Small businesses usually don’t have the budget to attract prospects through expensive marketing strategies. Thanks to the internet which is filled with affordable marketing opportunities to enhance your digital presence and the ability to work more successfully than traditional marketing methods. You can capture many potential customers without requiring unrealistic marketing budget. However, you need to plan carefully and be extremely strategic while managing your online presence.
Below are 6 affordable strategies to get your business noticed online without adding to your financial burden:
Focus on Social Media
Every company nowadays are engaging customers through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. But are they doing it right?
Most of them are simply busy boasting about their products and services and aim at selling only. Instead depending on the target audience, companies must select the most appropriate social media sites. They should post regular quality content that includes informational stories, industry knowledge, fun anecdote about their company and so on to prevent the communication from getting boring.
Secure an Appropriate Domain Name
As your domain name is your identity on web, make sure that you choose a name that not only fits your business but is also easy to find. Also, use an appropriate domain name extension. The .com is the most popular but it will not be easy to find a short and memorable .com domain name because it’s been around for so long. Be aware of the fact that Google now penalizes new domain extensions like .flowers, .market etc. So always go for a .co, .info, .com, .biz or .org extension for your website so that Google ranks your website correctly.
Build a Highly Functional Website
A business website is a must for your product or service to easily get discovered online. There are many website builders available in the market to get your website developed in a correct manner. Create a website and draft the content in a way that it resonates well with your customers. Learn what your audience want and create content that is able to capture reader’s attention. Ensure that the functionality of your site is flawless so that it’s not too slow to load or difficult for users to navigate. Or else, your customers will not give a second thought to switch to a competitor.
Create Informative and Original Content
Publishing business blogs are one of the most cost-effective ways for boosting your organic traffic. As search engines such as Google appreciates original and valuable content, make sure that the content of your blogs adhere to its norms. Make them interesting, informative and offer something which is fresh and unique. This will encourage readers to share it with others and increase positive word of mouth. Add necessary visuals such as images and videos to make the content all the more appealing and entertaining for your potential customers.
Reward Referrals
Initially you might not have enough followers on your social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook. But there is a probability that your friends, family or ex-colleagues have it and they can help you by sharing their existing network with you. Ask them to follow your business so as to spread the word about your new brand. Offer referral discounts to people who share your website with others to encourage this practice o referral selling.
Follow and Engage Industry Influencers
Twitter is one of the best platforms to get in touch with industry influencers. Follow your favourite people in the industry and retweet their tweets. Use Twitter’s advanced search mechanism to look for people located in a specific region related to your target market and engage with them. Participate in the occasional industry-related Twitter chat to get noticed.
