11 Ways To Promote Your Business |
Posted: April 12, 2018 |
Plan your MarketYou’ll waste precious time and money if you try to market your business without first defining your marketing strategy. Start by identifying who your best prospects are, and then determine the best way to reach them. Be as specific as possible. Is the decision maker the CTO of the company, the director of human resources, or a 37-year-old working mom? Will you find them on Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube or Instagram? What about in-person networking at local business meetings? Will you find people at those meeting who are likely prospects or who know and could recommend you to likely prospects? What about advertising? Will customers be searching for your type of product on Google or Bing? Do they look for coupons in newspapers? Do you want to start promoting your business to them at the start of their buying cycle, or when they’re about ready to pull out their credit card and make the purchase . Write your answers down, and refer to them before you start any new marketing tactic. Use this marketing plan worksheet to gather your information. Embrace social media. Set up your business profile or page on social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and Pinterest. Be sure your business profile includes a good description, keywords and a link to your website. Look for groups or conversations that talk about your type of products or services and participate in the conversations, but don’t spam them with constant promos for what you sell. Talk to all the vendors from whom you buy products or services. Give them your business card, and ask if they can use your products or service, or if they know anyone who can. If they have bulletin boards where business cards are displayed (printers often do, and so do some supermarkets, hairdressers, etc.), ask if yours can be added to the board. Write an article that demonstrates your expertise in your field. Send it to noncompeting newspapers, magazines, and websites in your field that accept submissions from experts. Be sure your name, business name, phone number, and a reference to your product or service is included at the end of the article. If the editor can use the article you get your name in print, and possibly get your contact information printed for free, too. Well-written articles can provide free advertising and build positive word-of-mouth. If you’re a realtor, for instance, you could write a piece on preparing your home to be shown. If you’re a website designer, you might write a piece about assessing website usability.The more specific your topic the better. Write a short biographical note, or “blurb” about you and your business to go with the article. Then send it out! Where? As the goal is to promote your business, ideally you’d like it to appear in a publication that your target market will be reading. Publicize your publicity. Whenever you do get publicity, get permission from the publisher to reprint the article containing the publicity. Make photocopies and mail the copies out with sales letters or any other literature you use to market your product or service. The publicity clips lend credibility to the claims you make for your products or services. Ask for work or leads. Contact nonprofit organizations, schools and colleges, and even other businesses that have customers who may need your services. Network with others who are doing the same type of work you are. Let them know you are available to handle their work overloads. (But don’t try to steal their customers. Word will get out, and will ruin your business reputation.). Use Buddy Marketing (Cross-Promotion) -? Business promotion is to running a successful business as practicing scales is to playing the piano well; it may not be a thrilling activity in itself, but you just have to do it! You should spend at least an hour a day on business promotion or planning how to promote your business (and more is better, if you can fit the time in)!.You promote your business by getting the word out. The first axiom of business promotion is that you have to do this consciously.You can’t rely on other people to do it for you, no matter how great your product or service is.The second axiom of business promotion is that like every other aspect of your business, it’s a budgeted activity. But promotion doesn’t have to be expensive. Here are ten inexpensive ways to promote your business; all most of these will cost you is some time. Business Cards – Is your business name, logo, contact information (including web address), and slogan present on all your correspondence? Any document that you send out (whether electronic or printed) should have a letterhead with all of your company information.And don’t forget to make sure that your email has a complete signature that provides all your business information and a promotional tagline. You can also add a section with links for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest so the recipient can connect with you on social media. Electronic documents, such as email, are easy to update with your latest business promotion information, whether it be a special price on your product or service or letting people know that your company has won an award. Promote Your Business Through Your Leisure Activities – One savvy businessman I know relaxes by being part of a rock band. Guess what? Every time his band’s gigs are mentioned in the newspaper, the piece also mentions the name of his business!You may not be part of a band yourself, but everyone does something for “fun”. Whether your chosen leisure activity is working on a museum restoration project, rock-climbing, or shopping, there are all kinds of ways to promote your business while you do what you love to do. Use Press Releases for Business Promotion – Has your business recently expanded? Do you have a new product? Have you been involved in some promotional activity such as sponsoring a charity event? Have you or your company recently won an award? All of these are examples of “news” that you can capitalize on to get some free promotion for your business. Press releases can be published online or in print.
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