Marketing your new business is easy, as long as you have a lot of money behind it. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for most startups so we have to put in a little legwork ourselves. Here’s four ways to get your brand in the public consciousness, all while sticking to your budget.
Search Engine Optimization
In the internet age, search is the primary way a potential customer is going to find about your company. This is why it pays to be on top of search engine optimization (SEO). SEO, put simply, refers to manipulating the visibility of a website by affecting how early it appears in the search results. Think about it, when was the last time you went past the first or second page on your own Google results? SEO is big business, and there are many third-party firms that can help you with this. If you are on a limited budget, however, there are improvements that you can make by yourself. Whatever you decide, SEO is something you need to be aware of.
Social Networks
One of the best ways to improve SEO is getting your name in as many location as possible, and that means all the big social networks. Recent figures show that the top Fortune 500 companies are all active on social media, with 77% active on Twitter and 70% engaging with their customer base through Facebook. Maintaining a successful online can be time-consuming, but there are ways around this. Hootsuite allows you to access all your feeds from one location, making sure you can easily keep up to date with everything.
Customer Retention
Customer retention deals with trying reduce the number of your existing customer base deflecting to competing services. However, customer retention isn’t simply giving the customer what you think they want, it’s about trying to exceed those expectations so that they become loyal advocates of your brand. In an age of instant messaging and social media, people can communicate more easily than ever before. This can be your most powerful tool.
The most common ways companies employ retention marketing is through personalised content offers sent via email. This is a good way to engage with your audience if you’re on a tight budget, but it’s important that the customer doesn’t ever feel like you’re just sending them spam. Otherwise it’s destined for the junk folder. Another way you can encourage repeat spending is by employing a loyalty scheme. You could reward your customers with “points” or cashback after every purchase, which can then be used against the price of any other products or services they buy from you. These have been proven to increase spending by as much as 33%
Trade Shows
Last, but certainly not least, is attending trade shows. While these may seem old-fashioned now, online communication is still no replacement for direct interaction. Any marketing emails you send can quickly find themselves in the recipient’s junk folder, but a face-to-face encounter will leave an impression as long as you know what you’re doing. In order to ensure your business stands out on the tradeshow floor, make sure to have some effective advertising materials to help your business stand out (examples of which can be found at www.printdisplays.com).