When I first started my online business – I was having trouble getting my message out their. I knew I had a great product, I’d spent months building my site and knew it was what people wanted to see – but nobody was visiting it. The problem was – I didn’t have enough money to spend on expensive marketing budgets like the ones I’d been quoted from a few “quality” local firms.
So I tried something different. Even though money was tight – I had plenty of spare time. I saw a few pieces of inspiration online and knew that if others could do it – I could too. I made it my mission to find cheap ways to market my company that would bring in enough visitors to make it a success. After a bit of trial and error – and a few mistakes, I started to see positive results. Now I’m going to share what I did with you, so you can make your startup a success without breaking the bank.
How I used social media to spread my message for next to nothing
Thankfully, I was getting started at the right time. And that’s because of social media. This kind of marketing reach used to be next-to-impossible to find for a small business like mine – or at least very expensive. Now social media gives you huge potential marketing power and minimal costs.
I knew that when someone “liked” my brand they were opening themselves up for further communication. It made it so much easier to get them to come back when I could offer them incentives and exclusives for doing so. Repeat custom is the bread and butter of many small businesses, and I knew that these customers were more likely to come back if I kept active on social media and gave them a reason to do so.
I also knew that happy social media followers would help spread my word for me and do a lot of the marketing legwork themselves. When they like one of my posts on social media, they alert all their extended friends list about me too. I started getting a few more followers this way – and that’s even more potential customers.
While I didn’t have an overnight viral sensation on my hands – I treated my followers respectfully, stayed active, and most of all – gave them a reason to be engaged with me. One of the best things I did was offer exclusive discounts for my followers. I priced them in such a way that I was still making a small profit even with the discount. So I wasn’t losing money – but I was also gaining a lot in marketing traction as more and more people shared my offer.
I also offered exclusive contests to keep my followers active and engaged with my brand.
How I syndicated my content to take things to the next level
I knew I had some great content on my site. And believe me, the quality of your content goes a long way to determining how successful you’re going to be. You might have been able to be successful in the past with poorly written, spammy content – but it’s not that easy anymore.
I actually reached out to some important authorities in my niche who were already a lot more well-known than my site. You might think that these are competitors and won’t want to help you out – but some actually will, especially as you’ll be providing them with relevant quality that interests their visitors.
My quality content did the work for me, and I managed to get it syndicated on a couple of important sites. Not only did I get some great backlinks for Google – but more importantly I got relevant, residual traffic direct from clicks of my articles. Some of these were so switched-on to my message already, that I got a sale straight away.
How I marketed my business in the local area to get a jump on the competition
While I knew I could have global reach online, I also knew that I had a lot of untapped marketing potential in my local area. So I started tapping it.
The great thing about this type of marketing is that people have a tendency to be more loyal to a business that they know is local. You can make the most of this loyalty and increase your impact in the local area. I actually started going to charity events, business functions and other places where I could network and promote my business. Make sure you’ve got plenty of business cards to hand out.
I also hit to the streets and handed out flyers. I even went door-to-door for a bit. While I couldn’t post my flyers worldwide, I could increase people’s awareness of my business in the local area. Another great thing about marketing to these sorts of people is they might never have heard of your product or solution before, so they’re a captive audience. A lot of the people you market to online will have heard of your sort of product before – so it’s hard to make as much of an impact.
These tips really worked for me, and they could for you. If you need to make your business a success – get motivated and think outside the box.
