Promoting your business is a key part of any small company’s success. In the past, promotion was either expensive, via advertising, or slow, through word of mouth. But with the internet, there are more tools than ever to promote your business online, and many of them are free.
1. Twitter
There are two main ways to use Twitter for marketing your business. First, you can use it to communicate news to customers, such as alerts for new products or success stories. You can also use it to pro-actively support customers, by searching for Tweets where people have mentioned your company and responding to them.
Either way, the key thing is to avoid “spamming”. Creating lots of posts stuffed with search terms to attract common searches will get you blocked by users, and may even get your account banned.
2. Facebook
Facebook is no longer “just for kids” – with over 400 million users, it now has a broad demographic base that probably includes your customers.
But isn’t setting up a Facebook fan page just for big brands? The answer to that is a resounding “no” – it can help any company of any size. For an example of a Facebook fan page done well, look no further than Zipcar, the American small car hire company. Keep the posts on your page relevant, interesting, and make sure it matches the “personality” of your company and you can produce a great page which will work for you and your customers.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a social network designed from the ground up for business, and it’s particularly useful to sole traders and contractors wanting to maintain contacts and promote themselves.
If you’ve worked with a client on a contract, after the contract is finished always make sure you give them a recommendation on LinkedIn – assuming, of course, that you would actually recommend them. If you’ve done a good job, you’re likely to receive a recommendation in return, and the more you have, the more attractive your business will be to potential clients.
4. Google Webmaster Tools
Your website is your shop window to the world, so the more that you know about how people are using your site and where its traffic is coming from, the better. Google Webmaster Tools gives you a peek into how Google sees your site, including the search terms that people are finding it with, the keywords it thinks are most relevant to your site, and much more. It’s a great way of spotting problems with your site before they impact on your customers’ ability to find you.
5. Google Keyword Tool
The Google Keyword Tool is designed primarily for advertisers wanting to work out the best keyword to bid for. But it also includes useful tools which can help you assess the most-relevant keywords to use on your site – ones which will help you rise up the search rankings over time.
Put the address of your site into the Google Keyword Tool, and it will come back with a list of common search terms which it thinks are relevant. Select the best matches, and use these keywords in the copy on your site. This will help Google and other search engines understand the most relevant search terms applicable to your site, and so deliver more relevant search traffic.
6. Transactional emails
If you’re selling online, you probably have transactional emails – messages you send out when a customer places an order, or when a product is dispatched. But are you making the most of this to build repeat business?
For example, Amazon sends out a reminder email when a customer has bought something to prompt them to rate the product. They also use this as a marketing tool to tell customers about the other categories of products they sell – maximising the chance of additional sales.
The golden rule, though, is to use these kinds of prompts wisely. If a confirmation of order feels like it’s pressuring the customer to buy more, it will be ignored. Be subtle and you’ll get more traffic to your site and more sales in the long run.
7. Press release submission
Sending out press releases is a great way of getting coverage for your business, and many news services rely on them as a method of finding news. It’s worth getting a copywriter to create it for you (nothing gets noticed by journalists faster than a spelling mistake in a press release) but you can distribute it yourself using services like PRLog. Make sure you specify the countries you want to distribute to. Sending out press releases to the US when they’re only relevant to the UK is wasting people’s time.
8. Google Places
Google Local is a free tool which lets you add your business to Google and Google Maps. It lets you customise how your business appears when people search for it – for example, creating links to the current menu if you are a restaurant. And, with more searches done on mobile phones using tools like Google Maps, this is a simple way of making sure people can find your location when they’re out.
9. Write a blog
Every company has a story to tell, and a blog is a great way to tell it. Other than the time it takes you to write the blog posts, creating a blog for your business is free using online services like Wordpress. Blogging is a good method of engaging customers by sharing your passion for what you do. It probably won’t generate immediate results, but over the long term it can pay off in sales.
10. Use BT Tradespace
BT Tradespace is an online community of businesses and customers, designed to be a smart way to shop and find services from businesses you trust. It uses the power of social networks to help customers pinpoint unique services and must-have products that match your needs and lifestyle.
It’s free to sign up, so you can get started with connecting with customers right away.
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