A quick guide to teach you all the best tips on how to promote your business online.

Whether you own a fledgling or existing business, it’s never too soon to start putting your brand on the map. Courtesy of today’s much-evolved online promotion techniques, it’s never been easier and more affordable to engage customers with your products and services.

And so, without further ado, let’s dive straight in and explore some of the best, most effective tools and resources out there for promoting your business.

1. Social Media Business Promotion

With billions of people in the world over using social media to interact with friends and discover new and exciting brands, it’s absolutely essential that your business is represented on social media.

By developing a considered and consistent social media presence, full of posts on interesting news, products/services, promotions and blog articles, etc, you can capture your target audience; through links, followers can now be lead directly to your website.

Remember, while it’s great to create informative posts, it’s also important to consider who you are actually addressing; you can then discern the kind of writing style (voice, tone, etc) that should be used to optimally engage that audience, building trust and rapport.

One final thing: social media management can be time-consuming work! So in order to avoid becoming overwhelmed, try to only create profiles on those channels which are relevant and best serve your needs – otherwise you may find yourself spending a disproportionate amount of time creating and managing social content.

2. Email Marketing Business Promotion

Have you noticed that many websites are keen to display newsletter subscription pop-ups? The reason is pretty simple: smart website owners looking to establish repeat traffic and sales realize that a strong, loyal following is firstly required – and so should you!

In a similar way to social media promotion (above, in which people follow business pages), a new website visitor can subscribe to newsletters (by providing their email address) in order to remain informed about what you’re doing and what you’re selling.

These email-led campaigns, which can usually be setup in very little time – courtesy of most Website Builder and WordPress-based hosting plans (Click Here to take a look at ours!) – create a direct means of reaching leads and existing customers who’ve already expressed an interest in your business.

When it comes to this form of email marketing, imagine yourself as a subscriber. What kind of content would you like to receive, and how often? You probably wouldn’t want to be bombarded with constant overt advertisements, would you? So, with that in mind, try to keep your content regular enough, yet mindfully varied and balanced.

3. Paid & Social Ads Business Promotion

Paid Social Ads

Since your target audience is no doubt already knee-deep in social media, scrolling through their news feed several times a day, it makes perfect sense to try and catch their eye via paid social media ads. 

As it stands, Facebook offers the most advanced targeting tools, but that’s not to say that you should neglect other channels which may offer greater pull for your brand; Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter, for example, also offer paid advertising services to promote content.

Here are a few things to keep in mind before using social media paid ads:

• Your Budget: How often or long would you like to realistically run your paid advertisement for? By properly considering and planning your ad, you’ll be able to minimize the risk of going over budget. This could, of course, be quite critical.
• Your Goal: What is it that you’re actually trying to achieve? By understanding this as best you can, you’ll stand a greater chance of reaping the best possible results. Sure, you want more growth, traffic and sales – but HOW exactly should your campaign serve those needs? Do you want social media Likes? Website clicks? Boosted brand awareness? Don’t just wing it – tailor your campaign from design through to message.
• Channel Type: Which is the best social media channel to advertise on? If your business is newer to online promotion, you’ll probably find that one in particular, such as Facebook, for example, has the most followers. In this case, Facebook would be preferable since it’s where most of your target audience is hanging out. With that said, if you’re targeting a younger demographic that’s heavy on visuals, channels like TikTok or Instagram may be more ideal. So choose carefully!

Pay-Per-Click Ads

Paid social media advertisements don’t always draw enough buzz – in which case, signing up for a pay-per-click promotion service, such as a Google Ads or Microsoft (Bing) Ads campaign, could be worth turning your attention to.

Instead of being restricted to promoting your brand and products/services on social channels alone, with pay-per-click ads, a search engine like Google can promote your website by having it feature at the top of a user’s search engine results.

Since most leads are drawn to websites that feature at the top of the first page, it goes without saying that the potential for receiving at least a significant boost in traffic is very real. You’ll only ever pay for actual clicks, of course – but do still try to budget accordingly.

4. SEO Business Promotion

To help draw in search engine traffic, you could launch a pay-per-click ad campaign (above). But did you know that by designing your website with SEO in mind, this popular promotional practice could lead to your site ranking higher in search results?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) isn’t half as baffling as it sounds – it simply refers to search engine-friendly website content. So, to help Google, for example, crawl (better understand) your website, you could use relevant industry keywords in your copy, tags, categories and image titles, etc – and, critically, don’t forget to ensure your content is always as compelling and well-written as possible!

There is more to the fairly broad topic of SEO, of course, but that’s the general gist. If you’re serious about showing up in search results – why wouldn’t you be? – take the time to also create a business profile for both Google and Bing, at the very least. Doing so will help your website pop up in Maps and for local, relevant search queries.

If you’re still feeling a tad confused about all this SEO talk, there’s really no need. Many web hosts offer SEO tools (and even for-hire SEO experts) that can help increase your website’s search engine visibility. These clever tools scan your website for SEO improvements; once completed, you will be presented with clear ways to better optimize your website – which is ultra convenient!

5. Influencer Marketing Business Promotion

If you can find an appropriate influencer – someone with a large social media following – and arrange for them to share your content, this could be a dynamite opportunity to raise significant awareness about your brand with a whole new audience.

Do try to be tactful in your approach, however; instead of asking an influencer right off the bat to share/repost your content, try to build some initial rapport. Remember, there’s a chance that they may not be familiar with your company – or even aware of its existence!

Since social media marketing can often be a case of exchanging favours (as opposed to payments), why not begin by sharing some of the influencer’s own content on your social media or blog? Then, when you do decide to get in touch, there’s a better chance that they will recognise your company and be more receptive.

To find the right kind of influencers to help expose your brand to the world, perform a bunch of queries on social media channels and search engines; use keywords associated with your area of business and see what comes up. With social media channels, such as Twitter, you can find creators by using relevant #hashtags.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when considering influencer marketing to help promote your business:

• Guest Blogging: Since influencers receive a whole lot of blog traffic, it makes perfect sense to get your brand in front of that established audience. While in some cases you may have to pay a blog feature fee, it’s usually not necessary as this kind of arrangement should be a win-win for both parties; you’ll receive brand exposure, and in return, the influencer free, compelling content. When starting out, consider what will work best on the influencer’s blog – and definitely try to avoid articles that are saturated with self-promotion!
• Customer Influencers: If you already have satisfied customers, why not encourage them to get more vocal about it, spreading the good word about your brand and products/services on review websites, your own website, or via social media? The power of a positive appraisal should not be underestimated, especially on social media channels where people often place high value on the brand feedback posted by friends.

Budget Influencers: Just because you can’t afford to advertise with a big-time social media influencer (100k+ followers) doesn’t mean you have to cross influencer marketing off your list. Micro-Influencers (1k – 100k) may have less followers, but that can also be a good thing; not only are these influencers cheaper to partner with, their audience tends to be more engaged, loyal, and receptive to tailored content.

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