One of the hardest aspects of starting a business is advertising. You need something that helps you stand out in people’s minds in a likely flooded market. You need to take steps to help them remember your name when they think of their needs. And we’re here to help. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the top-tier strategies you can follow to hype your business and stand out from the crowd.
Build a Solid Web Presence
In today’s digital age, you need more than a hastily thrown-together website or a default template. Most customers judge a company by their web presence— and this is more than your landing page. You need a solid, SEO-optimized website, but you also need to build a presence on social media and accumulate reviews on specialized third-party sites like Angie’s List, Google Reviews, Yelp, etc. There’s nothing wrong with including testimonials and reviews on your site, but customers are more likely to trust you if you have good reviews on sites outside of your control.
You don’t have to stop at Facebook or LinkedIn, either. Pending your field, you may want an Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, or Twitter. A lot of businesses don’t think about Pinterest or Reddit, but these sites have very active communities. There are platforms that allow you to manage multiple social media threads from one site, or you can tackle them individually.
Consistent Branding
Your business needs a look, not just a logo. You want customers to instantly recognize if something is related to you. Consider the Aflac duck or Regions bicycle. The beloved Taco Bell chihuahua from years past. Ronald McDonald and the golden arches. When you see an advertisement from these companies, you immediately know who it is. And be honest— who doesn’t think about Aflac when they see a white duck? Or Geico when looking at Geckos?
A great suggestion is to work with a graphic designer to create your branding. They can help you find a color scheme and font that work with your logo and help your advertisements stand out. They can design email signatures, business cards, letterheads, thank you notes— anything you need!
Tactile Reminders
Even though the modern day is consistently becoming more digitized, don’t forget the impact of solid, physical advertisements and merchandise. From business cards to promotional products, a lot of customers prefer physical marketing materials to being inundated with ad banners online. Let’s take a closer look at physical items you can use to hype up your business.
Business Cards
If you have more than one employee, you should have a standardized business card. This means your business cards all follow the same template, and only personal and contact information is changed. Your business card needs to match your branding.
Magnets
Magnets are growing more popular; people like the easy, clutter-free reminder. All they have to do is pop it on their fridge. You can create a magnet based on your business card or something that serves an additional purpose, like a calendar or a directory of local businesses you partner with.
Promotional Items
From eco-friendly non woven tote bags to clicker pens, promotional items are useful things your customers may use every day that carries your branding. This helps keep you at the top of their mind when they need something you can provide. Promotional items come in bulk, with a required minimum purchase— you cannot order just one. Proofing is important, so make sure everything is perfect before approving your order.
Marketing Events and Conventions
There are so many events where various businesses set up a booth and speak with potential customers. You can use these to network your brand. With large banners or even custom tents, customers will learn to recognize your presence and know they can come to you for your goods or services. You can establish brand recognition and trust at these events, and you can also meet other businesses and form lasting partnerships. Bonus points if you create a promotional offer to hook customers and help convince them to give your goods or services a try. You can offer free or discounted items.
These events are also a great opportunity to create ‘goody bags’ with your tactile marketing, especially promotional materials. Just imagine if you’re at a market where customers are purchasing goods, and you provide them with a free convenient tote bag that advertises your business! You do something nice for the potential customer and give them a useful reminder of your brand.
Help Customers Keep You in Mind
A graphic designer can help you with any number of marketing strategies, as can promotional campaign managers. You need to ensure that you budget for marketing when you get started; it’s an investment in your business that will drive customers to your door. Marketing is a never-ending strategy that helps keep your business up and running and shouldn’t be neglected. We hope these three top-tier strategies help you generate more hype for your business!