How Many Clicks Does It Take to Make Your Business Pop?

Written By Crystal Cummins
 

Remember when you first learned how to ride a bike without training wheels?  More than likely, someone was was guiding you at first so you wouldn't fall flat on your face.  When I think back to my experience, I remember my dad holding the back of my seat so I could keep my balance and at one point I turned around to see that he was really about 30 feet away.  Suddenly, my bike became wobbly because I was afraid that I would fall without the support.  Before I knew it, I didn't need someone to hold me up, I was riding up and down my block and tackling some steep hills too.  Looking back, its funny how you usually lose your balance not because of your lack of ability to ride a bike, but because you lost control when you realized you're pedaling on your own.  

This is similar to the life of an entrepreneur.

As a business owner, you don’t have a manager/boss guiding you with a list of tasks and projects that need to be completed by a specific deadline, nor do you have the luxury of following processes that are already in place to help you achieve your goals.  This is both freeing and scary as heck at the same time.  You find yourself with this awesome idea that no one really knows about except your parents and a couple besties.  Unfortunately, family and friends aren't enough to sustain your business.  You need to balance a plan, discipline, and some networking skills to keep your business from falling on its face.  The good news is that several resources and tools to develop your business are literally at your fingertips.   Here are a few online tools you can use to help drive awareness, generate leads and make your business pop with simply the click of a mouse or touchpad:

  • Social Media - There are roughly 1.23 billion monthly active users on Facebook alone.  That's a lot of people!  Social media grants businesses access to an audience that would have otherwise required a huge marketing spend.  According to recent stats, 8 in 10 small and medium-sized businesses use social media to spur growth.  Social media is a great way to engage with potential clients and customers and find out what they want and what they don't like.  It's also a useful source for spying on your competitors to see what strategies and tactics they are using to attract their target market.  This video will show you just how impactful social media has become in just a few years:
 
  • Website Templates - Once upon a time you had to spend a few thousand dollars if you wanted your website to look like your company wasn't operating out of a corner in your garage.  These days there are a number of user friendly website templates that can make your business look like you had a few angel investors.  Two of my favorites are Squarespace and Wix.  Packages start as low as $10 a month, and I'm pretty certain you won't risk eviction or foreclosure to make that happen.  Presentation is everything, and you don't want your prospective clients and customers to feel like there is potential for a lawsuit if they invest in your business.  In this day in age you really need to establish a web presence to build your credibility.  

  • Content Marketing - Copyblogger.com best describes content marketing as "creating and sharing valuable free content to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers into repeat buyers.  The type of content you share is closely related to what you sell;  in other words, you're educating people so that they know, like and trust you enough to do business with you."  Some examples of content marketing are blogs, videos, podcasts and infographics.  I like to think of it as an organic way to sell people on who you are and what you have to offer. 

  • Email Marketing -  Ever since social media has gained traction as an effective marketing tool, you don't hear that much about email marketing.  Truth be told, email marketing is still thriving.  When marketed through email, consumers spend 138% more than people who don't receive email offers.  40% of B2B marketers rated the leads generated by email marketing as high quality.  A newsletter can be another outlet to spread the word about your product, service, promotions and company updates.  My favorite email marketing solution to manage contacts, send emails and track results is MailChimp.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what you can accomplish through digital marketing.  So if you're a small business owner who's looking to expand your client base, you should definitely consider incorporating at least one of these strategies in your marketing plan.

 

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Crystal Cummins