You may be wondering which marketing strategies will give you the most bang for your buck if you own a small business. We have compiled the most effective strategies for getting the most out of your marketing budget. The most important first step is to figure out what your budget is and what goals you want to achieve. Are you, for example, a new company looking to raise brand awareness? Perhaps you'd like to boost your local visibility or generate new leads. It's time to put your money to work after you've outlined your goals and created a reasonable budget. Many of the strategies are paid, but some are free.
Mentioned below are the five best advertising strategies that worked wonders.
1. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
You're missing out on a huge opportunity to reach customers if you don't have a website, or if your website is outdated and not mobile-friendly. Fortunately, there are a variety of options available at various price points to assist you in launching a professional website.
For around $100 per year (plans/costs vary), Wix or Squarespace can be set up and hosted. A professional web design firm can build your website for you if you don't want to build it yourself. You can then update the site yourself to save money if you're tech-savvy. When you don't want to deal with website updates yourself or if your website needs the functionality that DIY website builders cannot provide, you can hire a website company to handle them for you. If you hire professionals to handle changes and issues you may face, you will benefit from the support and expertise that comes with hiring professionals.
2. Utilize Google's tools for businesses.
If you haven't already, create a Google My Business account. If people search for you on Google, your GMB profile appears in the right-hand column (or at the top of the screen in mobile views). Your presence on Google can be considerably improved using this free service. Once you have a Google My Business page, you can manage your business information, manage Google reviews, create posts, and take advantage of new Google Maps local search advertisements. In case you want to reach an audience beyond your local area, Google Ads can help.
3. Keep up with social media channels.
While this is yet another free way to increase your online visibility, it can be inconvenient and time-consuming to maintain. To begin, we recommend creating several accounts. These are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Begin by posting on each channel regularly. You'll quickly notice that depending on the type of business you have, some will provide you with more traction than others. For example, if you own a local ice cream shop, you may find that Facebook generates significantly more traffic than Twitter. You can shift your focus to those platforms once you know which channels are the most active for your niche.
4. Promote your business on social media.
Consider running some ads on your most successful social media channels once you've identified them. Social media ads are less expensive than Google Ads and allow you to target your target audience more precisely. Sprout Social has a great post to assist you with your social media advertising strategy.
5. Create a company blog on your website.
Business blogging is a tried-and-true traffic generator for your website as a key SEO tactic. You can increase your website traffic exponentially, rank higher in search results, and have fresh content to share on your social media channels by regularly adding helpful, informative blog posts to your website. See how valuable this method is and how to run a successful blog in our article on the benefits of small business blogging.
