The best ways to promote your business will depend on the products or services you offer, your target audience, marketing budget and more.
One of the main goals of small-business marketing is getting the word out about your business. By increasing brand awareness, you can build your customer base and ultimately increase sales. Learning how to promote your business can help you do just that.
The best ways to promote your business will depend on what kind of business you own, the products or services you offer, your target audience, marketing budget and additional factors. The good news is there are plenty of free and low-cost ways to promote your business, so you can test out several relatively risk-free to find what works best. Here are some of the top options.
Emailing marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your customer base, send reminders, promote sales and offer coupons and other savings. You can collect your customers’ email addresses through sign-up sheets at your brick-and-mortar location or through opt-in forms on your business website. Offering an incentive for providing their email, like a discount off their next purchase, can help you grow your list quickly.
To help automate your email campaigns and ensure your communications look professional, consider email marketing software. Services like Mailchimp and Constant Contact offer email templates, customizable landing pages and analytics tools to measure the success of your campaigns.
Alongside a business website, social media platforms are usually the first place prospective customers go to get a feel for your business. Accounts on the main platforms, like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and TikTok, are generally free.
Promoting your business on social media lets people know what kind of products or services you provide, as well as offers a snapshot into your company culture. Thoughtfully curated social media profiles — think well-lit shots of your products, fun and informative Instagram stories and active Facebook conversations — are an easy way to elevate your business.
SEO stands for search engine optimization, and a solid SEO strategy helps your business website and profiles appear in the top online search results when potential customers query a term related to your business. The more people who see and click on your business website, the greater visibility your brand will have and, hopefully, the greater your sales.
The foundation of SEO strategy revolves around finding and using the keywords that your audience is searching for, and using them effectively on your site so your page surfaces in top results. Being strategic and specific with your keywords is important so that you stand out from the rest of the internet.
If you do want professional help, there are marketing tools that can help you optimize your site and measure its performance. These typically come at a cost, but it may be worth the increased traffic and visibility.
Quality content creation
Creating content that is relevant, interesting, and of high quality is essential to enhancing search engine positioning. In addition to naturally including pertinent keywords and offering useful information, content that addresses user intent is more likely to rank higher in search results.
On-page SEO optimization
Optimizing on-page elements such as title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and image alt attributes with targeted keywords helps search engines understand the relevance of your content to user queries, thus improving positioning.
Mobile-friendliness
With the increasing prevalence of mobile devices, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is crucial for search engine positioning. Mobile-responsive design enhances user experience and signals to search engines that your site is accessible and user-friendly.
Page loading speed
Page loading speed is a significant factor in search engine ranking algorithms. Optimizing your website's performance by minimizing server response time, leveraging browser caching, and compressing images can improve search engine positioning.
Backlink building
Acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites is another effective strategy for improving search engine positioning. Backlinks act as votes of confidence in your site's authority and relevance, signaling to search engines that your content is valuable and deserves a higher rank.
Social media engagement
While social media signals may not directly impact search engine positioning, active engagement on social platforms can indirectly benefit your SEO efforts. Sharing content, generating buzz, and building a solid social media presence can increase brand visibility and attract organic traffic to your website.