Read any business advice on how to grow your business, I can guarantee you’ll see, ‘online marketing’.
It’s no good having the most amazing products and services on the market if nobody knows about them. And nowadays we all know everything revolves around the internet, so… it’s time to nail your online marketing for your business.
There are loads of different ways you can approach marketing an online business, so we’ve put together a bunch of useful tips and advice on how to promote your business online:
Recommended read: 5 “need to knows” in marketing your business online
If you’re wondering how to market your business online, there are various roads you can go down. The road to success always starts with understanding who your target audience are.
To help you figure out where you should be focusing your online business marketing, here are a few questions to ask yourself about your target consumers:
The answers to these questions will help you decide which of the many marketing approaches could be right for your business.
Before you start going wild with marketing ideas, you want to get your business website ship shape. Because there’s nothing worse than promoting your site only to then find it’s full of typos, broken links, and other content issues that customers will find a complete turn-off.
So, before we get stuck into how to market your business online, let’s cover off some of the basics to make sure your website is in fine form for winning over new customers.
You’ll need to invest time (and maybe some money) in the online marketing of your business website if you want customers to come running.
A quick heads up before we continue – marketing your small business online is going to be an ongoing task. It’s not something you can do once and forget about.
Think of online marketing as a new part of your regular business practice.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the collective term for all the graft you put in to get your website to appear as high as possible in search engine results pages (otherwise known as SERPs).
You want to do all the right things so that Google loves your website and puts it high in the list when customers search for terms related to your business.
The goal is to get to the coveted #1 spot.
But you want that number 1 spot for relevant searches that:
1. Your customers are actually searching for
2. Your business offers as a service
If you’re ranking and it’s not for either of these reasons, it’s a waste of time. And worse, money.
When done properly well, SEO has some great benefits for your business:
Want to see real business results SEO achieved for someone we work with?
One of the most powerful ways to boost your business online is to regularly create high quality content that your customers will find engaging and useful.
Connecting with your customers is crucial, especially if you have a new or small business that you want to grow.
Unless you’re a talented wordsmith yourself, you’ll want to hire a copywriter to carefully craft your branded content.
A professional copywriter has the skills to write copy that speaks directly to your target audience(s), whilst also being SEO-friendly to help boost your rankings in Google.
Whether it’s for your website, blog, social media accounts or email marketing – make sure quality content is a top priority for your business. You won’t be sorry.
See how to outsource your content and how much a copywriter costs.
Most businesses have social media accounts, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, or all of them. But you’d be surprised at how many are doing it wrong.
Simply posting regularly isn’t enough. You need to be genuinely social, that means sharing content your followers are going to love and then engaging in conversations with them.
Ask thought-provoking questions and respond to followers when they comment on or share your content. Brands that embrace their social channels with a real voice and an engaging brand personality are the ones that see social media adding a valuable boost to their traffic and sales.
It’s also a good idea to connect with notable figures in your industry/business community, as well as customers, to build your network. They’ll often share useful information about the business landscape, and some may even end up being your customers or partners in the future.
If you find yourself with some money in your marketing kitty you might want to consider some paid advertising. Our top tip is to start small, learn what works and what doesn’t and then scale up with the advertising that gives you the best ROI.
Some of the most popular paid advertising for marketing an online business:
For businesses that have been trading for a while, entering business awards can be a clever way to both raise your business’s profile within your industry and, if you win, gain a very powerful marketing tool – who doesn’t want to buy from an award-winning business?!
Most industries will have some kind of business award that you can apply for, and some are even free to enter. Do your homework to find the most relevant awards for your business (and make sure they’re not just a money-making con), then start applying.
If you have a business that relies on local customers in particular, you’ll want to put your efforts into marketing activities that will specifically reach people in your area – rather than casting a wide net that might not get you the results you want.
Here are some of our top tips for how to promote your business locally:
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