Advertising. If you’re a small business, you know it can be both the bane and boon of your existence. Especially if you’re a growing business. You need to market effectively, but have neither the time nor the patience. You need to grow your customer base, but frequently don’t have either the adequate manpower or an effective strategy. And while online advertising is frequently the most convenient and cost effective way to market, you’re facing competition from well established businesses with a long history and a considerable budget. How do you efficiently raise your signal through a raging digital sea of noise? While advertising can sometimes be a challenge, it doesn’t have to be a chore. It can be as innovative, creative and exciting as when you first started your business. When you were driven by both passion and the desire to succeed—at any cost. When growing your business seemed as fresh as it was scary. And it can still be. Here’s some of the more creative business advertising ideas you may want to incorporate when growing your customer base.
Workshops, Webinars & Public Speaking
Customers respond to authority. They respond to credibility. And whether you’re a real estate broker or a restaurant owner, they want to know just what differentiates your service from your competitors.
No matter how unusual or seemingly uninteresting your business might seem, you have a story to tell. And your customers are going to want to hear it. They want to know what drives your passion and fuels your motivation. If you’re a business coach, they want to learn from you. And if you’re a real estate broker, they want to know your secrets. Public speaking is a great way to lend an aura of credibility to your business, particularly if you’re just starting out. It doesn’t have to be a fancy conference in a boring hotel. A series of YouTube posts is more than sufficient to help you gain both traction and publicity, at virtually no cost at all.
Solicit Testimonials & Reviews
One of the reasons Amazon is so successful is the power of customer reviews. The advice of a friend, family member or co-worker is worth more than any six figure marketing strategy when it comes to your business—even if you don’t have a product to sell.
Asking your regular customers to leave testimonials isn’t begging. It’s using their influence to grow your base. And most will be more than happy to put in a good word for you. Never underestimate the power of customer testimonials. They can frequently be one of the most valuable weapons in your marketing strategy.
Leverage Social Media More Effectively
No platform is created equal. There are both strengths and weaknesses peculiar to each site. And one of the chief differences is in user demographics.
Create a profile of your ideal customer. The ones you’re hoping to attract. Be as detailed has humanly possible: Their age, household income, and lifestyle. Now review your social media and think of how effective your presence is. If you’re a retirement planner, neither Tumblr or Snapchat are probably going to be the most effective sites to get your message across.
If you’re relying on image heavy content, you might find LinkedIn to be a less conducive network than Instagram. Analytic tools are one of the most accurate ways of gauging your social media engagement and should be relied on when launching any social media marketing campaign.
Guest Blogging
Most bloggers are perfectly happy to allow guest content, and it’s one of the more fundamentally useful ways to gain instant credibility and increased visibility.
Guest blogging helps increase your brand’s reputation in several ways. For one, it helps you develop authority automatically by allowing your voice to be heard using an objective third party platform. For another, it allows you to build links for SEO, which is absolutely vital if you’re looking to gain heavier traffic. And finally, it’s an ideal inbound marketing strategy.
A recent survey from Social Marketing Writing found that almost 70 percent of respondents felt that a blog gave a site greater credibility, and almost 63 percent felt that a blog with multiple writers garnered more trust. Guest blogging is one of the most low pressure ways to develop an advertising strategy. And when it comes to advertising, a high amount of content means a higher customer base.
Don’t Limit Yourself To Digital Marketing
This is especially true if you rely on a substantial physical presence, such as a retail shop or legal service. Sometimes the more traditional methods are often the most proven, and you don’t want to rely on internet traffic to boost your presence alone. Not everyone is driven by a digital presence—and using physical media for advertising can be positively vital when it comes to standing apart from your competitors. So vital, you might just consider it the next big thing.
Need more marketing ideas to communicate your brand more effectively? At Grafics Unlimited, we’ve been helping Nevada businesses develop signs and outdoor installations creatively and expertly since 1976.
Visit us at https://graficsunlimited.com or email us at infor@graficsunlimited.com for an estimate today!
