Most small business owners are cost-conscious and consistently looking for ways trim their budgets while boosting the bottom line. Marketing is one area where there are a lot of opportunities to cut costs in a small business.
With the ever-changing world of digital marketing, there are many ways to promote your business that won’t require a significant monetary investment. In fact the biggest investment is one of time. Here are six online marketing tactics to try in your small business.
Create Multi-Purpose Content
Content marketing has been around for a long time, but with all of the emerging online platforms to share it, content has become the foundation for many types of marketing activities. Plus, one piece of content can be leveraged in a number of ways.
For example, you can create a blog post, share it on social media with a link back to your post, record a video or infographic that presents the content in a visual way, and create graphic tiles with quotes from the post to share on Pinterest and Instagram.
Leverage Online Review Sites
User-generated content, or content that is created by your customers, is a great way to promote your business, if you leverage it properly. Online review sites are a great example of this. Customers leave their opinion of your business publicly for all to see.
If their feedback is positive, you can use those testimonials on your website and in your marketing materials. If the feedback is less than stellar, you have a great opportunity to publicly make it right and provide exceptional customer service.
Record Short and Sweet Videos
Videos are one of the best formats for sharing information online. In fact, Facebook boasts more than 4 billion video views every day. And videos for your small business do not need to be professionally recorded to have a big impact. You can use a basic video camera or even a smartphone to create short yet engaging videos that are easily shared. You can upload your videos to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Vine and many other platforms for quick promotion.
Build a Social Community
One of the most audience-centric ways to promote your business online is by cultivating a community. This can be accomplished by asking for and responding to comments on your business blog, creating a group on Facebook or LinkedIn, or even through your social media channels by regularly starting conversations with followers.
Optimize for Local Search
As part of your online presence, it’s important to optimize your business for local search so it can be found more readily. Three effective off-site methods to do this are the creation of a Google+ page, using NAP (name, address, phone number) citations, and using link profile optimization. Read more about how to optimize your business for local search.
Team Up and Co-Host an Online Event
If you have been working at promoting your business online for a little while, you probably have a handful of colleagues who have businesses with products and services that complement your own.
Consider teaming up with one or two of these businesses to co-host an online webinar, Twitter chat, or teleconference. By teaming up, you can split the cost of the event, combine the knowledge and expertise of a colleague with your own, and reach twice the audience.
There are many more opportunities for marketing a small business on a limited budget, and all it takes is a little creativity and the willingness to invest some time. This list of 101 marketing ideas spans many different areas of marketing and is sure to inspire you with some new ideas.
