If you own a small business or a start up it’s unlikely you have unlimited resources and finances available to market your business. As frustrating as this can be, there are ways to market your business for free. Whilst these still require considerable effort and consistency in your marketing strategy, my own business experience has proven these to be the most cost effective ways to get your proposition out there!
Google – The ‘be all and end all’ of marketing?
Although other search engines are available, if you’re not being found ranking highly on Goggle your business isn’t going to go anywhere! Whilst ranking a website on Goggle can unfortunately take some time, there are things you can do to get your business noticed locally and still market your business for free!
1. Google Maps (Google my Business)
Getting your business on Google maps is absolutely essential if you want to seriously market your business for free. This used to be known as Google my Business but has recently changed to Google Maps.
Getting your business registered on this platform as soon as possible is absolutely essential.
But once registered it’s not enough to just leave this platform to it’s own devices! It takes work to get it ranking and recognised for your field of expertise. But there are ways to get your listing moving above your competitors.
Remember to regularly add photos, updates and information to your listing to keep it fresh and relevant. And above all ensure a regular stream of reviews!
2. Google Reviews
Collecting reviews on Google is one of the best strategies if you’re on a mission to market your business for free! I cannot stress enough how influential regular customer reviews can be and how they can impact positively on your business.
As soon as you get an active listing on Google, contact all your happy customers and ask them nicely if they would mind leaving you a review. Send then a link to your Google maps page to make it easy for them. Whilst you might not feel too comfortable doing this, if your customers have been happy with the service you provided, most won’t don’t mind.
As part of your ongoing marketing strategy, it is vitally important that you ask all your customers to leave a review. Whilst not all of them will do so, undoubtably you will obtain far more reviews by simply asking than not asking for them at all!
3.Market your business for free by keeping in touch with your existing customers
Repeat business and referrals from existing happy customers is a must for any business.
Whilst it’s not advisable to constantly bombard existing customers with spam, sending them updates on services and products or special offers which they are likely to be interested in is a good way of keeping your business front of mind.
In our experience, happy customers are likely to talk about your services to friends and family. Equally if you go above and beyond their expectations, they are even more likely to mention your company to others. Bringing yourself to their attention periodically with a nice gesture might also give them another reason to talk about your services to others. For example, we recently sent all the customers who left us a review on-line last year a nice Christmas gift thanking them for their positive endorsements of our business!
If you feel that marketing your own business is causing you anxiety and stress, then contact me today. You can book a deep dive business mentoring discovery session with me to see how mentoring can help you develop a marketing strategy which will get your business moving.
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