Thousands of new businesses start every year, and more than half of them fail in the first 12 months. This is usually down to several reasons including a lack of finance, not enough business knowledge and the fact that people do not always understand how important marketing is. It is great having a new business and setting up your website, but regardless of how high its quality is, it will be no use at all if you do not make potential customers aware of your brand. Getting your brand known does not have to be costly or difficult, so here are a few tips to help you on your way.
Research Your Audience
Firstly, you need to do some research to decide who you want your marketing to reach. There is not much point aiming for young men if you are selling beauty products meant to help older ladies with anti-aging. You need to make sure you target the right consumers.
Research Your Competitors
Find out what your competitors are doing. Are they selling the same products cheaper than you will? Do they offer a good customer experience? Finding their mistakes can help you to avoid making the same errors, but the things they do well may also give you some insight.
Have A Brilliant Website
Your website is a very important part of your business. It needs to be appealing, quick to load and very easy to navigate. For example, if someone carries out an IC part number search at Octopart, they will get the results they need without a problem. If your site is slow or hard to navigate, viewers will soon move elsewhere.
Use Visual Content
A page of text might be very interesting and informative, but it will not hold the viewer’s interest. You need visuals on your website, such as good quality images and videos, to ensure visitors are more likely to look closer.
Use Social Media
Social media can be a great way to get your brand known, but you will need to dedicate some time to it. There are billions of people who have accounts on various social media platforms, with millions of them signing in every day. That gives you a huge potential audience that will take time to reach, but this can be done very cheaply.
Hold A Competition
Hold a competition on social media, and you will be amazed by how many new followers you attract. The prize does not have to be anything expensive, but people like something for nothing, and they will follow you if it is part of the conditions for entry.
Email Marketing
For just a small fee, you can send many thousands of emails to your prospective and existing clients. For a while, it was thought that email marketing was dead, but it has come back with vengeance as marketers have realized how effective it can be. Make sure the email always has a positive message if you want it to be successful.
All of the above are things you can do yourself without spending a fortune. If you have a small marketing budget, these tips will help you to make the most of it.
Community manager at Visual Contenting. Jacqueline loves to talk about social media trends, new technology and how they help businesses accelerate their marketing efforts.
