Marc L. Goldberg
Small-business owners and marketers can promote their business using various channels and tactics that are tailored to their target audience and budget. Today marketers have both traditional and digital channels to deliver their brand messages. Here are some effective strategies to consider:Website optimization (SEO): Ensure your website is visually appealing, user-friendly, and optimized for search engines (SEO) to improve visibility and attract organic traffic.Social media marketing: Utilize platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to engage with your audience, share valuable content, run ads, and build a community around your brand. Find out where your customers get their information and be there.Content marketing: Create and distribute valuable, relevant content such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, and infographics to attract and retain customers, establish thought leadership, and drive website traffic. Janice Walk at Mostly Blogging recommends using Instagram to post your stories. And, promote a new product launch with a countdown sticker. Email marketing: Build an email list of subscribers and send targeted, personalized email campaigns to nurture leads, promote products or services, and drive conversions.Local SEO: Optimize your online presence for local search by claiming and updating your Google My Business listing, obtaining positive reviews, and targeting location-specific keywords.Networking: Attend industry events, join local business groups, and collaborate with complementary businesses to expand your network, gain referrals, and access new customer segments. Nikitha Lokareddy, Markitors, endorses joining organizations and attending meetings or meet-ups in your local community. Be visible and remember that every stranger is an opportunity for you and your business.Online marketing: Invest in paid advertising channels such as Google Ads, social media ads, display ads, and sponsored content to reach a wider audience and drive traffic to your website or landing pages. These are low cost options.Local Public Relations: Pitch stories to relevant media outlets, participate in interviews, contribute guest posts, and leverage press releases to generate positive publicity and enhance brand credibility.Community Engagement: Get involved in your local community through sponsorships, charity events, volunteer work, and partnerships with nonprofit organizations to demonstrate corporate social responsibility and build brand loyalty.Customer Loyalty programs: Encourage satisfied customers to refer you to their friends and family by offering incentives such as discounts, exclusive offers, or loyalty rewards for successful referrals.Influencer marketing: Partner with influencers or micro-influencers in your niche to reach their engaged audiences, build trust, and increase brand awareness through authentic endorsements and sponsored content.User generated content: Encourage customers to create and share content featuring your products or services on social media, website testimonials, reviews, and case studies to showcase social proof and credibility.By combining these strategies and adapting them to suit your business goals and target audience, small business owners and marketers can effectively promote their business, increase brand visibility, and drive growth.Brett Farmiloe, Founder and CEO of Featured, asked small business marketers what they recommend as ways to get thought leadership on the cheap. Some of the most unique answers reported were:
Use intriguing data: People love facts and figures. This is a great way to draw attention to your business and its brand. You can use a poll or survey with a reasonable number of response. Use your social media or email list to poll and develop your data. (Ben Taylor, HomeWorkingClub)
Combine offers and audiences: Broaden your audience by collaborating with other businesses or your online community. Giving away products or services is a fantastic way to increase name/brand exposure. Use your social media platforms to announce your collaboration. (Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional & Kenna Hamm, Texas Adoption Center). A good example is Snows in Orleans who collaborated with several other smaller businesses to welcome spring and showcase Snow’s new footprint as well as their collaborators’ offerings. Snows used social media and traditional print media to announce the event and draw traffic to their Orleans location. It is a win-win for Snows as a “small business champion” and the small businesses, like Holly’s Deli and Stage Stop Candy who cannot hold their own tabling event.
Keep trends top of mind. Create content on trending contents. Try aggregating statistics into a bigger list that makes an impression on users and potential users of your products and/or services. (Jayson DeMers, Email Analytics)
Don’t overlook local print media. Newspapers cover local news of interest and that includes you and your business. So, write press releases about something in your organization, then email it or FAX it over to a reporter you have created a relationship. Doing this monthly or bi-monthly you’ll get some of your transmittals picked-up. (Hank Halasnik, Financing Solutions)
Contributed by: Marc L. Goldberg, Certified Mentor, SCORE Cape Cod & the Islands, www.score.org/capecod. 508/775-4884. Sources: 11 Free Ways to Get Publicity for Your Small Business, Brett Familioe, 1/23/23 – ASK SCORE.
