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| We LOVE online marketing - GA Repair London |
12 +1 ways of promoting start-up and established businesses online
This blog post is based on the 14 ways to promote a new fashion label online written by Leon Bailey Green and published on www.drapersonline.com website. Here at GA Repair London we took the courage to contribute, re-vamp and update his list of free advertising tools and tips. This blog article is the first post of our article-series and provides a more hands-on explanation of marketing a small business online. Check out our recommendations below.
For any start-up or established businesses online marketing should be an integrated part of their overall marketing strategy. In this article-series, we will go through a list of useful tips, hints and tools that small business owners can use to promote their brands on the internet. In this post, let’s look at the list of various tools first and we will dwell on the details in later chapters.
Here are 13 things every new or established business can do to advertise itself online:
1. Create a website
Yes. It comes well-before anything else. You can’t market your business and services online with success unless you have a website set up. This is a must.
2. Get Hi-Res images / Press section
Make sure you got some quality photos to advertise with and upload some high resolution images to the press section of your website if you have one.
3. Contact bloggers
Take the time and check out some blogs and bloggers who write about similar companies and products like the ones you want to sell and offer. Engage with their posts on their websites, contact them and pitch them so they might just want to blog about you and your business. You can even send them samples, so they can see and try your promoted things.
4. Comment on and Create topics in forums
First thing’s first, DO NOT SPAM. Paste your URL links into the specified fields on your profile. Follow the forum’s guidelines and try to join in the conversation. Express your views on your favourite topics, blog articles and forum posts.
5. Twitter, Facebook, Google+ & Linked In
This actually is straight-forward. Create and set up a social media account with these four online networks. You can look for and choose many others too. These four networks are the largest ones.
6. Create a blog post
With or without help, the other most essential tool to advertise your business is creating related content and information about your business, products and services. You can either guest-blog or publish your articles through your own website making sure links pointing to it are well-distributed in emails and on social media pages.
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| Hi Resolution Press and Advertising Image - Susana Kantor Make-up Artist (Image credits in the footer) |
7. Organise an Event / Business Networking
Do business networking. Engage in conversations with your clients and get to know your future customers. Listen to your competitors views. Promote your small business offline, too. Online editors/bloggers/writers live offline too. Go to events, speak to them. They might just feature you.
8. Coupons & Vouchers
No snobs allowed here. If you’re retailing, consider creating a coupon code for your online store, and posting it to websites. Again, no spamming– only post to websites actively seeking user generated submissions. Offer discounts for buyers. Coupons can vastly increase your online traffic if they’re implemented well.
9. Email footer
Attach your logo and website link to your signatures in your emails or create a simple email footer. How many emails do you send a day? Lots of opportunities to promote your website are lying there.
10. Video on YouTube, Vube & Vine
If you got the charisma you, make a video and upload it to YouTube and other video channels. A good video content can reach up to 500% more of the targeted audience if advertised well.
11. Competitions
Go, give something away, just do it. Magazine websites and bloggers are always looking for prizes to give out to their loyal readers.
12. Get help with advertising & social media
If you are not an advertising consultant or an Online Guru, then it's best to search for help with social media and online marketing. Before you would decide to spend a small fortune on useless Facebook likes or you'd buy auto-robot followers on Twitter, it's advisable to talk to other businesses and professionals who have already tried a couple of ways and strategies.
Do not buy likes or followers ever. Do not spend on Facebook Ads or Twitter Marketing yet. Do not activate Google AdWords yet. First ask around and get to know how it worked out for others.
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| 20 Different Social Media Icons: Plain and with Gradient Effect |
+1 Come back weekly and Follow #GAsocialmediaproject
Weekly, we publish a blog post about social media management and online marketing for small businesses in London on this page. Easy-to-follow tips, hands-on help with growing your social media audience and guides to online marketing essentials are the main focus of these articles. Come back and read our posts weekly; search for #GAsocialmediaproject, follow our blog or our accounts on social media; get in touch, like, share, comment, interact or just say hi to us,
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You are HERE: 13 ways of promoting your small business online - GA Social Media Project
Get your business online - The first steps for start-up and established businesses
Effective online marketing for businesses - Website basics
Effective online marketing for businesses - Web-Design, Content & Online Marketing Plan
Next week we are discussing web design, hosting and domain options.
What is your experience? What do you recommend for a start-up business? What is your website like? How did you create one?
Image credits:
Photos: David Meyer & KM Photozone
Make-up: Susana Kantor MUA
Hair: Anoushka A Romanenkova
Model: Marina Poplavskaja
Stylist assistant: Joseph Jay
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