As a small business trying to break into the online marketing sphere, it can be easy to feel disheartened, especially when you start comparing yourself to existing established brands such as Amazon and eBay.
Does your business even stand a chance against such steep competition?
YES, of course it does. Never doubt yourself or your business’ potential for success.
Remember that your business offers customers something that they will not find anywhere else. Whether that be in the form of unique and authentic products, exceptional customer service or the fact that you offer bespoke furniture – if you’ve got it, flaunt it.
When it comes to online marketing for small businesses, it is important to choose methods that will work best for your business but remain within your budget. And with such a wide variety of marketing channels available, it can be hard to pinpoint exactly which one will be your diamond in the rough.
To help you make a better decision for your business and your budget, we have included a list of the cheapest and most effective marketing strategies for small businesses:
Leverage Email Marketing
Engage with customers via email marketing. To get maximum potential from email marketing, make sure to integrate with other marketing campaigns. For example, if you decide to host a special offer for a limited time only, send customers an email reminder. This will be even more effective if you send out personalised emails. According to recent studies in the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns, emails with personalised subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened. Keep this in mind and try to implement such factors into your outgoing emails instead of sending every customer the same repeated message.
Blogging
People are often put off by “salesy” content and prefer to read more personal and entertaining content. Welcome to blogging. Providing customers with informative and interesting content can help to promote your own products, services and brand. Blogging is one of the best marketing strategies for small businesses because it can do wonders for your SEO efforts. By updating your website with fresh content on a regular basis (twice a week is recommended), you can improve your website’s visibility on search engines. Since your blog is constantly updated, your website stays above the radar and Google will notice it. Guest blogging is also advised. This will help to spread brand awareness and drive extra traffic back to your website.
Leverage Social Media Channels
Social media can double the number of marketing leads obtained by direct mail, telemarketing or trade shows, so it really shouldn’t be ignored. Once you’ve set up an account for your business, you need to start engaging with the community. 
Join discussions, share original content and update your followers regularly.
Facebook business pages and Facebook advertising can help spread word about your business. Encourage fans to share and engage with your content in order to reach a wider audience. Invest in Facebook advertising to have one of your own ads appear in the right hand side of the news feed. This is great for small businesses because it can help you reach your target audience as your ads appear to the right people (the same can be said for the likes of AdWords, for example.)
Don’t forget the more visual social media platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram. These channels are ideal for business who sell incredibly visual products or services. Drive traffic to your site by using hashtags to build awareness and interest.
Utilise PPC Campaigns
Pay-per-Click campaigns can be a great way to broadcast your business online. Google AdWords allows you to fine tune your campaign to suit your business objectives. For example, if you want to target a local audience then you can implement location based factors to your PPC campaign. This also ensures that you don’t waste money with your PPC campaign. You will only pay when someone genuinely clicks on your ad. Focus on targeted keywords that are relevant to your business and consider branching out to other PPC advertising, not just on Google but on other search engines such as Bing.
All of these online marketing methods are useful for small businesses because they are affordable and direct. You may not see results immediately, but (if implemented correctly), you will begin to notice an improvement over time which will do wonders for your company’s presence online and it’s overall success.
If you are unsure and would like a professional’s opinion on the best online marketing strategies for small businesses, get in contact with RYCO today:
Our team of digital marketing experts and web design Belfast and web design Newry teams can help with any digital marketing, adwords, video production, social media, SEO Belfast, Magento, PPC Agency Belfast or web design questions you may have.
Call Us: 028 9099 8106
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