Click here to get this post as a PDF and read it later!
Small businesses often have a hard time getting the recognition they deserve. It doesn’t matter how good the product or service is; if no one is around to appreciate it, you’re not going to make much money trying to sell it. One of the major hurdles that newer businesses face is getting seen. Even if you’re positioned in a town, people may hesitate to buy from you because it’s new and untrusted. You need a way to make your business more visible to others if you’re going to increase your sales, which is difficult if you haven’t got much to invest.
Get on social media
Even without much money to put towards it, you can market your business on social media for free. You’re not going to be seen until you’ve been active consistently, so the sooner you start, the better. If you’re active enough on social media, without constantly promoting your business, you can gain yourself a following big enough to give you the recognition you need. As long as you’re not constantly spamming your followers with ads, they should stick around. Bigger businesses have great social media managers, and you should put a lot of money into yours, too.
Create your own website
Having social media is great, but you’re going to need somewhere you can redirect your audience if you want them to learn more about your business. One of the major downfalls of social media for business is that your followers don’t always want to hear what’s going on with your business. It’s great to have a website for your business, even if you don’t plan to sell to anyone outside of your local store. The site can act as a hub for information for existing and new customers to visit and learn more about what you’re selling.
It’s important that you’re not relying solely on social media to redirect people to your website. Note that even if people are searching for terms relevant to what you’re selling, your site may not come up as a result on the first page. You’re going to want to “improve my search ranking” if you’re going to be more noticeable to your audience. You can do that through a number of methods, but the number one way to do so is by producing quality content for your site. The best way to increase the traffic on your site is to increase the avenues that lead customers there.
Network and collaborate
It’s not always a good idea to try and do everything yourself, and there are plenty of businesses that are only popular because larger names have vouched for them. If you properly networked and collaborated with more popular brands, you could find your business getting the spotlight it needs to grow. You could even collaborate with influencers to have them promote your business in exchange for products, services, or money. In most cases, influencers accept money to speak positively or read from a script.
