Ask entrepreneurs for advice on growing a business, and they will nearly all say the same thing – you need to learn how to promote your business effectively to bring in those sales by reaching your target audience. Before the advent of the online space and social media marketing, getting the word out about your new business was often a case of putting up an advert, getting word of mouth referrals and even cold calling.
While all of these platforms can still be used, there are many other ways to promote your business, both online and offline.
Before you get started, it is essential to consider the following:
1) Your market – who are the people who will be buying your products or using your services?
2) Your USP (unique selling point) – what makes your business stand out from the rest?
3) Your objective – do you want to grow your mailing list, get more customers or increase sales?
Effective Tips for Marketing Your Home Business
This three step approach will help you refine your marketing efforts. Once you have determined these three things, the next step is to form a basic plan for marketing your home business.
1. Your Market
Whatever the size of your budget, the key to effective marketing is a targeted approach to generate the right leads. You need to understand your customers, and know what they want as well as how they think. Targeting your efforts at your market will give you far better results than casting the net wide and bringing in just a few potential leads who may or may not want what you offer.
2. Your Unique Selling Point
It is also important to know what makes your business special – this will help attract your target market by offering something that your competitors may not have. If you are in a competitive market, find a way to present your services or products in a unique light. Effective marketing highlights the benefits, and also provides a solution to a problem. For example: ‘Tired of never getting the holiday home rentals that are shown online? This handy rental review tool revolutionises the booking process by giving ratings on every feature that matters, for no nasty surprises on your next holiday!’
3. Your Objectives
Aside from the obvious goal of making a profit, you may have different objectives for your marketing strategies. You may want to bring in more leads for your mailing list, or perhaps increasing sales for existing customers, bringing in new customers, liking your social media pages or simply getting more visitors to your website. Once you know what you want your core market to do, you will be able to tailor your marketing efforts accordingly.
Some of the tools that you could consider for promoting your home based business include:
- Social media
- Newsletters and email campaigns
- Print ads
- Blogging
- Online ads (PayPerClick, Media Buying, Mobile Ads, Solo Ads etc.)
- Affiliate advertising
- Special offers
- Videos
Of course, just like anything else, marketing takes time and effort. Do not expect instant results, and don’t assume that once you put up a few Facebook posts, your work is done. Keep promoting your home business, and find more ways to get the word out there, and you will start to see the results before you know it.