Low-Cost Business Marketing Ideas Pt. II

This article is the second part of Low-Cost Business Marketing Ideas Pt. I. Here we will continue to discuss more free to low-cost marketing strategies to help promote your business.

The low-cost business marketing ideas we will explore in this follow-up article are the following:

• Email Marketing
• Setup a Google Business Profile
• Video Marketing
• Apply for Business Awards

• Email Marketing

  Email marketing is a low-cost and efficient strategy to consistently reach your audience with information about your business, products, and services. By creating an email list of potential customers and regularly emailing them information about your business, new products, special discounts, or promotions, you will consistently put your business and relevant links in front of potential and returning customers. By creating a newsletter and sending out emails that describe the need that your company fulfills and various topics revolving around your business, you can gain engagement and interest in your product or service. In addition, new and existing subscribers on your email list can be offered discounts via email. There are several free and paid email marketing services that you can use to carry out your email marketing plan.

• Set up a Google Business Profile

  A Google Business Profile is a great way to increase your business's visibility for free, especially for local companies. A Google Business Profile is a way to list your business's information so that it will appear on various Google platforms. It allows you to provide certain details about your business, such as your location, phone number, website, hours of operation, products, and services, as well as any relevant photos. Creating a Google Business Profile can allow your business to appear in Google Maps, Google Search, and Google Shopping when a customer enters a search using keywords that relate to your business. Google Business Profiles are only available to companies that have actual contact with customers. This includes businesses with physical locations or ones that will meet with customers at other onsite locations; it excludes businesses that operate solely online.

  One of the best benefits for local businesses creating a Google Business Profile is their business appearing in Google Maps searches. People searching for businesses in Google Maps will most likely be shown local businesses relevant to their search. This can increase your business's foot traffic, website traffic, and local SEO. To fully optimize your Google Business Profile, you will need to complete all aspects of your profile with accurate information about your company. Next, you will need to verify your business and your business location with Google. The more information you can provide and the more accurate and reliable that information is, the more relevant your business will appear to the search engine.

  You can also add images of your business's physical building to your Google Business Profile which will help customers locate your business easier. In addition, you can add other images of your business, such as your products, images of staff members, your logo, etc. This, in essence, can act as free advertising for your company. By properly setting up a Google Business Profile, you will be providing potential customers the opportunity to find your business when conducting a relevant search. You will also be providing them with all the information they need to learn more about your business; how to locate your physical business location, your business's phone number, your business hours, your website, etc. By creating a Google Business Profile, you will be taking advantage of a free and invaluable marketing tool that allows more people to discover your business and get in contact with it.

  Set up your own Google Business Profile and learn more with our helpful guide: How to Set Up Your Google Business Profile.

• Video Marketing

  Video marketing is a great way to create engaging content that helps promote your business for free or at a low cost. If you already have the necessary equipment, which could be as simple as a smartphone, you can create your own videos that relate to your business and post them on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. You can create highly informative videos that demonstrate the need for or application of your products or services. You could also go the more entertaining route and create humorous or thought-provoking videos that somehow relate to your business while capturing people's attention. Users searching for keywords relevant to your business can find your videos and learn about your business. For example, how-to videos or videos discussing certain dynamics of your industry could provide people with the answers they are looking for while simultaneously informing them about your company.

  Videos can also be used to post customer reviews detailing customers' experiences with your company, products, or services. Additionally, you could refer your video content to potential or existing customers to demonstrate various aspects of your business, products, or services. Videos showing how to use or troubleshoot your products, various application demonstrations, or further discussions on your industry could be useful and valuable resources for your customers. You can post outbound links to your website, sales pages, blog, and other social media platforms in your video descriptions, helping increase your overall social media presence and SEO. Video marketing can be a fun and creative way to get more information about your business out to the public while providing another point of contact for customers to reach out and make purchases from your business.

• Apply for Business Awards

  Another great way to gain free exposure for your business is to apply for various business awards in your industry. Business awards can be local competitions held by a newspaper or radio station or could be more widespread and hosted online. Entering these types of business awards can get your business free publicity, either online or through local media outlets. Even if you do not win the award, your name could be mentioned in local newspapers, radio and television broadcasts, or online through blogs, videos, social media, etc., which will help get your business recognition and attention.

  If you win the award, this will grant your company the distinction of being the winner of this business award which is often associated with a "best of" or "number one" badge provided by the group that organizes the event. This badge could be used on your website, social media, packaging, business cards, pamphlets, etc., lending your business more credibility. In addition, you will likely be prominently featured in the organization that hosts the competition's various media outlets, whether that be in print, online, radio, or television. This publicity, of course, would let more people know about your company. It will also let them know you have been chosen as the best in your field by an outside and respectable entity.

The marketing strategies discussed in this article are effective and low-cost approaches that can help promote your business and gain more customers. For more low-cost marketing ideas, please view part three of this article here - https://www.incorp.com/help-center/business-articles/low-cost-marketing-3