Small business marketing isn’t rocket science but still so many businesses don’t get involved with emarketing for varying reasons. Most are possibly put off with the costs involved in hiring an expert however marketing your business properly can bring real results both the way of sales and gaining recognition for your brand and some of it can be done free of charge, all you need is a little time.
First things first you have something to sell, be it a product or service, so tell people about it. The easiest form of free marketing is to start by adding yourself and your company to some niche directory websites and joining online forums getting involved in the conversations and even becoming a tweeter on Twitter (see our Twitter articles and social media introduction) or start blogging.
You must remember to not sell directly on social networking sites, firstly become part of the community and be helpful, answer other peoples questions and reply to tweets plus comment on other peoples blogs – all within your relevant industry – and ask your own then later you can begin mixing in your message and mentioning your products. Writing a press release and launching it in amongst your other messages ensures that you are not simply joining a community to sell but you are there to ‘network’ and promote indirectly. Below are a few ideas for you.
Optimise Your Website
Quite frankly if your site is not properly optimised for search engines (norfolk seo experts) then you don’t have much chance of gaining visitors from search engines to your website but it’s easily rectified, even just setting up a new page and concentrating on a main keyword can help if you don’t want to go over the whole site. You will find a top keyword by using a free keyword tool such as the google Adwords tool to get some great ideas. Ensure you set up simple items like meta tags, title tag and decent content on the page (or pages) you choose to work on.
Write a Press Release for Emarketing Media
Try writing a press release and ensure you add it onto any press release sites you can find that are free to use, add a similar press release or article to your website and direct everybody there then make sure there’s an easy link or two from the article to your product list or sales section. Also send the press release to off-line media like local magazines and papers, you may need to hire a PR company to make this more effective.
Register Your Small Business at Google Maps
Make sure that your website is listed on and add your entire product or services list to where they are all searchable to your potential clients.
In summary basically get involved in online communities which don’t require lots of time – logging in and being active in your chosen communities for just a few minutes a day is better than not at all, and remember to try leave the url (your website address) wherever you go without spamming for for example the use of signatures on forums and your bio on Twitter!
Posted on November 3rd, 2009
