Starting a small business can be difficult. However, having an online marketing strategy can be a big help, especially for companies just starting out. Many business owners have now increased their online presence to make them more competitive.
With a strong online marketing strategy, you can boost your brand awareness even during uncertain times. You also need to determine your target market and promote your products and services to people.
Below are some of the marketing strategies a small business can use to advertise their business and increase sales:
1. Fax Marketing
Some businesses use fax marketing to promote their products and services. Fax has been in existence for a long time, sending over office memos and correspondence from one office to another. One of the standard practices for a marketing strategy is test marketing, which you can combine with fax marketing. You can send out test fax messages such as welcome banners to consumers.
Offering discounts and special offers may help increase your sales. Some businesses send out advertisements via fax to reach out to their existing clients. For example, if you have a restaurant, you can use fax marketing to promote upcoming lunch and dinner specials to your regulars.
Fax marketing can be a low-cost and effective way to reach out to people. Sending out fax messages to your established and existing customers can attract them to your restaurant and avail of the promo.
Choosing an online fax service is easy as several programs are now available online. For example, you can fax online with eFax, which offers a wide range of features. These kinds of services also have a free mobile fax app that you can use to send faxes from your mobile to a computer.
2. Content Marketing
Your content will have a significant impact on how your business will grow. You must know what keywords to use so your business will appear in search engines. These keywords are phrases and words describing what your content is all about. Here are two examples of keywords that marketers use:
- Market segment keywords: These are generic words associated with a brand or industry. For example, ‘workout clothes.’ The keyword doesn’t point out which target audience the keyword is for. It could be for men or women.
- Customer-defining keywords: This type of keyword identifies a particular audience. In searching for this, customers will type in words defining themselves and the keyword they’re looking for. A good example would be ‘women’s workout clothes.’
Understand your audience and create engaging content that’ll suit their interests. That way, you’ll have an improved brand image, which helps build trust between your business and your customers.
Content marketing is one of the most used online marketing strategies among small businesses. Knowing what content to post has a significant impact on attracting audience and converting them into clients. If you want an effective and efficient marketing strategy, start by building excellent content marketing.
3. Social Media Marketing
A lot of businesses use social media to market their products and services. Many social media platforms can be used at little to no cost, making them available for all to use. However, not all small businesses know what to do with these accounts. Having a solid social media presence presents an excellent opportunity for small businesses.
According to Fundera.com, 41% of small online businesses rely on their social media to generate revenues. Moreover, 74% of consumers depend on social media on their decision-making whether to buy an item from that online store or not.
You can use social media to:
- Promote the name of your small business
- Increase your brand awareness
- Share your products and services
- Attract and gain more clients to boost product sales
- Interact and build a more solid relationship with your existing customers
Social media marketing has become one of the most popular marketing strategies used by small businesses. It’s now an integral part of promoting a company’s services in a wider scale. Increase your sales at minimal costs by leveraging social media platforms.
4. Email Marketing
Aside from social media marketing, businesses also use email marketing to promote their products and services. All you have to do is create an email subscription form on your website that’ll capture subscribers. Once visitors sign up, you may send them updates about your new products, services, and upcoming promotions.
When done the right way, your business will gain more audience and earn more revenue. You will save a lot while connecting with your target market. As part of your growing brand popularity, your brand’s credibility will also increase.
Use effective email campaigns, such as personalizing messages to clients. According to Liveclicker, these custom emails can generate up to USD$20 in ROI for each USD$1 invested.
Make sure not to overuse email marketing, though. Avoid sending irrelevant messages to your email subscribers, as they might unsubscribe for receiving these kinds of messages. Email marketing delivers good results as long as you update your business strategy from time to time.
5. Search Engine Marketing
One of the most effective ways to expand a small business’s audience reach is by using search engine marketing. Nowadays, when people need something, they typically use their search engine to look it up. Through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, your website can gain free and organic traffic as a result of effective search engine marketing.
Investing in paid advertisements for your small business can produce fast results, giving you an advantage over your competitors. Develop a strategic plan for the long-term success of your business. For effective SEO, consider these steps:
- Post coherent and relevant content on your website that your audience can relate to.
- Set a schedule for your posts, and make sure to publish them regularly.
- Maximize backlinks and meta elements on your site.
6. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a tactic to drive traffic and sales to generate significant revenue for your business. It’s a method in which an affiliate earns a commission for advertising products or services. The business sales are monitored via affiliate links from one website to another.
Here are some strategies you can use under affiliate marketing:
- Choose to work with an influencer trusted by the audience.
- Attract consumers with promotions, coupons, and deals.
- Optimize your product and service pages to get higher conversions.
Affiliate marketing can be very effective in advertising your small business. You need to make sure that you’ve selected the right affiliates to promote your products and services. That way, you’ll build good connections with your target audience.
Final Thoughts
As a small business, having effective online marketing strategies can help a lot in increasing your brand awareness. Online marketing strategies like the ones mentioned in this article can help small companies widen their audience reach.
Through these strategies, you can form a better connection with your target market and turn them into paying customers. With a solid online marketing strategy, you can attract customers and boost your sales.