To succeed in business, you ordinarily need two things: a great product that people want to buy and a great strategy to get them in front of those that want to buy. For most business owners, cracking the first part is easy. After all, if you’re an entrepreneur or business owner, chances are you started your business because you know your market and can supply what they want. Where the real problem usually arises is with getting these products in front of enough eyeballs to make sales that are worth the trouble.
If you’ve been struggling with how to promote your business and attract better sales, know that you’re not alone. It’s a problem that all businesses face and continue to contend with no matter how small or big they are.
The most important thing for you is understanding how to get around the problem, and that’s where we come in. In this post, we’ll share 8 very simple, yet highly effective, strategies to promote your business and drive the sales you want.
1. Attend a trade show
Trade shows are one of the most effective ways to promote your business AND attract the kind of sales you want. Why? Trade shows are the largest gathering of the type of prospects marketers call “hot leads”.
These guys are there because they are interested in buying something. CEIR reports that 81% of attendees at trade shows have buying authority. This means if you play your cards right, you’re the one that will be counting the dollars by the time the day is over.
Trade shows can be expensive though. Sign up and stall fees alone can put a sizable dent in your marketing budget. A good rule of thumb is to only go for it if you can make returns of 10x your spend within 6 months.
2. Give out discounts/free products
Everybody loves free stuff, and one way to quickly imprint your business in the consciousness of your target market is to draw them in with discounts and free products.
There are many ways you can apply this strategy to grow your sales. You can give a cash reward for referrals, provide introductory discounts for people who try your product for the first time, offer free trials to leads etc.
There’s no limit to how you can structure your free offerings. However, you must have a plan for how to handle the possible financial exposure that will result from your offerings. Also, have a plan for flawless customer service as you’ll likely have to run twice as hard to satisfy customers you gain through this strategy.
3. Provide valuable content
There’s a reason why 91% of marketers live and die by the extraordinary value of content marketing to reach their audience. Most of the platforms on which you will find your buyers are set up to do one thing and one thing only: provide content that is engaging and valuable.
If you focus, in turn, on churning out content of this nature, you will be doing all that is necessary to get tons of eyeballs on your products and drive the sales you want.
Even better, when you create quality content, you will have set your business up for long term exposure that renews itself every time someone new views and shares your content. This resource can help you get started right.
4. Share your expertise
People are more likely to buy your products if they regard you as an expert or if they have already had a favorable encounter with you. Giving a presentation at a physical event or sharing your expertise via a webinar allows you do both.
How do you get started? The first thing you need to do is find out where your target market hangs out, offline and online, and then prospect for opportunities to share your message.
Try having lunch with a group of 10 at your local Chamber of Commerce or offer a short online training session and promote it on your business network. You can also answer questions on forums such as Reddit or Quora.
5. Collaborate via a joint venture
One great way to promote your business is to partner with businesses that have already primed audiences filled with the right people, and put your products before them to drive sales.
Ideally, the business or person you want to partner with should be in a lateral industry – a non-competing industry or business that you can piggy back off. For instance, if you sell quality home-cooked pet food, you can partner with a pet-themed blogger that has a great following.
6. Leverage email marketing
Email marketing is considered the “cornerstone” of digital marketing, and for good reason. With email marketing, you are essentially preaching to a crowd of one. Pack your message with enough value coupled with a strategically executed email drip campaign, and you can almost always guarantee a sale.
The trick to getting a sale is to give before you receive. This is why the first thing you should consider in drawing up your email marketing strategy is what “value” you intend to add to your customers.
Create a “lead magnet” which may be an ebook, free discount, a coupon etc. which you can then use to draw prospects in. Tools like HubSpot will help you get started right.
7. Set up a Google My Business account
Setting up a Google My Business (GMB) might be one of the most valuable strategies on this list. According to the yearly Moz study on local SEO ranking factors, GMB signals are the #1 most important ranking factor for local SEO.
This means when people in your locality are trying to buy something, they’ll be more likely to turn to you first, if you have a strong GMB listing. If you don’t already have a listing, correct that immediately.
An important part of optimizing your GMB profile concerns your NAP citations. NAP simply means Name, Address and Phone Number. Your NAP listings must tally across every single directory and platform on which your business appears. This enables people to find your business better, leading to better sales for you. Here’s a resource on how to optimize your citations.
8. Ask for reviews
Social proof is one of the most powerful ways to attract new customers. Reviews are one of the simplest, yet most effective, way to social proof a business. At least 97% of people read online reviews as part of their buying process, and 85% of these people trust online reviews even above referrals from friends and family.
Quite simply, if you’re not already actively collecting reviews from your clients, you should start today. Reviews can build trust and credibility for your business, helping you generate customer interest and increase sales.
The great thing is you don’t have to do too much to collect them. Your Google My Business listing includes a features that lets your customers add reviews of your business. Simply create a review link and send it to your customers in a nicely worded email asking for a review.
With this list of strategies and tools, you now have the basics you need to help promote your business and generate great sales for your products.
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