12 Areas For Promoting Your Business
After setting up a company, many business owners get comfortable and forget to keep up with the changing times. Although the techniques used to grow and boost sales have not changed, technology has introduced modern business tools that have proved game-changing to numerous companies worldwide!
This article highlights 12 areas to help you streamline your campaigns and realize better results for your efforts.
1. Social Media Marketing
It’s essential to acknowledge that social media has formed an integral part of our daily lives. Today, social media platforms are crucial in spearheading a company’s digital marketing strategy. Small and medium-sized businesses can grow their fan base and sales by advertising their products and services online. Business owners can also communicate directly with clients through the company’s social media accounts, making them the perfect marketing and sales tool.
There are numerous apps to choose from, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tik Tok, LinkedIn, etc. But since not every platform will be palatable to your business, it is crucial to understand your audience first. For instance, if your business relies on aesthetic impressions, then Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Exposure are some of the top ones to consider. On the other hand, blog-based businesses work better with LinkedIn, Twitter, Quora, and Reddit.
2. Email Marketing
Email marketing has persevered the test of time as it is still a widely productive strategy for many companies today. Among the main attractions of using emails are its applicability to small and large-scale businesses and its global reach.
Cold outreach marketing isn’t always a breeze since it involves contacting strangers and uncertainty. However, the number of emails people receive daily from businesses in various niches is incredible. This means you’ll need to create a unique email marketing campaign to help your company stand out from the rest, translating into the conversion of prospects into paying clients.
Ensure the emails are accessible and legible on mobile devices and desktops, so no one is marginalized. Customizing your emails to suit your target audience is also essential as it results in lead conversions, customer engagement and feedback, lead nurturing, customer retention, and, finally, higher revenue. You can also incorporate email marketing tools like HubSpot, Mailchimp, Aweber, Constant Content, and Moosend to centralize and organize your contact database and manage and track the company’s email performance.
3. Video Marketing
Video marketing is a powerful strategy that can effectively engage potential clients and direct them to your brand. It attracts a larger audience compared to using texts or images. Thanks to technology, businesses can now target viewers from all over the world via numerous platforms that were non-existent two decades ago. Some leading video marketing platforms include YouTube, Vimeo, Powtoon, and Tiktok.
People spend hours on end watching videos online daily, with many using up more than 30% of their time. Therefore, creating awareness, engagement, and educating the audience is key to achieving your company’s marketing objectives. A diligent video marketing strategy will capture viewers’ attention and drive them to action.
Through videos, companies can summarize and share content fast and effectively. As a result, consumers can understand your product or service and recognize whether it’s viable for them. This strategy also works for both B2B and B2C marketing.
4. Chatbots
Efficient and speedy responses are some of the top ways to convert leads into buying customers. If someone has to wait long before getting their question answered on your website, they’re highly likely to try another provider.
Chatbots are progressively transforming how businesses interact with potential and existing clients using artificial intelligence software to interact with people naturally. This is especially true in high-volume customer interaction industries like insurance, healthcare, and banking, where businesses can save more than four minutes with every inquiry. And since they rely on automation, employing chatbots in your business allows your support team to focus on other pressing issues without lacking customer service quality.
Additionally, chatbots allow for better customer data analysis. This means you can assess how the bot performs regarding generated sales and obtain detailed insights on the questions customers ask, thus helping you improve your company’s performance. It’s no surprise that Google and Facebook are already on board.
5. Blogging
Another revolutionary marketing tool is blogging! Research shows that blog marketers generate 67% higher leads since they can subtly advertise their products or services. Additionally, those who share valuable content with their customers are 13 times more likely to get a positive return on investment (ROI).
Direct ads and aggressive marketing put off a vast majority of people. However, blogging allows business owners to subtly advertise their products and services while providing valuable information through their blog posts. By creating high-quality blogs and maintaining consistent production, you will notice an increase in your website traffic and, consequently, build customer trust.
Although blogs rely heavily on text, they differ from newspapers, books, journals, and magazines. For the latter mediums, readers absorb the information passively, whereas blog posts encourage the audience to offer their opinions, suggestions, and criticism. With time, they’ll form an online community that will grow with your company and even acts as promoters by sharing your posts on various social media platforms. It’s a win-win deal!
6. Google Business Profile
We live in an era where all it takes to travel the world is money and Google! Therefore, your business is a great disservice if consumers cannot access it via Google Search and Maps.
Google Business Profile is a vital tool every business owner should integrate into their digital marketing strategy as it is essential in managing and customizing a company’s profile. You can share critical data such as a physical address, contacts, and operating hours using a Google Business listing. You can also share business photos and videos, products and pricing, and links to your website on social media platforms.
Similar to blogs, Google Business Profile allows you to engage with customers, i.e., you can answer questions, respond to reviews, and enable direct messaging. You can also gain incredible insights into your audience to understand where they come from and how they found your business.
7. Webinars
Webinars are seminars where salespeople, marketers, and other professionals interact with leads or existing clients in real time. Through these sessions, you create brand awareness and build authority in your industry, thus pushing your product or service to the audience.
Webinars promote interactive engagement with an audience simplistically and affordably. What’s best is you can also record the session, forming part of your company’s content library that can be stored and used later (pre-recorded webinars).
Many companies use webinars to explain the complex aspects of their business, creating demand for their products or services. Through these seminars, you can automate your sales process and save on resources and time.
8. Voice Search
We’re living in a time where you don’t need to type out instructions to get a service. Instead, using your voice, you can now instruct your smart device to search for information and engage with brands of interest. The leading innovations in this category include Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and Bixby.
Research shows that almost 50% of all searches today are voice-based, and the numbers keep growing as voice recognition accuracy improves. Some top benefits of using voice searches include improving your multitasking skills, getting instant answers to questions, and a simplified lifestyle. It is no surprise, therefore, that there are more than four billion digital voice assistants worldwide. Additionally, this figure is expected to double by 2023.
Voice search changes how people use keywords and phrases to help them find results online. Your team can then gain insights into consumer behavior by tracking keyword distribution, assessing your search visibility, and reporting on the variation of keywords used to sell your ads.
9. Conversion Optimization
Did you know that making even the slightest changes to your business approach can prove transformative in drawing people to your site? Additionally, it can also convert leads into customers on-site.
Conversion optimization aims to increase desired actions on your website. For example, users can subscribe to a service, add an item to their shopping cart, purchase a product, or even click a link. This process helps you understand what persuades or stops users from performing the desired action. Consequently, you can adjust your strategy to provide the best user experience for your clients.
10. User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) includes text, photos, and videos, related to a particular brand but created by people not connected to the business. For example, the content could be a social media update, podcast, online review, etc.
Some great examples are when people post their favorite restaurants, drinks, skin products, shoes, bags, etc., on social media and get their followers’ reactions (likes, comments, retweets). When this happens, the mentioned brands earn free marketing since the message spreads across numerous personal accounts at no cost from the company. Additionally, people are more likely to trust your brand since the source of the post is original or relatable.
11. Viral Marketing
When something goes viral, it means it has become widely popular or discussed in a short period. Viral marketing, therefore, borrows from this theory and seeks to spread information on products or services through the internet or by word of mouth.
A good product doesn’t guarantee virality. Therefore, marketing teams must find creative ways to stimulate users to share content about their product or service. Some techniques employed in viral marketing include developing an “invitation-only” system that limits product access, thus creating a sense of urgency from consumers for fear of missing out.
You can also try other options like using high-traffic news outlets, bloggers, influencers, and social media outreach. Doing this improves your chances of going viral significantly!
12. Event Marketing
Events have progressively become essential marketing tools that open doors for businesses to gain a larger audience and improve their relations. These forums promote one-on-one discussions between companies and consumers, which help establish a personal relationship. The attendees also acquire the knowledge they can share with their peers, friends, or colleagues, making your brand more accessible to the target clients.
Events are generally cheaper than traditional marketing channels. However, to get the most from these forums, you’ll need to set a clear and quantifiable objective, do diligent promotions and follow-ups, provide effective giveaways, and reveal valuable information about your product or service.
Do What Works for You
Using any of the ideas listed above or a combination is a sure way to expand your reach and increase your revenue. However, it’s equally essential to test-drive them through trials to find what works for your business niche and budget. Once a plan is established, your marketing campaigns will no longer seem pointless or unproductive.