Because the internet is all-pervasive, it’s easy to forget that to thrive, you need to engage in marketing and promotion. How actively you promote your business online depends on what business you are in, but every business should at least consider using online methods to build their brand, sell products and get their name out there.
Fortunately, there are several ways you can do that. Keep reading to learn about five proven (and easy) ways you can promote your business online.
Advertising
Visit any form of social media and many websites, and there will be some form of advertising targeted toward attracting potential customers. For many social media sites, advertising is how they can offer the platform to users for free. There are two ways to advertise online.
Paid
The best example of paid advertising online is the ads that appear in your social media feed, on the side of social media sites like Facebook, or load automatically when you access certain content. In every case, a company paid for the advertising space.
Paid advertising is the most direct form of advertising, although online, depending on your audience, it might not be the most effective.
Unpaid
Unpaid advertising on social media or other platforms lets you promote yourself for free. You can promote yourself in many ways, including contributing to online articles and linking to your business, direct social media promotion via posts, tweets, videos, pictures, etc.
The primary rule to keep in mind about unpaid advertising is that you adhere to the conduct policies of the sites regarding permissible advertising.
Media
Like advertising, media online comes in various forms. Here are three types.
Earned
Earned media is usually secondhand and includes the press and public sharing your content and promoting your products or brand. An example of this would be using a share button from ShareThis on your blog or website. A share button lets your visitors promote your products or services to other customers via their social networks.
Owned
Owned media is any social media outlet you use to promote yourself, products, or services. These can include providing content on websites, blogs, and social media venues like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. You provide the content and links to your website and push it out to the promotional platform or the public directly.
Unearned
Unearned media is paid media. You pay for advertising on the web, or you use traditional media methods, including television and radio. The most popular forms of earned media are:
- Print advertising
- Television advertising
- Online advertising
- Mobile promotional efforts you pay for
Social Media Sharing
Social media is quickly becoming more pervasive than television. Anyone online regularly engages on social media in one way, shape, or form.
There is a chance, for example, you have not watched television today. The chances you have not looked at some form of social media are extremely slim.
Because of its growth, social media is quickly becoming imperative. A business that does not have a social media presence lets a marketing opportunity go by the wayside.
Maintaining a Predictable Social Media Presence
One key to successful social media is to produce content regularly. Organizations that do not post regularly can get overlooked, whereas a regular presence stands a chance of capturing their audience’s attention.
Host Training or Livestreams
Offering seminars, webinars, or “how-to” training sessions is one way of promoting yourself. If special skills are associated with your products or services, there is an opportunity to teach those special skills and market your business simultaneously.
The best example is seminars or webinars that teach potential customers about an industry. For instance, a realtor may offer a real estate class for new home buyers. The realtor explains the process to the prospective buyers while promoting themselves directly and indirectly.
Collaboration and Cross-Promotion
Cross-promotion is when a product or service is packaged or promoted in conjunction with another product or service. One company can cross-promote several of its own products, or you might partner with another company to bundle and cross-promote your products for mutual benefit.
If, for example, you sell widgets and another company sells a use for your widgets, you can cross-promote the product so both companies earn a sale at once.
Collaboration entails a brand working with another person or company to promote products or services. For example, if a celebrity uses your widgets, you can try and get them to promote it publicly.
You also can tap into the influencer market. Getting a social media influencer to promote your product can get you in front of markets you might not even consider targeting, or they can expand your existing market to multitudes of potentially new customers.
Final Word
Promoting your business online is not rocket science. You are probably already doing one thing on this list. If you are not, you should, and if you already do, you should try and utilize every method. Doing so will ensure your business gets as much online exposure as possible.
