Businesses work by selling products and services to customers for profit. Regardless of how good your products or services are, your business won’t make any profit unless people intend to purchase them. It’s really simple: there is no business without clients.
Nevertheless, the majority of small businesses encounter tough times or fail, not because people are not willing to buy their products, but because people don’t even know their products exist, to begin with.
For a lot of small businesses, marketing and advertising are huge problems. So, we provide you with 5 simple, but highly efficient ways that you can market and advertise your products and attract new customers.
Take Advantage of Social Media
The greater your reach on social media, the more customers you will attract without spending a lot of money. Building your social accounts like Facebook and Instagram takes time. So, stay active and produce engaging posts to gather more likes and more comments. Doing that will enhance your chances of new people checking your content that will appear in their newsfeed.
Nowadays, Instagram is the most used social media platform for brand advertising, and that’s why it’s important to know how to grow Instagram followers organically. However, when it comes to drawing a large pool of potential customers, you shouldn’t overlook paid options like Instagram or Facebook Ads to generate new leads.
So, it’s clever to utilize social media marketing to complement your other marketing efforts. Plus, using social media not only helps you to attract or convert leads but also helps you to keep your current customers up to date.
Word-Of-Mouth Always Works Well
This is certainly the oldest form of marketing and advertising used by businesses. Since people are becoming more and more suspicious of paid advertising, word-of-mouth remains among the most reliable methods in today’s world.
Once your customers are happy and satisfied with your products, there’s a spontaneous natural tendency that they are inclined to share that experience with people in their close circle such as family, friends, colleagues, etc.
A happy customer is one of the most efficient marketing tools a small business can have. But, word-of-mouth advertising doesn’t always come spontaneously, and providing great products and customer service sometimes is not enough.
You need to encourage, stimulate or incentivize your customers to do that for you. So, you can start a reference or reward program for your current customers. The more people they refer to your services, the more free or discounted services they will enjoy. Bear in mind that the reward should be big enough to provoke their interest and make them take action.
Provide Discounts and Great Deals
Same as free items, discounts, and good deals also work well. They are one more creative and low-cost way to draw new customers to your business. Consumers frequently see discounts and deals as a possibility to save money and enjoy a product for far less.
Actually, discounts and deals generally affect customers to purchase more products or services than they originally intended. Customers always want to seize the opportunity because the same product might not be so discounted tomorrow. Providing good deals and discounts is another powerful way to advertise your brand.
Get Listed on Local Directories
Back in the days, long before we had mobile devices, there were these huge books known as Yellow Pages. Each person and business generally had their phone numbers listed in the Yellow Pages.
Today, as a result of the internet, small businesses can be listed for free on local directories. Once a small business is registered on a local directory, everyone around the globe may find it on the map and view its contact details. The best part is that you don’t need to pay to register your business on those directories.
Some of the most common directories out there are Bing Places, Yahoo Local, and Google Places. As you see, every single one of these directories is run by the large worldwide internet search giants. So, if your business isn’t registered yet, hurry up to claim your place.
Print and Distribute Flyers
Flyers continue to be a simple but very efficient way to advertise your small business. They generally work best for small businesses that target consumers within a certain area.
To test this advertising method, you won’t need to invest in expensive flyers. Actually, you can design a simple one by yourself by utilizing one of the free PowerPoint templates on your computer.
Then, you will need to distribute these flyers by yourself or hire someone to do that for you. Placing the flyers on parked vehicles or home entry doors generally works the best.
Final Words
Finding out how to draw new customers isn’t always simple. It’s a matter of hard work. Keeping up with social media, email campaigns, and review pages takes effort. But all of it will be worth it as your customer base increases. Just remain flexible—try to implement new strategies, and see what works best for your business.