Owning a small business is a labor of love and owners will know that an awful lot of time and effort is poured into the journey to success. There is a lot to think about when owning your own company, it’s completely different from being employed and your safety net is created by you instead of an employer. That being said it’s an exhilarating process and it can be extremely rewarding when your plans and strategies are successful.
An issue many small business owners face is being able to grow their local company to something more lucrative. Luckily, with the development of online marketing and the technology surrounding it, we have the ability to expand far easier than in previous years. Knowing and understanding what you can do to increase expansion is key.
Here we look at 8 marketing ideas to help you grow your small business.
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1. Website
Let’s start with the basics, every great company must have a website. A website is a necessary step that helps you start your business and expand your audience. Your website should be easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing, you’d be surprised with the number of people that quickly become disinterested when a website doesn’t look professional. Simple themes, uncomplicated content, and direct navigation will promote a successfully engaged consumer.
There are plenty of applications you can use to build your website that make it quick and easy, and there is no excuse for having something sub-par. If designing and building isn’t your strong suit then there are plenty of professionals out there that will be able to help.
2. Analytics
Being able to see the details of how your website, marketing strategies, and social media and how they are performing is nothing short of essential. Having the ability to see which country or area your business is thriving in, who is engaging, and what brought them to your company, is an incredible tool that enables you to further build strategies to replicate success in other areas. Understanding every aspect of analytics can appear quite daunting but once you have a basic understanding, everything else falls in place.
Reading simple but detailed guides will help assist your understanding of analytics and why they are helpful. The experts of SmartFlows state that analyzing, tracking, and interpreting your web traffic is fundamental to success. Without this, you won’t be able to grow your business and expand to a larger audience. Progress towards comprehending your analytics today, and you’ll be surprised with your own advancement.
3. Instagram
The arrival of Instagram came in 2010 and it revolutionized the Social Media world. It’s a photo and video sharing platform that has now developed to a point where it can be used as a marketing tool in itself. Boasting over 1 billion daily users in 2018, it’s safe to say that there is a huge opportunity to tap into the brains of its users if properly utilized. The benefit of Instagram popularity would be the ability to pinpoint your target market without wasting valuable funds.
No longer do you have to cast a marketing net to filter consumers, instead, you can find influencers that already have a following dedicated to your particular companies interests and market through them. The majority of Instagrammers will accept paid advertising campaigns that will benefit you greatly.
What Instagram has done so well is creating a platform where consumers feel close to the people they follow. It’s not a television advert that’s created by an agency, it’s a recommendation from someone they trust. Because of this, the conversion rate of a consumer to a customer is much higher. The best thing is that anyone can get involved, there are varying levels of influencers and you’ll always find someone to advertise through based on your budget.
There are arguments that nano and micro-influencers have a more engaged audience. So even if your product is only being advertised to 50 000 followers, there may be a higher chance that someone will engage, rather than advertising to 1 million. Research wisely and find the right influencer to help.
4. Email
This style of marketing has been around for years and some say it’s fading out a little, however, it’s inexpensive and gets your product out there. There are plenty of automated subscription services that make email marketing effortless. It’s also a great way to maintain a relationship with your current customer base, and retain future consumers.
5. SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is a fantastic tool that will raise your ranking on results pages. Simply put, SEO refers to the process of growing your company’s online web traffic. This is done in a number of ways and will prove hugely successful if you’ve implemented it correctly. Most people use search engines as a place to answer a question and if you have the answer to their question you want them to see your website as soon as possible.
Let’s say your company sells gardening equipment and a potential customer wants to find a specific tool. If they search “what is the best tool for pruning the bush in my garden”, then you want your website at the top of the results so it’s the first one seen.
People don’t trawl through pages of results and are more likely to click on something near the top. There are plenty of professionals that can help with this process but there are some things you can do to ensure you have a basis to work from. To begin with, use keywords and phrases on your website, write great content that’s not duplicated and link every page of your website with each other.
6. Online Competitions
Run a competition, this is a brilliant way to engage with potential customers and get them interested in your company and what you do. The prizes don’t need to be expensive but enough to draw people in. Once they have entered your competition you will then have their details to use for other marketing strategies and more importantly, expose your business to new clients.
7. Social Media Campaigns
I know we’ve already spoken about Instagram but that doesn’t cover all social media sites. There are often paid for campaigns that are relatively inexpensive for you to run that will get your business in front of thousands of new people. You can measure its performance using the built-in analytics of the site and see what’s useful and what is working. From here you can further build either the same campaign or apply what you’ve learned elsewhere.
8. Content
Your online presence should be quality over quantity, so make sure you’re creating the best possible content you can. Blogs, videos, and posts are the best way to start but essentially anything that will grab the attention of the consumer. Build your quantity over a long period of time, so as to not reduce the quality of your content.
There are so many ways to market your small business, but doing the research first to see what is going to help you best is essential. You can avoid expensive mistakes by planning first and investing in the right areas. Be sensible with your marketing, and the customers will come to you.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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