While the quality of your product/service should always be paramount, it won’t do you much good if no one knows that you can provide it. Therefore, you need to find an adequate way to promote your business. Still, this can be a bit tricky since, on one hand, you want to get the most out of your marketing campaign, but at the same time, you don’t want to overinvest. Keep in mind that as a young business, you might have some difficulties finding sufficient funding for such a thing. Nonetheless, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and here are five best ways to promote your business on a budget.
Promotion on social media
First things first, in the 21st century, you might want to turn to social media first. Make a business profile on several networks such as Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and of course, LinkedIn. In order for people to actually follow you, make sure that you follow every post in which you are promoting your business with at least six more that hold some value to your audience.
The rule of seven
While some things constantly change in the world of marketing, there are certain principles that are simply timeless. A perfect example of this is the rule of seven. According to this rule, in order for someone to actually buy your product, they need to hear about it at least seven times beforehand. Nonetheless, this means that there is a long journey ahead of you before you finally get some conversions.
Meet people from your industry
Not every promotion you make needs to be strictly B2C. In fact, there are many benefits to meeting the people within your own business niche. Here, you can agree to promote each other’s businesses (provided that you are not direct competitors) and even introduce each other to people who might help in this task. All in all, the best way to do so is to attend industry-relevant events and seminars and just mingle. If not, you can always find a way to improve your B2B outreach strategy.
Build a personal brand
When it comes to small businesses, people often tend to associate an enterprise with the one leading it. Because of this, you may want to work a bit on your personal brand. Get the necessary diplomas and certificates, publish some articles on niche-relevant or controversial topics and offer to be a speaker at the industry conferences. In this way, everyone will know exactly who you are and, seeing how they will trust your professional authority, might find your entire business to be much more trustworthy.
Promotional products
Finally, everyone has a business card or two in their pocket since you never know who you might meet. Well, it might be even more beneficial for your brand if you were to hand out some promotional products instead. We are mainly talking about pencils, t-shirts, hats or umbrellas with your company logo on them. And why stop there? You can take this one step further and personalize some flash drives at USB Planet and hand them out instead. In this way, you give your potential clients something that has a great practical value, something they can associate with your brand. In other words, this will make a positive mental image of your brand in their minds.
The best thing about the abovementioned tips is that their successful outcome doesn’t depend on the nature of your industry. By following through with any of them, you can make sure that your name resounds strongly amongst your target demographic. Finally, the fact that you did all this on a budget will make the results even more impressive and further boost your self-confidence as a young entrepreneur.