Starting your own business is an exciting and terrifying prospect, so just making the decision to go for it deserves recognition. Often, the first problem facing a new business is that although you have a great product or service, no one knows about it. Add the fact that it is unlikely you have a huge reserve of cash to spend on marketing, and you can feel like you are throwing a stone into the ocean. Whether you are blazing a trail with a new concept or are joining a crowded marketplace, here are some ideas to get your start-up noticed without blowing the budget on day one.
Start building a social media presence
Do some research before you decide which social media platforms you want to focus your attention on. This means thinking about your target customers and where you are most likely to find them. When you have decided on one or two, set up your page or profile and start posting content that is useful and engaging regularly.
Create shareable content
The content you post on your social media profiles and website should be original, unique, and shareable. High-quality content is more likely to engage your customers and can even boost your website’s position in search results if it is linked to by other websites and attracts a lot of visitors. This content might be writing blog posts or long-form articles, creating infographics, compiling data studies, or creating videos, but whatever it is, make sure it is easy to share.
Try some paid advertising
While you may not have a substantial advertising budget, the internet has brought some low-cost opportunities if you are clever about it. Several paid marketing options enable you to set a daily budget and target your audience with relevant keywords, including pay-per-click (PPC). It can take some trial and error before you find the right keywords and budget for your campaigns. Some start-up businesses consult with professional PPC agencies Manchester like Made by Factory to get their campaigns off the ground.
Reward referrals
Do not be too proud to ask family, friends, colleagues, and employees to shout about your brand, share your content, and like your social media profiles. If each one of them asks 5 or 10 people, and each of them shares it again, your brand could spread like ripples in a pond. You might also want to set up a referral scheme that rewards people for sharing your content or referring a new customer to you, such as a voucher or a gift.
Connect with influencers
Follow people and companies on social media that you would like to associate your brand with. When they share content, engage with it, and try to start a conversation. Identify some influential people on social media or in your industry and offer them the opportunity to try and/or review your product for free. If they shout about your product to their audience, you could reach hundreds if not thousands of potential customers for the price of a single product. If the influencer also posts a link to your website from their website, it will help your performance in search engines.
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