Running and promoting an online business in 2021 is a popular topic because many people have started their online businesses for the first time. However, it is both a benefit and a disadvantage.
Looking from the positive side, it is great that a lot of people took the challenge to become their own bosses and start a business but looking at the downside, the competition has grown significantly, and it’s getting more and more difficult to stand out in the crowd.
Therefore, what differentiates this article from all other online business promotion articles is that we are going to share some insights into promoting your business in a crowded market that the pandemic has caused.
Where do you start?
First of all, begin with a correct mindset. These are the main two points that you need to understand before you start improving your marketing campaign:
- You need to improve your brand’s visibility to the maximum level.
- You will have to offer something your competitors can’t. Offering the same product for five cents less won’t work.
Create merch items
Having custom merchandise is worth it. For example, if you were to make your own stickers, t-shirts, backpacks, hoodies, or face masks, you could benefit by:
- Organizing a giveaway. You can either do it on Facebook or Instagram to generate a higher percentage of organic reach or on your own website to expand your mailing list. Email marketing and newsletters are some powerful tools that can be used for a remarketing campaign.
- Giving out the stickers as a gift for purchase. According to statistics, 71% of shoppers believe they will get a better deal online than in stores. Therefore, giving away a gift for purchase will prove that fact to your customers. Plus, it will give your business added value and a reason for people to choose you instead of your competitors. However, make sure that the stickers are not just items with your logo. Create something your target audience would really like and appreciate.
- Using stickers as an additional selling item. In order for this to work, you will need to think of a good concept for the stickers, which highly depends on your business niche. Make sure you create something that’s worth paying for. For example, if you are selling ecological items, you are dealing with a target audience that is very passionate about saving the planet, thus the stickers could relate to that. Of course, don’t forget to add a small logo or website of your business so that if people see and like the sticker, they know where to purchase it.
Up your Google Ads game
As the number of online businesses has risen significantly, having a Google Ads account and running a basic pay-per-click ad campaign won’t do the trick. Here are some more complex strategies to up your Google Ads game:
Use negative keywords. Negative keywords will help narrow down the number of people who are searching for something completely different, which will increase the percentage of purposeful leads and also save you money.
Increase your Quality Score. The higher is your Quality Score, the higher position you will take in the Google Search results. In order to increase this metric, make sure that your ad copy is always relevant to the content that the ad leads to.
Start using ad extensions. Google Ads offers a wide variety of ad extensions, and you should use all that are relevant to your business niche. However, there are a couple that are always worth adding to your ad campaign: Call Extensions and Location Extensions. The first one will add a call button in the search results, and the other one will guide your potential customer to Google Maps app.
Expand the number of social media platforms
It is considered that Facebook and Instagram are a must nowadays. However, it is also a must to expand the number of social media platforms and increase your online presence to the maximum. In the harsh times of competition, you need to use every single chance to be more visible than your competitors.
Here are some social media platforms that are often overlooked by businesses (which can become your biggest advantage):
- TikTok
- Twitch
- Qzone
- Tumblr
Of course, always make sure that a social media platform fits your brand before blindly entering unknown waters. Doing your research is a very important investment of your time because if you run a law firm, posting funny videos on TikTok may be the wrong way to go.
However, sharing your accomplishments on such platforms as LinkedIn could help improve the way people see your brand and increase trust.
