michael
Regardless of the type of business you are in, with the market becoming increasingly competitive, business owners need to use all the available promotion tools and options in order to stay on top of the game.
With the variety of marketing options the internet offers, there are many creative ways to attract new clients and customers for both traditional local businesses and online and e-commerce entrepreneurs.
Below are some of the promotion techniques you may or may not have known about, along with their advantages and why you should consider using them to give your business a marketing boost.
Harnessing the Power of Social Media
Social media provides a unique way of increasing your online presence through interaction with a virtually limitless number of people using different types of media. This can include sharing testimonials of services you provide through photos and videos, such as a bachelor’s experience abroad, which can serve as a great advertisement for your business.
Some of the most popular social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter, while an increasing number of businesses are also starting to use YouTube for this purpose.
Apart from being unique in the ways, they let you interact with your audience, social media are also essentially free to use. Since there are many different social media platforms, choosing the one or several which will work best for you will require some thought and testing.
Website Search Engine Optimization
Having an optimized website is equally important for both local and online businesses since most people turn to the internet to find products and services they need, for example, when they need to visit a dental clinic.
How to optimize your website will depend on whether you own a local or online business.
Local businesses are advised to use local SEO techniques in order to make sure they make it to the top of the search results when a person near their location searches the internet for services they provide.
Since their business is tied to their physical location, local businesses need to choose their keywords and target their audience primarily based on their geographical location, instead of other factors.
On the other hand, SEO for online businesses is different in terms of targeting the audience and choosing keywords. The ultimate goal, however, is the same – to improve the ranking in search results and reach more customers.
Depending on your goals, in order to optimize your website for search engines, you can either hire an expert agency or try to learn how to do it yourself. Either way once your website is SE optimized, you will notice an increase in traffic and, consequently, sales.
Create a Google My Business Account For Your Local Business
Every local business can benefit from having a Google My Business account since it makes them more reachable and easier to find for their potential customers, whether they operate from a shop or an office.
When someone searches your business online, your Google My Business profile will show up in the search results and provide the user with all the necessary information on how to find you. Apart from your address, phone number and working hours, you can also add photos of your business and read and reply to customer reviews.
Content Marketing
Creating useful content related to your niche is a great way to reach potential customers and increase your visibility on the internet. The type of content you can create ranges from blogs to tutorials and can be posted either on your website, social media, or other relevant places online.
The goal of content marketing is to interact with your audience by providing them with useful information and answering their questions, while also advertising your business and building brand awareness.
A successful content marketing strategy will require you to invest some time and research into it, as well as to come up with original and interesting content. However, if done right, it can do wonders in terms of business marketing.
Conclusion
Whether you own a local or an online business, some form of online promotion is essential in order to reach its full potential and attract as many customers as possible. While offline marketing methods are tried and true and shouldn’t be ignored, they can certainly be complemented with some of the online promotion techniques.
Depending on your budget and goals, there are many both free and paid methods of promoting your business online to consider. While some of them will show results virtually immediately, others may take a couple of weeks or even months before you start seeing an increase in profit.
Whichever methods you opt for, however, they will require you to make an effort and invest some of your time into planning and executing your promotion strategy.
