The outbreak of Covid-19 has devastated small businesses worldwide, a trend expected to continue throughout 2021. Hence most entrepreneurs are trying to come up with cheaper ideas to market their businesses.
Most business owners are unaware of various online ways to market a business. I’ve put together these 25 brilliant marketing lists to make your life easier. Let’s dive in!
Free Listings
Listing your website is one of the best ways to promote your small business. For instance, say a potential customer is searching for a “local realtor,” you might appear on Yelp, Foursquare, or even Google My Business. The best part about listing your business on online sites is that they are free.
Some of them include:
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Google My Business
Google My Business is the best way to optimize your local SEO. Google reports that 46% of all searches have a local intent (Source: Web FX). Here is how to get started: select appropriate categories, upload photos of your business, and include relevant keywords in your descriptions and images. While at it, don’t forget to add a link to your website in your description.
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Create a Yelp page
Enter your business information in the provided fields, photos of your business, and a call to action. Send a friendly email to happy customers with a link and ask them to leave a review. Easy peasy stuff!
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Get a basic listing similar to those outdated Yellow Pages with YellowBot
When customers perform a search on Yellowbot, a listing appears, displaying a business name, address, phone number, and so on. It also includes customer reviews and some additional options.
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List your business on Find Us Here
Find Us Here is a global directory of businesses and community organizations. It includes more than 13 million listings in the U.S. and more than 18 million global listings, making it a solid directory to help market your business.
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Subscribe to HARO
This a help a reporter out platform) and get alerts when journalists are looking for ideas in your niche, then pitch a story around what they’re looking for. This tip works well for online businesses with a national or global audience.
Channels
If you want to connect with potential and existing customers, gain insight and grow your brand, then social media platforms are a huge bang for your buck.
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Create a Pinterest profile
Pin videos and images of your products. This will paint a perfect picture of your business and build a massive online following.
7. Use Instagram to promote your business
With over 500 million monthly active users, Instagram is the fourth-most downloaded app in the US. It is one of the best channels to go head-to-head with bigger brands using visual content.
How to get started?
Create an Instagram account and start building your following right away. Share stunning images of your products and videos to build your brand. Instagram is great if you have a graphic product or are a photographer, designer, or fashion stylist.
Use LinkedIn to generate B2B leads
If you want to get targeted leads, this is the best platform for you. According to LinkedIn, there are now 500 million business professionals on their network,100 million users are active daily, and 40 million are in decision-making roles. The important thing is first to identify the right leads, then reach out to them.
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Publish a blog on Medium
Medium is one of the easiest platforms where you can nurture leads. Even more important, you’ll have a good chance to show off your expertise while building trust on social media. Moreover, the medium has added a new feature allowing you to share your blog or newsletter with your contacts.
Technological Tools
Over the past few months, various consulting firms have been exploring the impact of coronavirus on small businesses. A study by Mckinsey found that companies that have adjusted well are using technological tools to address changing work environments and stay competitive. Let’s look at some technological tools you can use in your business.
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Use ClickFunnels or Leadpages
You can use ClickFunnels to build different marketing funnels containing lead capture forms, email campaigns, etc. You can also create a series of landing pages your visitors will go through to reach a certain goal.
What about Leadpages?
Leadspages works the same way as ClickFunnels, allowing you to drag and drop pages or simply use a template. Plus, you can customize all colors, fonts, and images, creating a landing page that represents you and your business.
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Build a stunning website with Wix
If you don’t have a budget to hire a professional web designer, this is the tool you should use. It allows you to drag and drop and add extra functionality such as logos, photos, and much more.
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Use Periscope to broadcast a live video to your potential customers
Live streaming is here to stay, and Periscope is one of the tools that will make this possible. You’ll be able to stream real-time live video content to your audience that stems authentically.
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Schedule content with Buffer
Social media offers a huge opportunity to connect with prospects, but sometimes it can be time-consuming to update your social media. So, instead of updating all your social media platforms manually, use Buffer to schedule content across all platforms. You can schedule up to 10 posts per social media account.
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Delegate tasks with Hootsuite
While you can still use Hootsuite to schedule posts, it offers more. It comes with more features than Buffer. For starters, you use it to delegate tasks to other users, making it a great option for a team platform.
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Use Wisestamp to update your email signature
Finding new clients is no picnic, and you can’t escape it. That said, don’t allow unprofessional emails to blow your chances. Use Wisestamp to create an email signature. It is the perfect email signature generator for small business owners, freelancers, and individual professionals.
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Hotfrog
It enables you to boost your business among Google search results. Hotfrog’s active users are constantly searching for services and products. This will convert to additional sales and traffic at no cost to you.
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Reach potential clients with Constant Contact
Constant Contact lets you reach new audiences with email marketing. It offers two plans according to the customer’s email list size.
Create recipes in IFTTT for Feedly, Buffer, and Twitter
So that when a new article is added to your Feedly, it immediately goes into your Buffer queue for Twitter.
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Upload an exclusive, information-packed video
This will help you to stand out from the pack and grow your subscriber base. Make sure your video has some extra valuable tips they can’t find anywhere else on your site!
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Add a live chat to your website
So visitors can ask questions and get them answered live. This doesn’t only make it super convenient for them but also keeps them engaged longer, so they don’t leave.
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Use Sprout to make your visual content blow up on Instagram
Sprout integrates with Instagram, so it’s much easier to get started, no matter your business size. It offers a good balance of social media management and analytics, a sweet spot for you.
Research popular content in your niche with BuzzSumo
You’ll see the number of shares for each social media site. This is a fast way to put yourself on the first page of Google and other search engines.
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Put your video on Wistia
Thought YouTube is the only tool you should share your video? Then you haven’t heard about Wistia. What’s unique about Wistia is that, unlike Youtube, the players keep people on your page.
24 Add social media share buttons on your website using SumoMe
SumoMe gives you much control over the appearance of your website’s social media share buttons. You can choose where the button can be displayed.
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Spy your website visitors with Peek
If you want to get an insight into how people are using your website, then try Peek. A free test feature lets you see and hear a five-minute video of a visitor using your website. Normally tests take 2-3 days to complete.
Where is your business heading?
Once you realize that many ways and solutions can help promote your business, a whole new world opens before you. But not until you try Flowz, a platform that empowers business owners with services and tools. With only one subscription, you access a slew of services and tools. Flowz understands that growing a business amid a coronavirus pandemic isn’t easy. You might want to assess the skill sets you lack and reach out to Flowz to get you back on track.
