Marketing Your New Online Business: Tips, Tricks and Info

In November we published a post on how to start your own online retail business. Have you started your own business yet? In this post, we are going to take a look at some of the things you need to do to get more people talking about your business and patronising it.

Advertise your business online; a lot!

You don’t really have to spend thousands on Google and Facebook ads, but you need to talk about your business online as much as possible. Blog posts, social media competitions and promotions, and contributions to online forums in your niche are some of the ways you can get more people to know your business online. Here is a good article on marketing your business online and here are 33 places you can go to spread word about your business online.

Embrace offline marketing

Most of the people you are looking to catch the attention of online can also be reached offline if you know what to do. This, of course, becomes more important if your target demographic didn’t grow up with the modern online environment at their fingertips. To get the attention of customers and prospects offline, you can print business cards, brochures and promotional products. Share the business cards and brochures together with a promotional product like a t-shirt, a hat or a pen and you can get the attention of not just the recipient, but everyone that crosses their path while your promotional product is in use.

Booklets, brochures and promotional items shouldn’t cost the earth, as the best print companies, like print-print.co.uk, offer business packages with competitive prices, as well as special deals. Get a stock of quality printed materials and share them strategically.

Get involved locally

Are there any communities you can join in your city that will give you the opportunity to meet new people who might want your products or service? Don’t hesitate to join them.  Even when you can’t find such organisations, you can donate prizes and items to local non-profit organisations in your city. Most of these establishments will acknowledge receipt of your donations in their publications, and this will help spread the word for your business. Why not sponsor a sports team?

Sign up for location based services

Location based services are platforms that make it easy for locals to find a business they are looking for. Some of these services are online, while others are offline. Many will give you the opportunity to list your business free of charge on the platform. This is most beneficial for business focused on serving a local community.

These are just some of the ways you can spread the word about your business. Develop an integrated strategy and brand voice to pull everything together. Then, armed with your clearly laid out plans, set to each task one by one, giving it your undivided attention, before moving on to the next strand of the strategy. Weave together your success one focused step at a time.