With more than three-quarters of the U.S. population now connected to the internet, this is no longer a medium that small business owners can ignore when promoting their products or services. If you’re a small business owner, you should consider the five following online marketing strategies to spread the word about your business.
#1) Remarketing
Available in Google’s pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform, AdWords, remarketing allows you to create custom ads that are displayed only to users who’ve visited your business’s website. If a user has visited your business’s website, he or she is probably interested in what you offer. Using remarketing, you can target these users and convert them into customers.
#2) Encourage Online Reviews
Statistics show that nine out of 10 consumers read online reviews before visiting local businesses. You can use this to your advantage by encouraging customers to leave reviews of your business online. Whether it’s Google, Facebook, TripAdvisor or Yelp, let customers know that they can review your business online.
#3) Video Marketing
Don’t overlook video marketing in your business’s promotional strategy. YouTube has billions of users from across the world. Regardless of whom, exactly, is your business’s target audience, they probably you the Google-owned video-sharing website. By publishing relevant videos here, you can connect with these users and funnel them to your business.
#4) Q&A Sites
Another innovative way to promote your small business online is to engage in discussions on Q&A websites like Quora. When a user has a question, he or she may ask it on sites such as this. Assuming the question is relevant to your business or what it offers, you can respond with an answer that includes your business.
#5) Host a Giveaway on Social Media
Finally, you can promote your small business online by hosting giveaway on social media. People love free stuff — something that you can use to your advantage by hosting a giveaway. One idea is to have a contest — weekly or monthly — where users enter for a change to win a prize. The key thing to remember with giveaways such as this is that you should offer something of value. If the winner receives nothing more than a coupon for 10% off his or her next purchase, it’s not going to attract much visibility. On the other hand, if you reward the winner with a free gift card or swag branded with your business’s name and logo, people will remember it, and they’ll also share the contest with their colleagues.
