Where do you start?!
Family, friends, colleagues and prior customers can be encouraged to visit and link to your website, to help start getting the word out about your new online ‘presence’.
Networking
When meeting and networking with potential customers, business cards are an essential tool for leaving a lasting professional impression with potential customers, whilst other promotional material like flyers and leaflets can help out in some scenarios.
- Build a strategy for your ongoing networking tasks and obligations
- Prepare all the necessary promotional materials and focus on your goals, before any events
- Spend some time considering all your customer demographics and prepare the best possible combinations of printed media ready for any opportunities.
- In some cases a business card will do, in other situations you may need: template introductory letters, flyers, leaflets, brochures, flashcards or even a tablet device with interactive
Community involvement
These tactics can contribute to the marketing strategies of smaller, local businesses but don’t scale very well for larger businesses:
- It can be helpful to find local shops, community centres and cooperatives which are used by potential customers and try to leave a poster or stack of flyers, leaflets or brochures on the reception counters
- Get involved with any local business associations & trade associations
- Some local businesses can gain exposure from charity and sports teams sponsorships
- Spend some time finding your local businesses and if they have a website – see if they will blog or mention your business website – in exchange for a discount or offer on your goods/services.
- Think outside the box when networking with local businesses to beat your competitors
Client advice section: Website marketing advice
- Word of mouth / networking
Tell friends, family, colleagues and past customers about your new website - Search engine optimisation
Climb higher in the search results to increase visitors - Social Media Marketing
Interact with customers to increase awareness and interest - Pay per click advertising
Display ads across the web & only pay for clicks to your site - Email marketing
Collect email addresses from customers and website subscriptions then send them targeted messages
