For any start-up, ensuring that people know about your company is essential to success. No matter how innovative or astonishing the product or services your company offers, without proper marketing and publicity, the company might as well not exist. Because of how essential having a good customer base is to success, it’s necessary to develop a solid marketing plan that fits the niche and size of your business. There are a variety of ways to introduce your business to the world, some of the most effective and popular can be found below.
1. Attend Niche-Related Events
For those with a new company and a small marketing budget, attending niche-related events can be a powerful way to gain recognition and network with other people and companies. By attending these events, over time you will gain a variety of contacts, as well as potential customers or clients.
2. Create Hype
One of the best ways to get attention to your business on a low budget is through controversy and general hype. In the early stages of business, almost any publicity is good publicity; however, this shouldn’t be taken to an extreme. A great way to get the word out is through television, radio stations and magazines. If you have something to offer, find a novel way to create hype and controversy around it, this can be a tremendous boost for a new business.
3. Ad-Space
One of the most commonly used methods to market a business with an online presence is through purchasing ad-space. This can be done through Google’s ad network or privately on specific websites or networks through media buying. Typically, through these means, you pay a fee per view or per click. Through creative advertisements and a solid understanding of the demographic being targeted, you can get a very high ROI through these means.
4. Physical Mail
With all the new forms of advertising, many often forget the staple of marketing practices of the past, direct mail. Marketing to consumers or businesses through direct mail can be quite effective, especially for those who do research on potential clients and customers in order to maximize ROI.
5. Social Media
Over the past decade, social websites have continued to grow in popularity at exponential rates. Because of this, creating a solid social media marketing plan is essential for anyone who wants to introduce their business to the world. There are a variety of different aspects of social media marketing such as on-site advertisement and fan pages. Through experience, you can figure out what works best for your niche. This will help you create a low cost campaign and in return acquire a steady fan-base through quality product promotion and good content.
6. Blogging
When many think of blogging, they often imagine something along the lines of a soccer mom chatting about her son’s strange insect collection; however, blogging can be a great way to promote any new business. Through creating quality SEO optimized, socially impacting and informative content, you can increase the popularity of your brand and company dramatically.
7. Email
Email has been around for years and has still proven to be one of the most effective ways to market a new business. However, before starting, acquiring an email list is a necessity. This can be done through a variety of means, such as adding a newsletter sign-up. By acquiring an email list, you can easily promote new products or services with ease.
8. Press Releases
By creating a well-written and impacting press release, it is possible to go from unheard of to popular in no time, especially if your press release is picked up by a big news company. By creating news-worthy press releases regularly, you can quickly expand your company’s sphere of influence.
For anyone with a new business and is unsure about marketing, any of the above strategies, or combination of strategies, can prove to be very effective in spreading the word about your business.
Robert Cordray is a freelance writer and expert in business and finance. He has received many accolades for his work in teaching solid entrepreneur advice.
Image courtesy Grant Wickes
Its a awesome post for all new businesses. Introducing a company to the world and providing its brand value to the people is very important.
I think one overlooked tip is a sound logo. A logo is a great way for a new business’s image to be implanted in the customer’s mind. Thanks for writing!