The decision to start your own business is the initial stage. Of course, it is impossible simply to create your project and to attract customers. In order to start your business and develop it successfully, you need to make efforts. Among the mandatory activities, you should include proper promotion of the business. Today, there is nothing more effective than online promotion.
Many large companies invest large sums of money in the “digital” promotion of their business. In total, such investments are approximately $42.8 billion. The above figure confirms the fact that the majority of potential customers can be found online. Promotion of products over the Internet is considered more efficient and less costly than traditional marketing methods. In addition, it is much easier for marketers to analyze the effectiveness of online promotion and, if necessary, make appropriate adjustments.
If you also want to “reap the benefits” from your business promotion, we suggest paying attention to the main recommendations, with the help of which you can offer your product or service online.
A business owner? Here are some ways to promote your business
1. Website Development
No profitable project can do without the Internet today, so the first tool of business promotion is to become an owner of a business website since a large audience of potential customers spent their spare time there. Business development on the Internet begins with the creation of a company website. Every entrepreneur who wants to succeed in business should understand that an attractive and eye-catching website is the same as a business card, the face of a company.
The website is a platform where you deal with your clients. This means that each advertisement should be transferred directly to your website. The better the content on your website is, the more likely it is to get the audience interested. The availability of reviews, a clear and convenient catalog, a simple interface, descriptions, and useful information encourage the visitor to take action – to call, to write, to order.
People should easily load the website from smartphones, computers and tablets. For a small company it will be enough to create a landing page. This is a business card website where all the necessary information about the company and the services provided is posted on one page.
This way of business (services, goods) promotion is one of the most effective. To fall back on it, you need to get your own website. For large enterprises, it is necessary to create a full-scale multi-functional website with a specially developed structure.
You can trust the creation of web resources only to experienced website development specialists, since they will be able to develop a truly effective and well-functioning online sales platform.
Some business owners prefer CMS web development, which they may order in Magento Development Agency or other CMS development company. And there are several differences between CMS-build websites and independently developed ones. So, you’d better take them into account before making your choice.
In comparison with the website development, the CMS development requires purchasing a domain, hosting installation, and rather more complicated management, whereas with website development you receive all the features at once.
However, CMS are usually more powerful, and, as a result, they allow to connect extra modules, plugins, and other features that make the websites built on CMS more functional and useful for business owners. Also, CMS allow developers create a search-engine-friendly website in shorter time than developing it from scratch. Besides, the user-friendly interface of CMS-built site will help your team easily handle the content updates and management of your business.
2. Use contextual advertising
Considering the methods of promoting business on the Internet, you should pay attention to another tool of business promotion — contextual advertising. You have probably noticed that the top lines of the search results are ad links. This business promotion tool is paid-for and works only with a professional approach to setting up contextual advertising. The conclusion is obvious: only specialists should be trusted to conduct all manipulations with contextual advertising.
The advantages of this method are the following:
- High rate of gaining new unique visitors. Their number instantly increases and does not decrease over time, keeping at a high level.
- When properly configured by experts, contextual advertising will work independently, without your participation.
- It is easy to control its costs; its efficiency is easy and convenient to track.
- There are several platforms you can choose from.
Disadvantages include the cost. Contextual advertising is inexpensive, but it is likely to turn out to be unprofitable for a small company.
Contextual advertising is used for many search engines, but the maximum effect is possible due to advertising in Google.
3. Social networks as a tool for business promotion
Social networks can become a source of stable traffic and as a result to be a great help in business promotion. Let’s consider the features of the main resources with which you can attract customers.
Recently, Instagram has gained the highest possible popularity. It is the best place to promote products and services for women, for instance, underwear, clothes, cosmetics, perfumery, to advertise to the beauty industry masters, because the main audience is girls and women aged 18-35.
Facebook is suitable for serious companies, since it is a highly intellectual web resource, active thinking people form the basis of users.
If you want to use this method of promoting business on the Internet, such as promotion in social networks, you will need the help of SMM specialists. With the right approach, you can get a high degree of involvement of the target audience, keep in touch with customers, and later – independently control SMM issues. You should understand that you will require investments for such promotion.
4. Content Marketing as a way to promote business services
The main feature of this method of promoting business on the Internet is the absence of strongly-pronounced advertising. The purpose of the materials is to increase customer confidence in the company, the formation of its image, the hidden demonstration of professionalism. Because of this, content marketing is best suited for promoting services on the Internet.
This tool works on the principle of a snowball. First, you create exciting materials, they generate interest and respect in people, search engines notice the reaction of the audience, as a result, the information is displayed in the TOP of the search results. As a consequence, you get a large number of customers.
You can create useful content on your own, but it is always better to delegate this to content marketing experts. They create materials, post them on the company’s website and distribute your content on social networks. The main thing to remember is that the materials should be really useful and intriguing.
The advantages of content marketing are the following:
- quick gain of content popularity in the case of its relevance;
- acquisition of the reputation of experts in a given direction;
- ability to make changes in the content if necessary.
Among the disadvantages of this way of promoting your business in the network, we note the need to study deeply the target audience, and also invest in the services of a content marketing specialist.
5. YouTube: Business Visualization
The specified web resource is the third in the number of visits in the world. Since it is owned by Google, you can post a video about your business and attract potential customers from this search engine.
This way of promoting your business (services and goods) has several advantages, including:
- placement of video content is free;
- simplicity of channel promotion and less competition than in search engines.
However, you need to hire a specialist for creating a video and spend time on promotion.
After creating a high-quality video clip, you can expect that the interest in your goods and services will increase.
The main methods of promoting business on the Internet: what is more important?
Each of the described options for promoting business on the Internet has its own specifics, pros and cons. The best results can be achieved if you apply them in a complex, but first you need to weigh which areas you should master firstly and make them a priority.
