Starting a new business? Congrats, what’s next? It’s promotion of course. Generally, when people start a small business they have the access limited amount of funds. Most of that money is spent on renting an office space and buying necessary equipment for your team. Little money is left in your pocket to promote your business.
Now, this can be a huge problem. Marketing can be an expensive activity and generally, a lot of funds are required to promote your business. So, that means with little money there can be no marketing? No, that is not correct.
I have a list of few techniques that “how to promote small-scale business” even if you are on a small budget.
Want to promote your small-scale business on a limited budget? Here’s how
Develop a website
A website acts a major marketing tool for your business. You can post all the important information related to your business on your website. Nowadays, customers expect every business to have a website. Customers can explore our website to find out all the relevant information regarding your products and services. Your website is functional 24*7. Normal 5-page website costs around $5-$20/month which is pretty cheap. Many businesses have increased their revenues from their websites.
Gather email addresses
Email provides a simple platform to boost sales and construct a faithful customer base. Many businesses have started using this technique. You just need to post a sign in page on your website and provide special discounts to your visitors to motivate them to be a part of your email list. You can also provide certain tips and tricks on a particular information to your subscribers. According to a study, existing consumers buy 33% more of your goods as compared to the new consumers.
Email Marketing
Once you have their email ids you can regularly update them about your products/services/special offers in order to increase your sales. There is no need to irritate your customers by sending more and more email. Form a simple schedule and follow it. Once a week or thrice a month is enough. You staying in regular touch with your customers makes them feel special. They become more loyal towards you.
Create a Facebook page
Social media is a free and an excellent platform to market your business. Today customers expect you to be socially active. You should create a facebook page and post all relevant information regarding your business. Motivate your existing customers to like and share your facebook page. Regularly post interactive media such as photos and videos to have more interaction. You can also interact with your customers in the comments section. There are 1.4 billion Facebook users in the world. Even if a 10k people share your page their Facebook connections will also get to know about your facebook page. This will help to increase your sales.
SEO friendly
You should make your website search engine optimization friendly. This will help your site to get a high ranking on Google and more people are going to see your website. But doing this is not an easy task. There are a few things that you need to remember.
- Identify the main keywords related to your business. For example, ‘Coworking seats’ for coworking spaces.
- Include keywords in the page title and first paragraph of your website. According to Go Daddy Average Pricing while going through search results 75% of people only prefer to check the first page. That’s why your website being SEO friendly is important for your business.
Be a part of online directories
Include yourself in online directories. Being a part of favored review sites will help to increase your visitors. Motivate your satisfied customers to give reviews about your business and interact with them in the comments section. Many people trust word of mouth publicity. Before buying a product they prefer to check the comments from its existing users. I also do the same. More positive reviews you have more people are going to buy your products.
Offer gifts
Everyone loves getting free gifts so by providing free samples is the best way to attract potential customers. Always remember that the offered gift should be of high quality. Cheap gifts can destroy your firm’s reputation. You can offer gifts by the following
- Organizing a contest that gives the winner product.
- Giving samples or coupons to people who sign up for your email list.
The above-mentioned techniques if properly implemented can help to effectively promote your small-scale business.