You may wonder what the most effective form of advertising for small businesses is. While some tried and true techniques seem to bring in new customers, there are also some inexpensive and underutilized types of marketing you may have neglected.
The U.S. Small Business Administration advises using approximately 8% of your revenue for marketing. How you allocate those funds to different forms of advertising depends on what’s most effective with your customer base.
It’s common to choose an outlet or two that work well to bring in business. You may stick with those and never venture out of your comfort zone. Unfortunately, you’ll also miss out on the opportunity to grow your business more rapidly or develop a new customer base.
Here are some underutilized advertising opportunities and how you can tap into each.
1. Co-Op Ads
You may not have even heard of cooperative advertising, but it can help you get your name in more prominent publications and in front of more people than you can afford on your own. You may find opportunities through your local chamber of commerce or via professional organizations.
Another idea is to build a team of like-minded business owners and pool your resources to draw people. You can offer specials surrounding a holiday, season or other events. Throw an event where each business owner in a three-block radius sets up a booth and passes out samples and information.
Look for ways to reach local citizens without spending a fortune. You may even decide to team up with a charity or a larger corporation willing to let you piggyback on their success.
2. Outdoor Displays
Increasing local exposure is one of the top ways to business success. How do you get the word out and bring in the all-important foot traffic? Outdoor advertising is the most effective way to grab attention.
Some ideas include dancing inflatables to showcase a big sale, huge outdoor balloons, signs giving details about hours of operation or specials and giant inflatables to draw the eye.
Know your typical customer and the type of displays most likely to bring them in. If your research shows your audience enjoys sales, place a vinyl “sale” sign in front of your store. On the other hand, if you want to attract young families with children, you might include a fun inflatable of a monkey or tiger.
3. Content Marketing
You may have the best of intentions to get your blog up and running for your site. However, there are only so many hours in the day and finding time to create amazing content your audience wants to read is time-consuming.
However, content is a big draw. Not only will it help you rank higher in search engine rankings, but people will come to see you as an expert in your field and be more likely to turn to you when they have a need matching your business.
Focus on building quality content that answers the pain points customers have. What do you know no one else does? How can you share your expertise with potential customers? What are the questions and search phrases people use related to the issues?
You may need to hire freelance writers or a full-time staffer to keep your blog going. Ideally, you’ll also share links on social media and have other companies link to you as the expert on the topic, improving your rank and traffic over time.
4. Facebook Offer Ads
Statista reported a surge in Facebook users throughout 2020. The social media giant claims around 2.8 billion users actively engaged with some feature of their platform.
You probably already use Facebook ads to reach a highly segmented audience. However, what you might be underutilizing is the specific type of ad you can tap into on the platform. People tend to tune out what they see over and over, so using something a bit outside the norm engages them.
Offer ads focus on a specific deal. Target them to people you know will want the item and not thrown out to a general crowd. It’s hard to find these types of ads because you have to select specific goals to get to them. Experiment with different settings until you see the option to create an offer ad.
5. Paid Search
You may take out some paid search keyword phrases and try to drive traffic to your site, but many small business owners and marketers feel overwhelmed at competing with giant corporations.
Single keywords may offer a ton of traffic, but you might worry you’ll never rank for them. Just because it’s challenging to reach people via shorter or more popular phrases doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
You’re paying to put your brand in front of a specific audience. Your money is just as good as Amazon or Walmart. Your budget is just smaller, so you may reach fewer people at a time. Tap into the market and set your limits. Don’t be afraid to go after an ideal keyword all businesses in your industry want to rank for.
6. Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is another thing that takes time and thus is often overlooked. Yet, gaining valuable backlinks and getting your name out there as an authority is invaluable. One thing you can try is hiring freelance writers to create one-of-a-kind pieces.
Start by making a list of the websites that have the same audience you do. Reach out to them and chat about their requirements for an article. You want to send unique pieces to each one. Once you have an idea of their guidelines, either write or hire a writer to create content for each site.
Look for sites that link back to yours at least once. Ideally, they will also offer you a short biography, so you can share the name of your company and why you’re an expert in the field.
Establish ongoing relationships and drive traffic to your website and your business.
Getting Your Name in Front of More People
Make a list of the tactics currently working to grow your business. Think through similar activities that might repeat these successes. If you’ve had good luck with word-of-mouth marketing, should you add a referral program? Try new things and analyze how well each works. Get rid of the ones with poor results and keep the activities drawing traffic your way.
Photo by jimmy teoh from Pexels
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