6 Free Ways To Promote Your Business
Every single person who owns a company has the same goal – to promote your business, and that is to showcase their goods or services to potential clients. However, most of the conventional methods include some sort of financial investment, and not everyone is in a financial position to purchase TV advertisements when they are first starting out in their firm. There is no need to be concerned since it is still feasible to successfully advertise your company without having to invest a significant amount of money.
Therefore, to demonstrate that I am correct, I have compiled a list of eight free methods that may be used to market your company. These suggestions for marketing would not require you to spend any money but would take an initial commitment of your time.
1) You need to make sure that your website is optimised for search engines.
What is the very first thing that individuals do when they are considering making a purchase of some kind? They use Google to look for the product or service they are interested in. The first step is for them to gather as much information as they can on the product, and the second step is for them to look for suppliers that offer that goods.
Also Read: What is Google Crawling? How are SEOs helped by it?
If your website does not come up in the results of a Google search, it is safe to assume that you do not exist.
What solutions are available to us?
Even if you pay someone to help you optimise your website for search engines, you still need to be familiar with the process; otherwise, you run the risk of being punished by Google. Hiring someone to do this work for you is the easiest option. For instance, having several links that are broken on your website may cause Google to rank your website lower.
You may improve your website’s ranking on Google and other search engines by reading these guidelines and implementing their recommendations. If you are familiar with the procedure, an SEO agency won’t be able to trick you even if you decide to engage one of their consultants.
2) Advertise Your Goods in Local and Online Directories
Popular business directories are where purchasers look for potential sellers. You may get a free listing on IndiaMart, Trade India, and the Indian Yellow Pages if you sell items to other businesses. These are some of the most well-known directories for business-to-business interactions.
If you offer your products or services directly to end users, you can get a free listing on Just Dial, Ask Me, and Get It. These services provide mobile applications and bring in a significant amount of traffic. You are able to post free listings for your services on these websites as well.
SoftwareSuggest is an excellent directory to use if you are in the business of selling software. It provides listings of software in a variety of categories, such as HR, CRM, ERP, and so on. I have made a listing for our accounting software there, and the responses we get from that listing are rather positive.
3) List Your Company on Google My Business (Local Business Listing)
Google is now displaying results that are matched to your location, making searches more personalised than ever before. If you search for something like “McDonald’s,” for instance, it will locate the restaurant closest to you and display it on a map. Therefore, getting a company listed on Google Local is now almost as important as having a physical location.
The process of adding and managing your location on maps has been simplified by Google. Additionally, you’ll be able to modify your Google Plus profile from this location. Simply navigate to Google My Business, where you will then claim your listing. You may also include the location of your office and provide information about your company, even if you do not have a real storefront.
4) Put The Power Of Social Media To Work For You
To get started, you need to set up profiles on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. Not only will this help you get more consumers, but it will also enable you to engage those clients and solicit high-quality feedback from them regarding your goods or services. Simply the traffic coming from ProfitBooks’ Twitter and Facebook pages account for 20% of our overall traffic.
To assist you in getting started with social networking, here is a helpful guide. Check out this other instructional video, too.
The number of times you post something new is what matters most here. If you provide new content on a consistent basis, you will build a following of devoted subscribers who may, at some point in the future, become paying clients.
You are welcome to contribute any recent updates or news regarding your company or the industry.
The most effective strategy is to track the activities of key influencers in your field by following them on social media. In an ideal world, you should update your Facebook status twice a week and tweet between three and four times a day.
5) Respond to Inquiries
People who are in a bind and are seeking a solution to their problem frequently visit specialised online forums to ask for assistance. Sites that include question-and-answer formats, such as Quora and Yahoo Answers, are popular destinations for locating new clients. Linkedin Groups are another place where people pose their queries.
So what exactly do you stand to gain by using it? Establish user profiles on each of these websites, and immediately begin a search for your company’s goods or services. As an illustration, I will conduct a search for “Accounting Software” since I want to raise people’s knowledge about ProfitBooks. You may expect to be asked a great number of questions about your product. People could inquire about the best firms to purchase this product from, or they might want to know how it stacks up against other items on the market, and so on.
When answering questions, you should begin with the simpler ones and then go to the more difficult ones. Again using ProfitBooks as an example, when I searched for “Best Accounting Software” on Quora, I was presented with hundreds of questions revolving around this subject. After that, I just began responding to customer questions and promoting ProfitBooks to them. Every month, Quora drives a significant quantity of traffic to our website.
The Finest Accounting Software, According to Quora
You may accomplish the same thing by using Linkedin Groups and Yahoo Answers. These three networks have a significant amount of combined influence. The best aspect is that Google has already indexed these websites. Therefore, anytime anyone searches for it, your responses will display in the Google search results. Isn’t it wonderful?
Simply make sure that when you answer, you do it with the aim of assisting. Nobody enjoys hard selling 😉
6) Go to Some Networking Functions or Meetups
Meetups, events, and expos are all fantastic ways to broaden your professional network and discover new clients. Simply conduct a search on Google using the phrase “business events in (your city),” and the search engine will provide a list of forthcoming events. Check out AllEvents.in to find events falling under a wide range of categories. The majority of these events are held at no cost to attendees and draw in consumers in addition to distributors, resellers, and consultants.
You will slowly come to the realisation that individuals attend these gatherings just for the purpose of meeting other people, and the people you meet at these events have the potential to become your customers. During one of these occasions, I met one person, and today that individual is one of our distributors.
Meetup.com is yet another website that I use frequently and adore. This platform is used often by business owners and entrepreneurs in my city, Pune, and they regularly get together. On the weekends, I try to pack my schedule with as many different gatherings as I possibly can. People who attend these events have open minds and are receptive to the introduction of novel concepts or collaborations.
You will be astounded by the amount of value that you can extract from attending these events, so make it a priority to begin attending these events on a consistent basis.
Conclusion – Promote Your Business
It’s possible that there are more than simply eight free ways to promote your company. To solve this problem, all you need to do is think creatively and outside the box. Some of the strategies described above will provide benefits immediately, while others may need many weeks or even months before you begin to see any visible progress.
When you don’t have a lot of money to throw at marketing, you have no choice but to put in the effort of promoting your company with your time. Many companies have been able to thrive despite having no funding at all for marketing, in my experience.
Have you ever considered such a thing? In the comments section below, you are welcome to share it with the other readers.