Why marketing is necessary
No matter how bright or innovative a business idea might be, without the proper marketing it will never be able to be put in place properly since possible customers won’t be able to find out the business even exists, which will ultimately result in the idea being scrapped because the business or individual that had the idea might not have the necessary funds.
Embracing social media
From Facebook, to Twitter, to Instagram, there are many ways of advertising one’s business on social media. One can easily tie in ads and offers to the business’ official Facebook page, and one may also pay to have ads related to their business just before the start of YouTube videos, which will gain the business exposure since all users are forced to watch at least the first 5 seconds of ads in order to skip them, and by that time they might have changed their mind about skipping the ad.
Using the three local listing services
Registering one’s business with Google Places allows it to be found more easily on Google searches and it allows it to show up on Google Maps. Upon filling out a form and completing the registration process, one’s business will be verified through Google’s confirmation process, which can conveniently be done either through a phone call or snail mail. Yahoo also has a wide database of businesses called Yahoo! Local, which is free, easy to use, and is considered by most to be worth the few minutes needed to set it up. Microsoft’s Bing has an extremely similar service that’s easy to sign up for.
Starting a blog
Blogs not only help one’s company get its name out through followers, but they are also a way to connect with the business’ consumers on a more direct level. One of the major keys to blogging is to update the stream as frequently as possible since dormant blogs will most likely have either inactive users or no users whatsoever.
SEO your company website
Search engine optimization cannot be underestimated in a world where millions of people are constantly using Google. Picking up a book or heading over to an online guide on SEO will help you make sure your website is primed for performance on search engines, which will ultimately result in more hits from users all around the world, and that is marketing.
Press releases
Every time your business does something significant or newsworthy that might gain public interest, never hesitate to shoot off a press release, there is a possibility that people could potentially become future customers after reading your business news.
Joining relevant online communities and contributing to them
Signing up for forums and entering communities is a great idea in order to advertise one’s business. However, it must be done frequently and in the right context, in that if your business isn’t beneficial to anyone on the forum the post will likely manage to annoy users. If one actively contributes and builds a rapport with the community while only promoting their business passively, they are sure to have success in indirectly convincing the community to promote their business and/or website.
