New SMEs are not usually flush with cash unless the owner is wealthy, or they’ve got investors already. As such, it’s necessary to look for affordable marketing tactics to get the brand quickly known and to drive revenue.
Here are 4 promotional tactics for new SMEs from one-person operations to smart startups.
Get Started with SEO
Search engine optimization is a fancy phrase. It means doing things that help your website to rank better in Google and Bing.
Adopting various digital marketing strategies can be effective for new businesses. Link building needn’t be costly, but it should be done by people who know the dos and don’ts surrounding it. By sticking to good practices for SEO, it mitigates the majority of the potential risks.
White hat link building, as it’s become known, is relatively safe to do. It does require 6-12 months to see meaningful results from an SEO campaign though, so starting sooner is best.
Be a Guest on a Business Podcast
Getting booked on a business podcast is an excellent way for the smallest operators to get in front of an audience. It also works for SMEs with a decent size staff.
The trick is getting the booking. Most podcasts have a booking schedule that is months in advance. Also, they’re less likely to book someone who’s only just getting started.
To get booked, aim for new podcasts and ones with a smaller audience. Essentially, it’s the best you can expect to do when starting unless whatever you’re offering is already making a big splash.
Offer Free or Discounted Offers to Get Moving
Creating a product or service and sitting around waiting isn’t going to do any good. Gaining momentum in the early stages is necessary to maintain hope that the business will be successful and to be convincing to potential customers.
Craft promotional hooks around free or discounted prices that will get the attention of people looking for cheaper offers. While they may not turn into whale-like customers who order regularly, it will serve to test your business systems and processes, let real customers try you out, and provide valuable feedback.
Respond to What People Want from Your Products or Services
When following the advice and initially offering discounted products or services, feedback is more valuable than any profit made.
It should allow you to create version 2.0 and later 3.0 of the service or product. By being open to refining or completely rethinking based on early customer feedback, it’s possible to innovate faster to reach greater success sooner. Being stuck in the mud and unwilling to change your thinking is an impediment that will arrest progress.
The launch of the new version is also useful. It will give you something new to promote, issue a press release, and talk about on a podcast session.
Traditional promotional tactics may need to be rethought to adapt to smaller marketing. However, by focusing attention on the ROI for each possible marketing idea, much can be gained versus companies playing fast ‘n’ loose on the company’s dime.
