There are several ways to advertise your small business, ranging from Facebook ads and newsletters to conventional print and public relations. But how can you tell which one is the best?

Topics Discussed
– Relations with the media
– Use of social media
– Advertising on the internet
– Publicity in the press
– Postage stamps
– SEO stands for “search engine optimization” (SEO)
– Marketing via email

1. Communication with the media

Media relations, often known as public relations, is the process of having stories about you and your company published in magazines and on their websites.

Perhaps you’ve won a new contract, introduced a new product or service, hired new employees, or attained new highs. It may be that something unusual has happened in your company, or that you’ve hit an important milestone, such as an anniversary, or that you’ve sold a large quantity of things. Giving advise or having strong opinions on a subject and being willing to express them publicly is another method to garner attention.

What are the advantages of public relations?

Your target audience will notice you if you appear in the “proper” locations. You’ll profit from being included in certain trade journals if you manage an engineering firm. If you want to promote your café, however, the local newspaper and magazines are the best locations to look.

Such coverage not only improves your profile, but it also allows you to communicate key factual statements about your company while also promoting its values and culture.

Should I hire a public relations firm?

Although you may contact a reporter or journalist directly to inform them of a possible story, this can be intimidating, so you might want to consider hiring a PR firm. They are able to:

engage with journalists and uncover topics in your industry, advise you on the best locations to publish your pieces and how to ‘pitch’ them, and supply you with unique material for your website

There are no promises, however, that your work will be included. It all comes down to the quality of the narrative – which is why hiring an agency is a good idea because they already know what will work.

Are you prepared to draught your first press release?

Watch free, bite-sized videos from PR professionals on how to write a compelling press release and what you should include for success.

2. Use of social media

If utilised correctly, social media can be a powerful tool for marketing your company. The potential to reach and connect with such a large audience is not to be ignored, with over 53 million active users recorded in the UK as of January 2021.

Social media is a terrific tool to interact with individuals who are already engaged with your company while also introducing it to new people. According to recent data, 58% of customers go to a brand’s social media accounts before going to its website.

What are your company’s objectives?

Before you start creating a social media marketing campaign, think about your company’s goals and marketing strategy. Do you want to reach a larger audience, improve website traffic, or enhance product sales?

It’s also crucial to know who your target audience is, what platforms they’re likely to utilise, and what kinds of material they’ll find interesting and valuable. Our guide to social networking networks will assist you in determining which platform is best for you.

I’m not sure what to put on social media.

Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, creating relevant material for your audience is critical to your social media success. Consider what your audience wants to see and what value material you can provide in exchange for their time while developing content.

If you’re in the service sector, offering free resources and tips from your company may go a long way – you’ll become their go-to source for knowledge, which might lead to new business. If you’re a product or a brand, invest in photography and video and use your assets to build a consistent brand identity. It’s also worth noting that video is one of the most engaging tools available, so take advantage of it wherever feasible.

It’s not simply about sharing the proper material on social media. As a business, you must engage in a two-way discussion with your audience in order to establish a human connection with them, which will make you more remembered and likely to retain followers.

It’s critical to check your channels on a frequent basis in order to figure out what’s working. Basic metrics are available on each social media network. Digging deep into your data on a weekly and monthly basis to analyse, examine, and adapt your plan to maximise outcomes is an excellent practise.

3. Advertising on the internet

Targeting specialised groups, implementing data-driven strategies, and providing demonstrable outcomes are just a few of the advantages of using digital advertising to sell your company. PPC (Pay-Per-Click), display, and paid social are the most common digital advertising methods. They’re all compatible with both mobile and desktop devices.

Digital advertising might be a minefield, but it’s entirely open and accountable — you’ll be able to see exactly where your money went and which components of your campaign were the most effective down to the cent.

What is Pay-Per-Click advertising?

Google Ads, Google’s own online advertising network, is frequently used for search (PPC) campaigns. They can assist you in reaching out to your target audience while also optimising any ad expenditure to maximise your return on investment. PPC campaigns may be customised to only show your advertisements to those who have searched for anything related to your product or service.

What is the definition of display advertising?

If you want to raise brand recognition rather than generate leads, display advertising is a better option.

The Google Display Network (GDN), believe it or not, claims to reach 90% of all Internet users globally. It’s a massive web of online pages, news sites, blogs, video platforms like YouTube, and email services like Gmail.

Users visiting the GDN may not be interested in your product or service right now, but you’ll have the opportunity to offer it to them later. You may also remarket to visitors who have previously visited your site but did not convert to remind them of the services your company provides.

Publishers such as Mail Metro Media provide a self-service Ad Manager platform that allows you to promote across their sites – MailOnline, thisismoney.co.uk, Metro.co.uk, and inews.co.uk – in addition to GDN. By focusing on region, interest, and life stage, you can approach clients on a local level. If you don’t have digital assets ready to go, it features an easy-to-use creative building tool. Simply choose your format and budget, and your campaign may be running in as little as 24 hours.

What is social media advertising that is paid?

While creating a social media profile is free, consider paying for content, especially on Facebook and Instagram. In simple words, this implies you give a post a budget, which increases its reach and allows it to be viewed by more people.

If you want to market your business in a highly focused way, Facebook, the world’s largest social network, is an ideal alternative to Google. This may be accomplished by creating ad campaigns that target consumers based on their age, gender, region, job title, hobbies, and even behaviours. In Facebook stories, in-stream videos, Facebook search and messaging, articles, and the Facebook app, they’ll see text, images, and videos.

If you opt to hire an agency to handle your digital advertising, keep the following in mind:

Make sure you understand what they’re saying, and if you don’t, keep asking until you do. Be prepared to pay a charge for their strategic advise and execution on top of the ad spend.
Learn how to use Facebook and Google to create a successful online advertising strategy.

4. Publicity in the press

Your advertisement must be large and bold to be effective in magazines and newspapers.

You will have wasted your money on buying the space if your advertisement does not halt someone in their tracks and make them take notice.

What should I include in my ad?

It’s critical to pay attention to the title, content, and pictures you utilise. Think on your target clients instead of what you want to say. What do they want or need to hear from you? Enter their minds and consider a message that will connect with them.

Instead of focusing on the details of your product or service, emphasise the advantages. If you’re selling underfloor heating, plumbers will want to know that it’s simple to install and profitable, but if you’re selling straight to homeowners, they’ll want to know how it feels when they step on it in the midst of a miserably cold night.

It might be difficult to think in this way at times, so you might want to hire a creative firm to assist you come up with ideas. Paying someone to come up with ideas has the extra bonus of allowing you to convert their ideas into a variety of different marketing products – e-shots, mailers, and posters – so it’s well worth the money.

5. Use of direct mail

Direct mail was once known as “junk mail” in the pre-digital era. There wasn’t a morning that went by without a stack of mail and fliers on the doormat. It had become a victim of its own success, and all of the well-targeted and pertinent messages had gotten lost in the shuffle.

Direct mail may be extremely effective if three fundamental guidelines are followed:

Make use of high-quality data. Make sure your database is clean and up to date if you administer it yourself. Consider purchasing data from a trustworthy data broker instead — it’s significantly less expensive than you would expect.

Send material that is tailored to the recipient’s interests. Promoting a children’s nursery to a database of over 70 people is futile.

Make sure your mailer grabs the recipient’s attention by sticking out and including engaging messaging that speak to them.

Direct mailers are more expensive than e-mails, but they may have a far greater impact and effectiveness. Emails are readily erased and unread, however a physical mailer, which also has a longer shelf life, is significantly more difficult to dismiss, especially if the creative content is great.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO has established itself as one of the most important strategies for marketing your company online. Most businesses now require a well-optimized website, and SEO plays an important role in this. If you’re new to SEO, our beginner’s guide will walk you through the basic steps to improve your approach.

In order for your websites to appear in search engines like Google for relevant search phrases or ‘keywords,’ they must be optimised in three areas: technical, on-page, and off-page.

Technical SEO guarantees that Google understands and can access all of the sites you want to rank easily and rapidly. Only one part of effective SEO is having a technically solid website.

Users want to learn more about your product or service, so you’ll need high-quality, interesting content that’s optimised for Google to rank.

Writing tips for internet content

Instead of writing for the search engine, write for the user. You’ll have a hard time converting people into customers if your material isn’t legible.
For each page you want to rank, you’ll need to optimise the page titles, headers, internal linking, and picture descriptions in your prose and HTML code.
Now that you’ve launched high-quality material, you’ll need a ‘vote of confidence’ from other sites that are thematically related. Local link building, guest blogging, influencers, content marketing, and PR efforts are all good ways to get links naturally and manually.

Email marketing is number seven.

The ability to communicate effectively and promptly with your target audience is crucial to producing exceptional sales. As part of your normal marketing activity, email marketing is ideal for driving short-term urgency and adding incremental income.

You can use emails to promote a limited-time promotion, an end-of-season discount, or a new service.

Email marketing:

Cost-effective
Measurable
Immediate\sScalable
Efficient
Make your message unique.

You can personalise your messaging to the relevant audiences once you have your client list in hand; engagement rates for consumers who have previously used your services or purchased from you are likely to be high. Customers may also forward the email to their friends or contacts, extending your brand’s reach and exposure to an audience you may not have previously connected with. Maintaining contact with existing customers is an excellent approach to maintain your brand top-of-mind and provide loyal, lapsed, and potential consumers with the most up-to-date offers and new items or services.

Keep track of your progress.

The effects of email marketing are immediate, and you can rapidly see how many consumers have received, opened, and clicked on any of the links or offers contained inside it. This will provide you with an immediate sense of how well the email is working in terms of total engagement, sales, and ROI (ROI).

The data will also provide practical insights, such as whether sorts of content, goods, services, or offers are most popular with a given audience. Following that, you may personalise your follow-up emails to reflect what you’ve learned.

Email marketing is one of the best’return on investment’ channels available, whether it’s employed as part of a larger campaign or as a stand-alone activity.