Whether you work from home, own a small business, or are in charge of a large corporation, it's impossible to deny that when it comes to the internet, it can be a powerful tool in promoting your enterprise. The ways you can use the internet to market and support your business are seemingly endless and sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming. When you do decide to make the leap to the online arena, it's important to start small and stay simple and use the tools that will make your business more efficient. The last thing you want is to make everything more complicated by utilizing tools that are too complex and bog down rather than build up your business. Below are six tools that you can start using today that are simple enough for everyday use but pack a powerful marketing punch.
1. Set up a business page on multiple sites
If you are an established business and have customers that are happy with your work, it's important that they leave good reviews and testimonials in order to to validate your business. Sites like Google My Business, Yelp, and Angie's List are great places to start as they are easy to set-up, manage, and direct clients to. In addition, they also advertise your business hours, location, and phone number, making it easy for potential clients to find you.
2. Use a web scraper tool
Web scraping is a technique of extracting information from websites. It allows you to quickly and efficiently store a multitude of information in a database or spreadsheet for easy access and without having to sort through unwanted information. For example, GrabzIt's web scraper tool can easily collect information for you and output it in a variety of formats including Excel, HTML, CSV and more. From a marketing perspective, this sort of tool is great for businesses as it can quickly give you a snapshot of pricing for the same type of products/services offered by your competitors as well as generate business leads.
3. Take advantage of email marketing
It's important to keep your current and past clients informed as to what your business has been up to. It creates a rapport that makes the customer feel important and will help you gain their business again in the future. Email marketing software such as Constant Contact makes it easy to send out periodic email newsletters to your clients. Other features include an autoresponder that can send out a personalized email you create once for events such as birthdays, holidays, and customer milestones as well as email tracking tools to see the statistics of your newsletters and gauge their success.
4. Make sure you have a strong social media presence
Social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and more are everywhere these days and it's a great way to get recognition for your business. If you don't want too many social media accounts at once, stick with a Facebook business page to highlight your goods and services, interact with your customers and the general public, and advertise sales and specials. If you do decide to have one more account but are worried about the headache of managing them all, don't fret – sites like Hootsuite and Cyfe are social media/business management dashboards that will do it for you.
5. Advertise your business online
Many of us remember businesses simply because of their ads – whether online, on TV, or on billboards. If you want to generate some activity for your business, an online ad is the way to go. These usually pop up when people use search engines that match the keywords in your ad. For example, searching for Phoenix coffee in Google will bring up a variety of adds at the top of the Google search results page for coffee shops and cafes in the Phoenix area. Google Adwords is pay-per-click advertising that allows you to customize your ad, set a daily budget, and only pay when your ad is clicked on. The Adwords dashboard also lets you track how often your ad was shown, how often it was clicked, how well your individual keywords are working, and more. This is a great tool for advertising, especially if you are on a limited budget.
6. Stay in touch with a blog
Short, snappy blog posts on your website are a great way to keep customers engaged with your business and show them you are active in the community. Posts don't need to be too long and are actually better when they are short. Consumers today are used to getting their news and information in short snippets thanks to platforms like Facebook and Twitter, so concise posts that get to the point will keep them entertained and informed without getting bored. Sites like Wordpress are very user-friendly and can often be seamlessly incorporated right into your business's website.
