. We publish 3 local directories – Abbey-Link, Hucclecote Link and Tuffley Link – and distribute to 16,000 homes over a 2-month period. If you would like more information about how we can help you advertise your local business to your target market, take a look at our website www.thelinkdirectories.co.uk or give us a call on 01452 621496 – we’d be happy to help!
