Some people think marketing a business is complicated and intimidating. But while it does take a lot of work, it’s not complicated: it’s simply letting people know about your product or service.
You have to put some thought into how to get the word out to the right people. Once you’ve done that, though, you should be able to develop a relatively easy-to-use strategy to drive business to your door.
Find your target audience
Sometimes you choose your target audience but most of the time, they choose you. But depending on what you’re selling, this isn’t usually too difficult to determine. For example, if you sell baby clothes, it stands to reason that most of your shoppers will be moms of young children.
But the process isn’t quite that easy for every product. Some require a lot of trial and error before finding out who is most likely to buy from you. And you might have to take several factors into consideration. Your audience for high-end clothing might be professionals, or it might be wealthy housewives.
The important thing is to do some research and try something you think will work. You can always adjust your strategy later.
Choose your channel
Once you’ve decided who to market to, you must next figure out what channel you’ll use to do it. Print media is not dead, and certain businesses still thrive on newspaper ads. However, it’s far from being the least expensive or most far-reaching.
But even if you do choose print, an online presence is practically mandatory in this day and age. This is because almost everyone in the world has a profile on one platform or another. It’s best to stick with one primary platform initially; this way, your efforts aren’t scattered trying to do too many things at once. And Facebook is still the most common platform.
Of course, if you’d rather reach a larger market, it’s usually well worth the cost to hire a good digital marketing agency. Straight Marketing LLC reviews indicate that any company can greatly benefit from a strategic digital marketing campaign they create. A marketing agency will cover as many or as few platforms as you wish, but they’ll always give their best advice geared toward what works best for you.
Brand your business
Your company’s brand is your identity. And your logo doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensively-designed. But it does need to be unique, representative of your business, and easily recognizable to your customers. People who are skilled in digital creation methods often find it easy to create their own images. But you can also find inexpensive designers online to give you some options.
But as important as aesthetics can be, there’s more to branding than just a logo. It’s also about the image your customers have of your business. This can include their experience with your brand, the pricing, and the partnerships involved. It can even include how someone feels about your product just from hearing the name.
Give away swag
Once you’ve branded your business, it’s a good idea to get it out there for people to see. Your social media campaign will obviously carry your colors and logo. But you should also constantly carry around a little bit of swag to hand out to potential customers.
After all, studies show that people hang on to promotional products they receive for an average of eight months. So what better way to keep your brand in front of people than to have products like pens, custom folders, or mugs handy to give away at public events?
