In this article, we are going to look at how you can get your company’s name out and on the street. There are a lot of ways to market your venture, but some ways are rather expensive, while others are more cost effective. The big changes in social media allow you to market your brand in ways that were unavailable in the 1990s. But with easier access to marketing channels, there is much more noise and clutter to break through in order to get public attention.
Freeware
First we look at Twitter. The expense of this program is FREE. All you need to do is set up a business Twitter account. This means you will not use the account to post anything personal, it will be your company information and nothing more. Once you have your business Twitter account established, you need to add a link from your Twitter feed to your company’s website (and other online infrastructure such as your company blog). This will allow you to link current customers to your Twitter account, and get Twitter followers to generate more traffic to your corporate infrastructure.
You can also run promotions and sales through your business Twitter account. If your company is going to be running a sale, make sure to get the latest information into the Twitter feed, while also incorporating the latest trending words to place inside your Twitter ad. Trending words allows your Twitter feed to potentially get traffic than normal.
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With a business Facebook page, here you will have the chance to get photos of your products out the public, along with more hyperlinks back to your sales page. Facebook also offers payment options to get your advertisements and company page seen. I personally don’t recommend taking that approach, as although your pages will be seen, you have to purchase credits and risk not even making a sale. You could instead push out the same information on your Facebook business page free of charge.
Trading Services
With my company, I offer free weather forecasts to three different newspapers in three different markets. Many individuals keep telling me that this offer is a waste of time. I look at it this way. I am getting to place my company logo, website and a brief discussion of my company right beside the forecast that is located on the front page of the paper. For me, that is a good trade off. Although I am not getting paid, I am getting advertising. So in the long run, it equals out. This method will be harder to achieve if your service is something that is only sold and cannot be traded off with the paper. However, you may look at trying to get your product on display with another small business. You could work out a reciprocal agreement with them. These type of arrangements get your company social exposure without using a lot of cash flow.
Google is by far one of the most popular ways of doing business. However, Google is not made for everyone. To get really good services through Google you will need to pitch out significant cash. I tried this method a few years back and placed money into my account for clicks. The clicks were gone within three hours, and there were no leads or any other positive results. So if you decide to pursue this way of marketing or socializing your business, your campaign really needs a lot of time planned before launching. Even then, you better hope that you’re selling something that is trending, otherwise your cash flow will be gone and you will still be without any new customers.
At the end of the day, social marketing your business is key to getting your company known in the market. The more people that know about your company, the better it will get, because one person who has seen your company can go and tell all their friends. Now you have those additional people on your site, and they may go tell others as well. Your business could keep growing this way, as long as your products or services are interesting (if your products or services are not interesting, then your social marketing efforts will flop over time).
Remember, for a tight budget, which most new startups are on, free social media is a great channel to get exposure. May you enjoy all successes!
Joshua Kelly is a 13-year United States Navy Veteran. Joshua holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Natural Science and Math. Along with several military decorations, Joshua was certified as a Community College of the Air Force Instructor. Joshua is currently self-employed with Dakota Weather Consultants.
“I am passionate about the military way of life and also the self-employed way of the future, and of course, the weather. You will find me, every day, running my weather consulting firm when I am not spending time with my family. I enjoy sharing information by writing to help others prepare themselves and learn from my experiences”. Joshua Kelly
SSGT NICHOLS: Serve Your Country.
