Did you know that only 66% of businesses advertise online? This is surprising considering that 89% of their customers are online. This shocking statistic should help to shed some light on how you can get your business more exposure and more customers.
Keep reading to learn more about the best places to advertise online and how to advertise your business online.
Why Advertise Your Business?
Getting the word out about your business is crucial to its success. Advertising your business online and offline is very important for all businesses, regardless of their size.
Advertising can help you reach new audiences and potential customers and clients. It can also help to drive engagement and create more people to talk about your business and brand. These two factors can help boost your profits and ensure your business is successful.
You might be adamant about advertising because it costs too much money or takes too much time.
However, if you advertise your business online you might be shocked to learn that you can do it fairly cheaply and that it doesn’t take that much time to do. In fact, once you’ve planted a few seeds online you might find that your business is able to grow much quicker.
What Is the Best Way to Advertise Your Business?
We’ve created 10 cost-effective and relatively easy ways you can advertise your business online. Start implementing these strategies into your business plan and see if you can make this year the most successful one yet.
1. Showcase Your Business on Your Website
You need a website, no matter what industry you’re in or what you do. Websites are a great way for your customers to see who you are and what you do. Your website is also the best place where you can advertise your business because you can showcase your achievements and why your customers should buy from you.
2. Register on Online Directories
You need to make sure that your business is on an online directory so that local customers can find you. For example, if you’re a small business bakery owner and have a store in a town, then you need to make sure that people who are looking for baked goods in that area can find you. As well as online directories, you should also register your business on Google and Google maps.
3. Set Up Your Social
Your customers expect to be able to find you on social media so make sure you set up your social media and publish regular content. Decide which platforms are right for your business, if you don’t want to be on Facebook or don’t think that your main target audience is on there, then just focus on the ones that are important to you.
4. Don’t Over Advertise on Social Media
Once you’ve got your social media accounts and followers it can be very tempting to constantly advertise on them. But don’t. Social media is more about providing your audience with insightful, educational, or funny content. Remember that you need to offer your audience something worth sticking around for.
Advertise your business on social media using the 80/20 rule, where you publish 80% of your content that is fun and engaging and the other 20% is where you advertise and promote your business.
5. Create Business Cards
The wondrous online world has made it possible for you to quickly design business cards and print them off without any fuss. This means there’s no excuse for you to not have business cards for your customers, clients, and important networking or business events.
6. Optimize Your Online Content
Ensure that all content you publish online is SEO optimized, whether this is on your website, in your blog posts, or elsewhere online. Your audience will be able to find your business much more easily if they can do a quick simple search and your content comes up on the first page of the search engine.
7. Publish Valuable Content
Only publish content that is valuable to your audience and customers. For example, if you offer a service such as a cleaning service in your local area, then you could publish articles about how to get stains out of carpets. Customers who are searching for this online will find your content valuable and are more likely to use your services in the future.
8. Try Your Hand at PPC
If you want your website to get more traffic and for more people to find your business, why not try your hand at pay-per-click ads? PPC campaigns are great for businesses who want more online exposure but who have a budget because you can set up how much you want to spend and who you want your ads to target.
9. Ask Your Customers for Reviews
A great way you can advertise your business is by asking previous customers for reviews and testimonials of your products or services. This cost-effective trick can help other potential customers decide if they want to buy from you. You can have the reviews on your website, on search engines such as Google, or on relevant review websites such as Trustpilot, Reviews, or TripAdvisor.
10. Send Out Sales Emails
Sales emails are a great way of reaching potential customers and letting them know what you offer. Create a list of all the people you think might be interested in your business and then craft an engaging email that will make them stop and read about what you can offer them. You might also want to add promotional offers or money off codes to encourage them to buy from you.
If you need a hand with your advertising and are considering hiring an expert to help you, then check out these 6 reasons why you should work with a digital marketing consultant.
Follow Our Guide on the Best Places to Advertise Online
As you can see there is an abundance of places you can advertise online. Make sure you follow our guide on the best places to advertise online and work out which ones work best for your budget and business.
