Starting a company is hard. This is especially true when there is a lot at stake and you feel overwhelmed with all the new information and things you need to learn in order to succeed. If you are a small business you are, in addition, limited with the tight budget and perhaps, with not so many clients. So how do you make that one step forward that gets you closer to your business goals?
If you stick with us, we are about to show you some useful advertising tips that you can start implementing right away. And guess what: the ones we will cover here today are free, and if not completely free, then budget-friendly.
Let’s start with the tools you can use to advertise your business.
Cost-free Tools
In a nutshell, the common denominator for the majority of cost-free tools is content. You’ve probably heard the expression: “ Content is the king”. Good content is an absolute necessity. Why? Well, it helps you stand out among your competitors and it emphasizes your value proposition even more. Also, it makes you more visible.
Engage on Social Media
Speaking of free advertising, what better than social media. The major mistake people make is that they don’t engage with their audience or with other potential partners or influencers. Speak up, share your opinion on relevant matters and draw attention when starting a company.
Promote your blogs, follow other influential people, take part in online conferences, and create polls. Regularly posting quality content, content that your audience will benefit from, is one of the best advertising strategies you can do. And it’s free. In reality, you can hardly make a mistake here. The only mistake you can make is being dormant and just lingering on social media without providing value for your business.
Email Campaigns
Although some people may complain that there are too many emails nowadays, the fact remains that most business communications come from emails themselves. With the help of email automation tools (many of them, like AWeber offer automation in their free plans), you can really keep your clients engaged by creating welcome emails, thank you emails, email newsletters. You just schedule them according to your business priorities and they pretty much do the work for you. They are a great time saver.
Blogging
The power of words, be it spoken or written is undeniable. It’s the strongest “weapon” because it hits directly into the heart. What better way to advertise starting a company than to write blogs? Use your expertise and make a blog easy to read. Make it entertaining while shedding some light on the hottest topics from your industry.
Blogs are a great way to show your knowledge, engage with your audience and also do some networking. You can present your business, show what sets you apart from your competitors and where your value lies. There are educational platforms for entrepreneurs that post blogs and other educational material. These platforms could be a great place to share your wisdom and attract new customers or build powerful business relationships.
Word-of-Mouth Advertising
It goes without saying that we live in a digital age, but word-of-mouth advertising should definitely not be underestimated. Why? The answer is very simple: people buy from companies they trust. You know yourself that trust is one of the most difficult things to build because it takes lots of time and patience.
However, with word-of-mouth advertising that process goes much faster. Your loyal customers will spread the word to their friends, families, and colleagues. Those people would be more inclined to buy from you because someone they trust recommended you. You don’t need to go through hoops to earn their trust.
You already got yourself a nice foundation on which you can continue to build your business relations. And although it isn’t directly linked to advertising, don’t forget to reward your loyal customers. Show them how much you appreciate them.
Partnership and Branding
When you are a small business, partnering with other respectable brands can make you more visible and attract more leads. At the same time, don’t forget about your own brand. Your brand is your ambassador. Thus, it needs to be in line with your business mission and value proposition. The key is consistency so that people can start connecting the brand with you. Consistency in this case equals trust and a sense of security.
Moreover, it makes your business more memorable. In order to achieve consistency, make sure to use the same “voice,” the same visual branding across all social media channels. Emphasize your (key) value proposition so that the next time somebody sees your logo, for example, they immediately recognize it and know what to expect.
Internal Communication
All the advertising tools that we presented in the lines above are there to help you grow your business and connect more with your target audience. However, you should bear in mind that all these tools can’t compensate for the lack of internal communication in your company/team. It is essential that you nurture this type of communication in order to really create a high-quality working environment.
This environment will further impact the work processes, and ultimately, the way you deliver your product. To think that the relations within the company/team don’t affect the relations with your customers would be a huge mistake.
The statistics clearly show how important this aspect is and how often we neglect it. If you are unsure where to start from, check these internal communication examples from companies like Amazon, Netflix, Starbucks, etc. You can also check the statistics while you are at it. It will give you a great(er) insight into the importance of internal communication.
Try implementing some of these advertising tips for small businesses. They can set you apart from the competition without blowing your budget or your time.
