All business owners know the importance of marketing.
They know that having a solid marketing strategy is the key to winning new customers for their business. Customers are key components to the success of any business. Without clients, who provide the much-needed finances that help your business prosper, your business is doomed. So the burning question on a small business owner’s mind would be, how can they get in front of their desired customers and grow their business without going broke?
As mentioned earlier in this article, the key to growing a business is having a solid marketing strategy. Depending on the size of your company, you may not have access to a marketing department. In fact, you may be the marketing department right now.
No matter where you are, this article will show you four free or inexpensive ways to grow your business using organic marketing efforts.
Organic marketing is those marketing efforts that will work for you in the long run. This form of marketing is free, but requires a bit of effort.
1. Create a blog for your business. Blogs are one of the most profitable marketing strategies you can use to get your business message out to those who need to see it.
A blog can educate your audience about your business, and articles can be tailored to meet the information needs of your industry.
This is a low cost strategy, because you will want to add your blog as an asset to your business; which means that you will want to buy a domain and hosting for it.
Some companies create their blogs on sites that they do not own; like Blogger and WordPress.com. While many beginner bloggers use these sites, it is not ideal for someone who wants to have full control over what they can do with their blog.
Free blogging platforms often come with stipulations. Paying for your domain name and using a site you have control over, like one you would build with WordPress.org, is best for your brand.
2. Start an email list. This is an often overlooked method of marketing a business; although it is profitable. There is a little learning curve related to setting up and managing email lists, but many of the companies that offer these services have tutorials and teams ready to guide you through the entire setup process.
Many of the email marketing platforms have free trials.
Free trials give you the opportunity to test these platforms by size to see which one suits your needs; as well as the needs of your business.
3. Use social media. Depending on the type of business you own, you should choose a social media platform to market your services.
If you are a stylist, Instagram would be a great place to display photos of how you made your clients look their best.
A hairdresser could share photos and tips on the latest hairstyle they completed for one of their clients.
If photos aren’t exactly your thing, you might want to use LinkedIn. If your audience is made up of professionals, this platform will allow you to make connections with them and share your content in a way that distinguishes you from those who might use your services.
Facebook is also a platform that you can use to promote your business. With the ability to create groups, you could even create communities for those who engage with your business, allowing them to connect with others who love what your business stands for.
Social media is free to use, but if you have the budget, you can always hire someone to set up and run your social media account for you.
4. Create an e-book. Business owners probably don’t see themselves as authors; And the thought of writing a long, long book will probably put a bitter taste in your mouth.
But there is a form of e-book that can really help you grow your list of potential customers.
Have you ever seen a commercial that asks you to call a number to get their free e-book and learn more about whatever they were talking about in the commercial?
The books that people call for are e-books and are a form of magnet for potential customers.
A lead magnet is something of value that you give away for free in exchange for a name, email address, or some other form of contact information.
You can then use the information you collect to create a list of people interested in the information you have to offer about a particular product or service.
These e-books are simple PDF files that are downloaded by the person who provided your information.
E-books are inexpensive to manufacture, because all you need is a word processing program and the ability to save the file you create as a PDF.
To grow your business, it is imperative that you be creative. It can mean taking advantage of tools that you might never have thought to consider otherwise.
While you may never have given much thought to writing an ebook, jumping into the waters of social media, or even starting a blog, these are all profitable strategies that don’t cost you a lot, but can help you grow your business fit. exponential. shapes.