Otherwise, you can use your personal profile to interact with consumers. Maintain a robust brand presence. People today often use Facebook as a search engine to find out more about a company, whether that means basic info like contact information and hours of operation, or what customers have to say about them.
Join Facebook groups. While most people think of LinkedIn first when they think online networking, Facebook groups actually offer a similar opportunity for professionals. There are any number of Facebook groups dedicated to various industries, professions, and interests. You can use your personal account to join groups of colleagues, as well as groups where your target audience is likely to be found.
The more you contribute to the conversations taking place in these groups, the more your name will become recognized — and synonymous with industry leadership and expertise. The only thing to watch out for here is never to come across as salesy in your discussions — the quickest way to turn off this potential stream of leads and connections is to start promoting your business instead of offering genuine advice and thoughts.
You can customize your search for groups based on various keywords — and Facebook also makes suggestions, based on your profile. Create your own group. Create your own! You can add members, publish articles, carry on discussions, and probably meet quite a few prospects. The fact that you own the group and control the conversations automatically grants you industry leadership status in the eyes of your members, which can only help when they realize they need the product or service you provide.
List your events. Hosting a webinar or speaking somewhere? You can even see how many RSVP and get feedback from attendees. Syndicate your blog. There are many different online tools you can use to do this, from simple plugins for WordPress to suites of digital marketing software, that will automatically post each new blog post to your Facebook page for you.
If you have a great story or an interesting product that people will want to write about, put it out there!
PR is free and gets in front of an audience you may not reach otherwise. Make sure you target the right publications i. When marketing a new business, press coverage is a good way to get your name out there. Mercedes shares how she got free coverage for her nine-month old brand:. PR helped drive 50 sales in three days, which was a huge surge in new business for the new business owner.
Email marketing is a great way to attract and retain customers as a small business. You can ask potential customers to sign up for an email list on your social media profiles or ecommerce store. Once they opt-in, you can send them promotions, product launches, or content to build a relationship and increase sales. Brands like Cat Caboodle , below, use email to welcome new customers:. The best part?
You can create automated email marketing campaigns to send the messages for you. Whether you're just getting started or dreaming up your next big campaign, this email marketing guide will provide you with insights and ideas to help your business grow. We'll also send you updates on new educational guides and success stories from the Shopify newsletter. We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe.
Get started. When it comes to promoting your online business, SEO is one of the best ways to get traffic and sales over time. The goal is to get to position one, so when shoppers type in a specific keyword, they find your brand first. The upside? Executing the basics is enough to get you ahead of competitors. Use the following beginner tips to start:.
But what are the best promotion tactics? Explore the below list:. According to the latest TikTok statistics , the social media platform has over million active monthly users worldwide and has been downloaded over two billion times from the App Store and Google Play. Using TikTok for business is also the easiest way to reach younger demographics like zennials and Gen Z. Why get on on board? TikTok uses a proprietary discovery algorithm that helps your videos go viral, whether you have 10 followers or 10, It helps businesses scale their social media presence and drive fast growth.
TikTok is great for building brand awareness. But you can also drive sales with a link-in-bio feature that directs viewers to a landing page. It also has free advertising features like AR filters and lenses to promote your business online in an interactive and fun way. Did you know that YouTube users watch over one billion hours of video on the website every day?
Compelling video content is excellent for attracting new customers and engaging with current ones. When you find the right match for your brand, a simple mention on Instagram can go a long way. This is especially true for apparel products, where the right mention or stylish photo can drive tons of sales.
Use an outreach campaign to connect with Instagram influencers—whether they have a blog or not—and arrange sponsored posts. Look for Instagrammers with audiences that would like your product and ask them to feature your product in a photo. Make sure you have your own Instagram account set up so they can tag you. Studies suggest that audiences respond differently depending on your posting frequency, so make sure you test to figure out the best cadence for your brand.
You can also compare your posting frequency and engagement rates to your competitors. On platforms like Instagram, you can post different types of content throughout the day. It shares a mix of product-related and user-generated content to keep followers interested and engaged. But as consultant Jay Baer notes , your daily or weekly cadence is minutiae compared to having a marketing plan and a process to create genuinely compelling posts on a regular basis.
Two helpful marketing tools for scheduling future posts are Hootsuite and Buffer. You can integrate them with your browser and dozens of other apps to schedule posts and track engagement metrics for your social networks. These apps can help you cut down on time spent executing your online marketing strategies. Using product reviews and testimonials to create trust and gain insights into your products is a great way to increase online sales.
These reviews provide fresh content and help drive traffic from social to your site, which in turn boosts online sales. Consider the context in which most users are browsing social media. This social media marketing strategy works particularly well on platforms made specifically for quick experiences, such as Snapchat. That would play much better than trying to cram an entire article into a much smaller social media experience.
Engagement is critical to keep any online community alive and well. A great tactic to grow your Twitter following and boost online sales is by hosting a weekly Twitter chat. You can either co-host an existing Twitter chat or start your own. Tip: Pick a hashtag related to the Twitter chat and ask your community to use it within their tweets. This helps with branding, makes the practice familiar to those who choose to take part, and allows you to search the chat later for content and recaps.
Make sure the buttons to the popular social networks—Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest—are easy for users to find. To implement this social media marketing tip on your own online store, consider an app like Social Share Buttons and Popup , which has its own analytics and can help you optimize positioning and layout. What does a hashtag do for your marketing efforts?
The hashtag has organized a big part of the social web according to conversations, making it easy to join in on discussions and events by posting under the ones that are relevant to your brand. You can use hashtags on posts in your feed or on Instagram Stories, like havertysfurniture for National Turtle Day. Send out press releases to local newspapers, radio stations, cable TV stations, and magazines whose audiences are likely to be interested in buying what you sell. Post the press releases on one or more online press release services, too, being sure to include links to your website.
To increase your chance of having the material published, send along a photo but not to radio stations with your press release. Help reporters find you. Reporters are constantly looking for sources to quote in their stories. One way they find those sources is to use services that distribute their request for sources to publicists, experts, marketers, and others who want to be sources.
To find out when reporters are looking for information you can provide, sign up for these lists and scan them regularly. Another service, called PRLeads is fee-based. Write an article that demonstrates your expertise in your field. Send it to noncompeting newspapers, magazines, and websites in your field that accept submissions from experts.
Be sure your name, business name, phone number, and a reference to your product or service is included at the end of the article. If the editor can use the article you get your name in print, and possibly get your contact information printed for free, too. Publicize your publicity.
Whenever you do get publicity, get permission from the publisher to reprint the article containing the publicity. Make photocopies and mail the copies out with sales letters or any other literature you use to market your product or service. The publicity clips lend credibility to the claims you make for your products or services. Ask for work. Contact friends, acquaintances, former employers if you left on good terms , nonprofit organizations, schools and colleges, and even other businesses and ask for work.
Let them know what you do and ask if they can use your services. Network with others who are doing the same type of work you are. Let them know you are available to handle their work overloads.
Word will get out, and will ruin your business reputation. Offer to be a speaker. Industry conferences, volunteer organizations, libraries, and local business groups often need speakers for meetings. If your product or service is appropriate, give demonstrations of it to whatever groups or individuals might be interested.
Or, teach others how to use some tool you use in your work. Put videos of your product or service on YouTube and other video-sharing and slide-sharing sites. Find out what federal, state, and local government programs are in existence to help you get started in business. Most offer free business counseling , and some can put you in touch with government agencies and large corporations that buy from small and woman-owned businesses. If you are a woman-owned or minority-owned business, post that fact on your website.
You should also consider getting certified by private, state, or federal organizations. Many purchasing agents have quotas or guide for the number of goods and services they need to buy from minority- and woman-owned businesses. Send out sales letters to everyone you think might be able to use what you sell.
Be sure to describe your business in terms of how it can help the prospect. Learn to drop a business card in every letter you send out.
Follow up periodically with postcard mailings. If you use a car or truck in your business have your business name and contact information professionally painted on the side of the vehicle. That way your means of transportation becomes a vehicle for advertising your business.
Use a magnetic sign on your vehicle. You can get them in various sizes and can remove them whenever you want. Magnetic signs can be ordered through many online printing and sign shops and are very reasonably priced.
Briefly describe what you do and ask for an appointment to talk to them about ways you can help them meet a need or solve a problem. Get samples of your product or your work into as many hands as possible. Offer a free, no-obligation consultation to people you think could use your services. Ask for referrals.
A satisfied customer is often glad to refer you to their friends. Help them remember to do so by asking for referrals and leaving them extra business cards or fliers that they can give to their friends and family who need your services.
If someone gives you a lead, follow up on it right away. Use other people to sell your product or service. Instead of or in addition to selling your products yourself, look for affiliates, resellers or people who will generate leads for you in return for a commission on sales. Be sure your pricing structure allows for the fees or commissions you will have to pay on any sales that are made. Get together with businesses that serve the same market but sell different products and services.
Have sales letters, brochures, flyers, and other pertinent information printed and ready to go. Make the prize something desirable and related to your business — it could be a free gift basket of your products, for instance, or free services. Ready to get started? Get the expert support you need. Log In. Support F.
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