To run a successful business it’s all about promoting your product and services in the right places to establish your brand as a reputable, reliable and green supplier. You may think that this would require huge marketing budgets and elaborate strategies, but there are a number of methods for promoting your products and services that can be incredibly cost effective and green and yield great results too.
Establish Your Target Market
Before you do anything marketing related, it’s essential to decipher who you’re targeting and where you can reach them. By creating a strategy that is specifically targeted to your potential customers, you will find that you are able to develop a more effective approach that will generate better quality results. Ensure that you have a clear eco friendly philosophy to appeal to your conscious customers.
Build a Green Website
In this day and age, pretty much every business should have a website, whether you’re a self-employed plumber or an independent law firm. Having an online identity will open the doors to a whole new world of potential clients. Your website doesn’t necessarily need to be complicated and done by professionals. There are plenty of sites now that allow you to build and design your own website at relatively low costs using existing templates that can be customised to your business needs. The key is to keep it simple and easy to navigate to start with, ensuring the key unique selling points (USP’s) of your business are clearly outlined and you are effectively promoting your services and products. Choosing a webhosting consider opting for a green webhosting.
Use Social Media Wisely
These days, so many people turn to social media to locate businesses, services and products and you should make use of them too. This requires you to first identify, which social media platforms your potential clients are using. Whether you’re looking for B2B connections on LinkedIn or individual customers on Facebook or Twitter, putting your brand on social media means you can build relationships with customers organically in their online communities and generate high engagement levels with relevant people. And always keep your website eco friendly branding in line with your social media presence.
Local Search Engine Directories
Whether you’re just setting up shop or a more established brand, don’t underestimate local search engine directories. People use these types of directories regularly to search for local services in the area. Some search engines offer free listings, so there’s no reason not to do it, even if budgets are tight. Any local green business directory is a good start.
Branding
You may have already established your brand identity, but it’s important to continuously leverage your brand in order to draw in a larger pool of consumers. You can do this very effectively at relatively low cost with printed branding, such as printed business cards, letterheads and writing pads, as well as branded flyers and posters. Whether you’re looking for “printing in Melbourne” or “postcard making in Adelaide” be sure to get the best quality products and use professional printing services.
Having promotional material, business cards and branded merchandise printed and ready to go, makes you look professional and can be a great tool for direct marketing or a leave behind for potential buyers.
Shout about your USP’s
Analyse your business and identify your USP’s, whether it’s a completely unique product or outstanding personal customer service, make sure you tell everyone about it. Send out Press Releases to local newspapers, radio stations and magazines who have relevant audiences that would be interested in your products. This can be a great form of free advertising and create a real buzz around your brand.
Also, make sure you talk about current events in your social media feeds. You don’t want to be too heavy on the sales element all the time, but regular posts about new products or services can help to generate interest.
Whatever you do to market your business, always look at it as a long term investment. Employing the cost effective methods suggested in this article, will help to lay the foundations for business growth for the future.
Our writers come from all over the world, but one thing unites them - their passion for sustainability.