You’ve done the hard bit, you’ve thought of your unique idea, you’ve got the money, you’ve set up your business, and everything is in place. But it’s no use if no one knows it’s there. So, this is where the actual hard work starts, making your business work, and getting and maintaining customers.
Maintaining customers can be a lesson for another day, right now you need to simple ways to get people to notice your business, to show them who you are and what you can do, here are seven ways you can do just that.
1. Use Social Media
If your business is not on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram – then it needs to be. The purpose of this is not as you might think to sell your product (okay there can be a bit of that), either. It is to engage with people, to give people something to laugh at, some interesting articles to read and to allow people in to get to know you and your company, show them what goes on behind the scenes and what your office culture is like.
2. Make The Most Of Your Website
Assuming you have a website (if you don’t, get one now!), you need to be making good use of it. It’s no good just sitting there doing nothing. It needs to be full of exciting content and keywords so that people who are looking for your product or service can find it easily; it needs to be somewhere that your potential customers can easily navigate their way around. Somewhere that shows everyone what you can do for them and how you can do it.
3. Have A Blog
A great way to make use of your website is to have a blog. This will keep the site regularly refreshed with new content; it will show your customers and potential customers that you are an expert in your industry, and you know what you’re doing. If you don’t have time or the skills to write a blog each week, then there are some excellent affordable blog writing services for your business now which can do all the hard work for you and mean that you don’t have to worry about it.
4. Do Something Weird
Do something to get noticed. You know how things go viral these days, whether it’s the ice bucket challenge or the mannequin challenge, is there something you could create in your business and get it out there to see what happens. If it gets people talking about you, then that’s all you need. Alternatively, could you create something weird? In the food and hospitality industry, you see things now and then that are bizarre creations, like a creme egg Yorkshire pudding. Again it doesn’t even have to be eaten, just as long as it gets people talking.
5. Make Videos
Did you know that by 2020, online videos will make up more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic, and YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world? The most significant opportunity when it comes to making videos is online tutorials as one of the biggest things that people search today is “how-to.”
If you add a video to your website, you will not only increase your search rankings, but it is fifty times more likely that your website will be on the first page of Google. 40% of consumers have also said that video increases the chance that they’ll buy a product on their mobile and website visitors are 64% more likely to buy on an online retail site after watching a video.
You’ll also show up on more people’s social feeds if you have a video because consumers now spend more time consuming digital video than they spend on social media meaning that the social media companies want to keep people on their platforms, not have them go elsewhere for video, so using video on social media is vital.
6. Jump On The Bandwagon
While it’s good to be different, it’s also good to be relevant too. Make sure when any hashtags are trending that you get involved, post relevant content to what’s going on and try and relate your product or service to hot topics.
7. Get In The Press
As well as send out press releases to local and industry media publications, you could also make yourself available to the press as the expert in your field. Sign up with Press Quest, which is a service which can link reporters with sources who can give them advice or quotes when writing a story. This is a great way to get you noticed in your industry and to drive customers towards your business.