5 Ways to Show Your Small Business to the World

What’s a business that isn’t being seen? To be honest, you can’t really call it a business. To stay afloat, businesses need patronage. To get patronage, they need clients. To get clients, people need to know about them. For people to know about them, businesses need to advertise. Mega-corporations have million-dollar budgets that ensure that they are put in front of eyeballs. For the small business owner who doesn’t have a million-dollar budget, getting their business seen can seem like an uphill battle. However, it doesn’t have to be. In a few steps, you too can have your business seen by the world.

1. Social Media:

This should seem like the most obvious option, but some businesses have been reluctant to embrace social media. However, in the digital age, a lack of social media presence is essentially shooting your business in the foot. Social media has granted many local businesses a broader reach and with most sites’ ad optimization features, you can target potential clients specifically within your geographical area.

2. Traditional Advertising:

Digital age or not, good old traditional advertising still works effectively for businesses trying to grow their customer base. Ads in newspapers, flyers passed around town and even commercial spots on your local TV station is a tried and trusted way to get your business seen and heard.

3. Word-Of-Mouth:

Probably the oldest means of spreading the word about businesses is customer recommendation. All the promotion in the world can’t beat good customer referrals. Encouraging customers to tell their friends and family is an effective way to get free publicity. The word-of-mouth technique has also been digitalized through referral codes. Giving customers incentive to spread the word such as a discount on their next purchase is a valuable way to not only keep old customers coming back but to gain new ones.

4. Listing In Online Directories:

Customers often find themselves in need of goods and services to purchase but don’t know where to find them. In those cases, they often turn to business directories (usually in their immediate geographical location). Online business directories such as www.infodats.co.nz list businesses by category, area and a number of other factors and getting your business listed on one gives you access to customers who otherwise wouldn’t have known about your business.

5. Online Ads:

When people are looking for businesses to buy from, their most common solution is to Google phrases like ‘restaurants in X’ or ‘Dry cleaners near me’. When search results come up, ads for businesses fitting that description often come up at the top of the page and more often than not, the person clicks on them as they are the first and easiest option to go for. If they repeatedly search for a specific topic or business, ads advertising such businesses are placed at the sides of the screen for their convenience. Buying online ads for your business ensures that anyone looking for goods or services similar to yours see your business first and thus are more likely to patronize you.