When you’re starting out your business, promoting it is the most important thing on your to-do list, but if you’re not careful it can also be the most expensive. Thankfully, with technology and social media, it doesn’t have to eat into your budget too much. Here are a few ways to promote your business that will cost you next to nothing.
Submit your website’s URL to popular search engines
There is no point in having a brilliant website if you can’t generate enough traffic to promote your business. Google and Bing, the most used search engines, offer the option of submitting your link onto their platform to speed up the indexing process and improve your SEO ranking. If your website can be found easily on a search engine, your website should soon experience an increase in traffic.
Give exclusive offers
Everyone loves a good bargain, and you can use that to increase sales. Offer your services at a discount for a limited time, and use Adobe Spark to make your own gift cards for a fraction of the cost of a professional printer. Your profits may take a small dip, but you can use this opportunity to promote your business through word of mouth. Offer further discounts to people who refer you to a friend and keep the business circulating that way. Also ask your clients to share their experience on social media, the fastest and cheapest way to spread the news of your business. Later down the road, you can get these customers to share your latest news or products for you by offering them further discounts or other rewards.
Encourage communication
Once you have a customer base, be sure to keep them updated about new offers, or upcoming events by using an e-mail newsletter or regularly updating your company’s blog or social media pages. Always follow up with your past clients because it helps to cement your reputation as a reliable and attentive business owner. Use a free PR website to create a compelling story and get it sent out to even more potential customers.
Stay on top of your website
Nowadays, your website is the main way to represent your business, so make sure that the information you have there is always up to date. Does it advertise a service that you no longer offer? If so, take it down immediately or you will end up with an angry customer who may have already paid for this non-existent service. Are the prices still right, or have you changed them recently? Don’t be afraid to update the look of the entire website if you feel the original theme no longer reflects what you’re trying to sell.
Use free advertising, wherever possible
This isn’t as difficult as it used to be, thanks to social media. Through the use of your website, e-mail updates and your social media pages, advertising should take care of itself. But it can’t hurt to advertise with local directories. After all, it’s just more free advertising.
