20 Creative Ways To Promote Your Business In The Community
In this blog post, I will discuss some cost-effective ways to promote your business in the community. I will also provide tips, on making the most of your budget!
1. Trade Shows
Do you know that trade show booth ideas attract visitors?
Trade shows are a great way to get your company in front of potential customers. However, they can also be expensive as you will be needing some promotional materials, and booth space. Other expenses can also quickly add up.
You can take advantage of trade shows by offering discounts or coupons to attendees. This is a great way to generate interest in your products or services, and it can also help you boost sales.
2. Focus On Local Events
One cost-effective way to promote your company is to focus on local events. This could include conferences, networking events, and meetups.
By attending local events, you’ll be able to meet potential customers and clients who are right in your backyard. Plus, you’ll be able to save on travel costs since you won’t have to go far to attend the event.
3. Use Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool that can be used to promote your company.
Creating and sharing content related to your event can reach a large audience of potential customers and clients.
With a good social media campaign strategy, you will be surprised about the excitement you will generate and the anticipation you will build in your customers.
Making use of relevant hashtags can go a long way in promoting any event you want on social media.
4. All Hands On Deck
When promoting your company, getting everyone on board is critical as you want to ensure that all your employees know the mission and your company’s involvement.
Make sure they’re also mindful of the goals you hope to achieve by attending the event.
If you have a large team, you may want to consider creating a special event committee.
This group can be responsible for handling all the details of your company’s involvement, from reserving space to ordering promotional materials.
5. Giving Away Freebies
If you are a seller, one cost-effective way to promote your company at events is by giving away lanyards.
This is a great way to get your company name and logo out there and make a lasting impression on potential customers.
This can be anything from pens and notebooks to T-shirts and coffee mugs. Giving away freebies is a great way to get people talking about your company and can also help you build a good reputation in the business.
6. Create A Build Up To The Day Of The Event
You can start promoting your company at an event long before the day of the event arrives.
Creating a build-up to the big day will generate excitement and anticipation among potential customers and clients.
You can create social media posts, email newsletters, and even hold a contest or giveaway leading up to the event.
7. Make Use Of SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, can be used to promote your company at events.
Optimizing your website and content for relevant keywords ensures that your company comes up first in search results.
This will give you a significant advantage over your competition and help you attract more visitors to your event booth.
8. Create An Attractive Booth
Your booth is your company’s first impression at an event. Make sure it’s an inviting space that reflects your brand well.
Try to reuse materials from previous events or create DIY signage to do this on a budget.
Keep things clean and professional-looking, and staff your booth with friendly, knowledgeable employees who can answer any questions potential customers may have.
9. Networking At Events
One of the most cost-effective ways to promote your company at events is by networking.
This involves meeting new people and making connections that can benefit your business.
It’s important to remember that networking is not about selling but building relationships.
You never know who you might meet at an event and what opportunities could arise from making a new connection.
Here are a few tips for networking effectively at events:
– Arrive early and introduce yourself to as many people as possible.
– Attend events that are relevant to your industry or target market.
– Have business cards with you at all times.
– Be friendly and approachable, but not too pushy.
– Listen more than you talk and ask questions about the other person.
– Follow up with people after the event to stay in touch.
10. Dress To Impress
One cost-effective way to promote your company is by dressing to impress.
This doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy a new wardrobe. Simply wearing clean, well-fitting, and professional clothing will suffice.
If you want to take it a step further, consider having your company’s logo embroidered on your clothes.
This is an excellent way to get free advertising, as people will see your logo and associate it with your company.
11. Distribute Flyers and Business Cards
One of the most cost-effective ways to promote your company at events is to distribute flyers and business cards.
You can hire a professional printing company to print your materials or print them yourself.
If you’re distributing them yourself, target high-traffic areas where potential customers are likely to see them.
12. Volunteer Your Time
Another cost-effective way to promote your company is by volunteering your time or services.
This is a great way to get involved in the community and build goodwill for your business.
For example, you could volunteer to help run a local charity event or be a vendor at a community festival.
You could also offer services to help set up or clean up after an event. Again, this is a great way to show your company’s commitment to the community and get your name out there.
13. Ask for Reviews
More than half of consumers rely on online reviews to inform them about a business, and most people trust these opinions as much as personal recommendations.
Reviews can help build trust and credibility for your business, but they are also effective when used on other platforms.
Customer reviews also increase your search engine ranking, which results in increased website traffic.
One of the best ways to promote your business is through word-of-mouth advertising.
Testimonials on your website are great, but having positive reviews from strangers establishes a level of trust that consumers find difficult to resist.
Getting reviews is a simple process: just ask your customers to leave one on your website.
If you’re selling locally, try leaving your business card with each sale and asking customers to review you on Yelp or Google Business.
14. Utilize Calls to Action in your emails
Emails are a great chance for you to promote your business and your work, but only if they use the correct format.
Nobody is going to take notice of job titles or websites; nobody cares about favorite quotes.
A big, obvious “Call to Action” button is the only sure way to grab the attention of your reader.
If you embrace email signatures which is one of the creative ways to market your business, they can become dynamic vehicles for increasing sales.
For a single email, you can simply set something like this up via your email client.
However, if you’re interested in rolling it out across your entire team (or even company-wide) you’ll want to use an app that will let you manage signatures and rollout campaigns at scale.
You can maximize the effectiveness of your email CTAs by offering a lead magnet or another value-based offer to people who click on it.
15. Organize A Joint Venture
One of the easiest ways to get your offer in front of the right people is by using existing audiences viz.
People who are already interested in what you’re offering.
It is possible to spread your marketing reach by advertising, but partnering with similar businesses will be a more effective short-term strategy.
16. Use online major directories to your advantage
When people want to contact a business, most people go online first.
You’ll be surprised at the number of your community members frequenting online directories for business contact.
Having a strong online presence is one of the key elements of a successful business and having an online directory will be of great help in this regard.
You can exploit this fact by listing your business.
The major directories feed data to smaller ones, so by creating listings on the larger sites you’ll find yourself showing up automatically on many of the minor directories.
You should list your business on Google Yelp, Facebook, Bing, Glassdoor, Yellow/White Pages, Better Business Bureau, and Applicable niche directories like Angie’s List and TripAdvisor to get you started.
All are free but some offer advanced features for a fee.
17. Do it better than what is currently available in the community
When starting a business, the most common reason is to do something better than what’s currently available.
This same mentality can be applied when promoting brands or products.
If you try to be good at everything, it’s unlikely that your efforts will stand out.
Rather than spreading yourself thin across multiple marketing channels, do one thing exceptionally well and let other companies compete among themselves for the remaining space.
18. Join the online community
Joining an industry-specific online community is one of the best ways to promote your business in your community.
Join conversations by actively contributing and building connections with other members.
By sharing your knowledge and experience, you’ll not only be able to promote your business but also build a reputation as an expert in the field.
Share articles about your industry don’t just share content that is directly related to your business but also shares content about topics that are relevant to the industry as a whole.
Guest blogging can help establish you as an authority in your field.
This increases the likelihood that people will follow through with a purchase after they have met you or learned about your business from other sources like Instagram and the rest. This is why you cannot underestimate the benefits of social media for business.
19. Connect and contribute on LinkedIn
In addition to posting your online resume, LinkedIn provides a forum for communicating with both colleagues and customers.
It’s also a place where you can meet people in related fields or network with potential partners.
Potential customers can learn more about you or your company before doing business with you by checking out your number of employees and getting information on the background of the company personnel.
The more you post on your LinkedIn account, the more likely it is that people will notice your profile.
Keep in mind that LinkedIn is a professional networking site, so make sure you don’t get too personal with any posts.
Indirectly promoting your business on LinkedIn can be done by participating in discussions and providing links to relevant content (but not just the same old material that you’ve written for other sites).
20. Upload videos to YouTube
People tend to relate better to things they can see, this is why visual marketing strategies are a great way to promote your business, and YouTube lets you do it for free!
Promoting your business on YouTube offers the potential of connecting with new customers or clients.
Creating a brief video that introduces your business and then uploading it to YouTube is a simple way to market yourself or your company.
You can also create educational videos and post them on your YouTube channel to get discovered by people looking for what your business offers.
As with the other strategies, promoting your business on YouTube can be an investment that pays off if it’s done right: create video ads and target them to people who watch relevant categories, or publish text-based ads for searches.
Conclusion
This is just a tiny sampling of ways to promote your business in your community cost-effectively.
By getting creative and thinking outside the box, you can ensure that your company makes a big impression without breaking the bank. So, get out there and start promoting!
By following these tips, you’ll be sure to make the most of your networking opportunities at events!
