When it comes to online marketing, there are so many techniques small businesses can use to drive traffic and raise brand awareness. Some methods are more popular than others. Most small businesses tend to stick to certain well-known methods like buying Google ads, or using Instagram.
Small businesses often launch digital marketing campaigns on a limited budget. Therefore, there’s little room to try new things and experiment. However, this line of thinking might be costing small businesses in certain ways.
There are plenty of online promotional methods that don’t cost a lot that small businesses don’t actually take advantage of. Here is a list to reconsider your current strategy:
Promoting Content on Aggregator Sites
John R. Burgess, a sports investor and an entrepreneur who monitors his company’s marketing strategy, says that small businesses are too obsessed with social media content promotion. While that’s important, there’s another lucrative online content promotion method that small businesses often ignore: content aggregator sites.
Sites like Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Digg have huge influences on what becomes popular online. Therefore, these are great sites to subtly promote content. It doesn’t cost much either. In some cases, small companies can push content without paying anything at all.
Not Using Coupon Websites
Companies that sell retail products often neglect the power of coupon websites. Most online shoppers, mainly women, visit coupon websites looking for deals.
Certain shopping seasons, like the summer back-to-school shopping months, are excellent times to attract traffic and potential customers through coupon websites. These sites are also better for making certain deals visible than social media sites.
Of course, coupon websites are not for all brands. But for companies that sell products online, these sites are must visit places.
Not Hiring Micro Influencers
Small businesses often do not have the funds necessary to hire a major celebrity to promote a product. But that doesn’t mean hiring influencers are completely out of the picture.
Social media sites are rife with micro influencers. These people have small followings, but within these small circles, these personalities are highly influential. Micro influencers are great for capturing highly concentrated niche audiences.
Investing in a micro influencer won’t cost much, but will be immensely beneficial for attracting loyal customers.
Getting Customers to Want Products with Contests
The more engaged a customer is with a brand, the more likely that interaction would lead to a conversion. Brands employ all sorts of tactics to get users engaged online and on social media.
One of the easiest of these methods is to hold a contest. Small companies don’t use such tactics to their benefit as much as they should. It costs next to nothing to run a contest, and it can incredibly increase interest in any brand.
Not Issuing Press Releases
The best way to get attention to a brand name is to get an actual journalist to write about the product in an article or a review. No blogger or vlogger has the same influence as real journalists.
One way to get press interested in your products is to issue press releases. If a small business is doing something interesting, or is revamping a product, issue a press release to possibly get a reporter to cover the story.
Conclusion
Don’t limit promotional tactics to what everyone is doing. All small businesses should engage in the above to drive interest.
