5 Ways to Market Your Business Online
If you have decided to market your existing small business online, then you are on the right track. In present times, seven out of every ten people choose their service providers online. So, it does not matter whether you run a salon, restaurant, grocery store or any other business. Taking your business online can significantly help accelerate sales.
However, most small businesses do not explore this arena, presuming it to be expensive. Still, with the right digital marketing plan, it can be a lot more cost-effective than traditional marketing. So, to help you get the most out of it, here are some highly effective ways in which you can market your business.
Start with the Right Foot | Get an SSL Certificate
Your website is always at the core of your digital marketing plan, and the first step is to make that appear safe for the user to explore. That’s because you are going to provide a link to your official website in business listings, social media campaigns and everywhere else. So, you don’t want your website to shoot out a safety warning to the reader in the URL box. To make your site appear safe, you need to install an SSL certificate on your server. Another benefit of doing this is that you improve your chances of ranking better in search engines.
Find the Right Social Media Platform
To run a successful digital media campaign, you need first to identify the social media platforms on which your target audience is most active. You can do this by considering the geographical location and the generation to which your prospective customers belong. If you are catering to a mixed bag, such as millennials and Gen X, then consider running social media campaigns on multiple platforms. The ideal ones for millennials would be Instagram, and for Gen X, you can count on Facebook.
Cling on to a Micro Niche
To take your existing business online, you need to have a website with high-quality content that is focused on a micro-niche. That’s because SERPs rank such websites better than the rest and that’s precisely what you want. So, if you are an Attorney, then you would want to go a step further and classify yourself by your specialization and post relevant content.
Blog with Laser-Focused Content
When you are trying to drive a specific category of people to your website, make it a point to publish laser-focused content that is directed towards them. So, if you sell toys, you do not want those interested in mainstream sports to find your website which sells plastic baseball bats for 4-year old. Likewise, if you sell pet food for canines, you do not want those who own a cat or a raccoon to find your site. Even if they do, it’s only going to bloat up the traffic statistics and isn’t going to help your business make sales.
Bulk Emailing and How to Avoid the Spam Folder
A little over a decade ago, you could shoot out sales-related emails, and there was nothing that the recipient could do about it besides reading or deleting it. However, now, sales-related emails barely make it to the inbox and mostly end up in the spam folder. Nonetheless, bulk emailing is essential and works great, mainly if you have a pop-up that collects contact details of those interested in your posts.
So, you need to send out emails but also avoid things that can make them appear spammy and here’s how you can do that. Always keep the flow regular and avoid exclamations and loud fonts to avoid being noticed by the spam filters. Also, avoid words like discount, sales, urgent or anything else that indicates its related to selling or marketing.
Finally, you need to limit the links, compress the images and offer the recipient the option to unsubscribe. After you have done that, try to send yourself an email and check if it is being marked spam. Mostly it won’t, but if it does, then here’s a trick that could help. Please enter your business’ physical address in Google My Business and include it in your emails.
Final Takeaway
Most of the marketing strategies mentioned above are free, and the only thing you may have to pay for is the content. You can even get an SSL certificate with a bundled web hosting plan else; you can purchase it from SSL providers. Now that proves how cost-effective it is to market your business online, and when you are a small business, these strategies work exceptionally well.