If you own a business or even if you're in the stages of thinking about starting one, you may be thinking that getting your business out there, especially an online one, can be difficult or even intimidating. With physical stores, you have location, convenience, physical advertising. While it may cost more money for a physical business/shop, it may not always be the most successful, especially compared to the growth of online businesses and marketing.
We all know about big services such as Google, Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, and many other businesses that started small, and through proper campaigning, were able to make their businesses successful. Times have changed, and there's a lot of updates to how you can start your own business now. Because there are so many, and entrepreneurship is much more popular now, building your clientele can easily be the most difficult step. In this guide, we'll be showing you some good ideas, suggestions, and ways to get your business name out there for many to see.
Starting your business:
This may not apply to people that already own a business, but to those who are thinking of starting one, take two big things into consideration. Is there a lot of competition, and is it something people want.
Let's start with the first point.
When it comes to competition, you may find yourself struggling if you pick an idea that's already been done many times before, especially if it offers nothing new. So ask yourself, can you do what your competition does, but better? Campaigning your business will be difficult if no one enjoys the service you're offering. Whether it be an online shop offering clothes or goods, a hosting service, even games or mobile apps. This is something to consider before you even begin, you don't want to put tremendous hours into something if you don't think it'll come to fruition.
Now, is it something that people want? If your service offers something that most people wouldn't even consider, like a nail trimming business, you may want to reconsider what you offer. Or even better is to expand - offer more than just that, make it so your business stands out amongst the overwhelming amount that are out there. That's where we get into advertising, the most crucial step in starting your business.
Advertising on Social Media:
If you're here, chances are that you want to know the little tricks on how to market your business and build up a proper clientele. Let's start with the basics, social media.
Social media is the most popular thing in recent years, and the best way to get your name out there. Not to mention, there's also visual growth you can see when using social media. On day one, you could make a post on Twitter about your business and it may not even get a like. But make that same post when you reach a thousand or more followers, and retweets and likes can spread the word around fast.
That's why participating in social media could help your business exponentially, and investment in a social media manager would be something you could consider down the line when you business begins to grow.
There's many forms of social media to help businesses grow. You can try Instagram, Twitter, Discord communities, Facebook, LinkedIn, and so much more. Expand to as many forms of social media as you can. Even if you don't update often, a post you make could reel in a potential buyer or two.
When posting on social media however, you don't want to come across as lifeless, or like a robot. Showing personality and a form of humanity could pull in people much more effectively. If your posts sound like an ad, most people may glance over them. But posting casually yet professional can highlight your business as friendly, or welcoming.
A business that can understand the consumer. Some businesses like to post memes, or make funny harmless jokes for their clientele when posting. While not necessary, this generation of customers appreciate that type of business motto, and a little bit of humor can go a long way.
Coupons/Discounts:
The one thing all consumers can agree on is that discounts are amazing. Big businesses or small, creating coupons or discounts will surely pull people in and gain potential clients or customers you wouldn't have had otherwise. Steam is a good example of this - they have multiple huge sales a year, and a lot of independent developers opt in to the sale because it'll increase publicity and attention for their company.
Even if it's not a large discount, cheaper is always something people will have their interest piqued towards. Consider advertising sales that go on for your business on social media, or if you own a website, link directly back to your website to increase traffic. You may not want to provide discounts if your service or business is new, but if it's at least a small clientele, this will definitely help you grow, or spike sales.
Digital Business Services (i.e Fiverr):
Many people may have heard of this service, but in case you haven't, it's a place where you can advertise your goods and services to people, whether it be drawings, stories, programming, video editing, or much more.
This could be a good gateway into growing your business if you're new or up and coming. Just mention to your clients what your business is, and the word can spread. A lot of influencers online use fiverr and while it may not be overly likely to find someone like this willing to showcase your work, you never know when you'll run into someone who would be so happy with your work, they'll spread the name around.
There's no better type of marketing than providing a good service to people, and that should be the motto for your company regardless, big or small. Look into this, especially if you're starting fresh. These clients can give you a lot of good insight into how to make your service better too! There are many other digital services similar to Fiverr you can look into, such as Upwork, feel free to do some research and find the service that would be best suited for your business!
Physical Product Marketing:
Unlike digital purchases, there's many things to consider when you're trying to sell physical products. It has benefits and drawbacks. On one hand, physical products are usually the average consumer will be drawn to more frequently. On the other hand, people tend to look far more into physical product reviews and overall assessment, since refunding can be more complicated, as well as the uncertainty of the consistency of the product. That's why managing your business to have positive feedback is really important. When marketing physical products, take these things into consideration:
- Do you have locals or friends interested in your product and willing to leave reviews to help your feedback begin positively?
- Do you have proper quality control with the production of your product?
- Do you have the finances to support your business through the growth stage, keeping in mind for the first while, you may be losing money as opposed to earning?
Physical products require a lot more maintenance. Make sure products are stored properly, inspected well, and keep the quality of your product high. The best way to market a physical product is to make it so there's nothing for the consumer to complain about. Reviews are more highly inspected for physical products over digital, and you'll need those first reviews you get to be very good for future consumers to trust you and your business.
Keywords/SEO:
Keywords are a vital part of getting your business well known, and especially helpful if you have a website or you're in the process of making one, and it's also good to understand that Google likes specific keywords. Just like with tags, you need to be able to balance your keywords between too common and too unique.
If you have a business name that doesn't describe your business well, it likely won't be a useful keyword to use for your business since not many are aware of that business - yet. First off, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is how search engines such as Google will relate your website, whether it be through a partner program like Shopify, or your own business website.
For the sake of giving an example, let's say your shop is called "Dandy's Shop" and sells grocery products. Grocery in itself isn't a great keyword because people like to search specifically for items, and Dandy is something not related to your product, and until your business is more well known, it won't be a helpful keyword.
Try using terms of products you sell. Not overly specific, but if you sell video games, maybe take note of the few popular games during marketing research and throw those in for keywords. If you have a computer store, try RAM since many people buy that. It's not only using products you have, but doing research to see what people buy, what people need, and what people are constantly searching for.
In Closing:
If you couple good keywords with good deals, a clean UI for your site and easy navigation, and just simply getting your name out there, you'd be surprised how fast your business could grow. If you let your business try to sustain for itself with no investment in marketing, it will almost certainly not grow, not at a rate in which would be healthy for a business.
Marketing is one of the most important factors for new businesses. Make sure you have great customer care and handle support well so negative reviews can't damage your reputation, and just treat your business like something you love, something you want to succeed.
Forms of marketing are always changing and you need to make sure you stay relevant with the times. Don't advertise on dying platforms, constantly check what is popular. It may be easy research, but vital for any growing business. Just because your growth isn't good, doesn't mean your idea is bad - just that you may not have been pushing hard enough.
