Small Business Advertising: Simple Ways To Market Your Brand

August 29, 2022
Advertising

Running a small business may seem like a breeze compared to operating an entire corporation,  but small businesses come with their fair share of difficulties. Every business has started out  small, and as a small business owner, the main challenge you face is establishing a decent  client base to support your day-to-day operations.

Small business owners are constantly on the lookout for potential customers as well as  opportunities for them to implement their marketing strategies. However, the financial limitations  of a small business makes it difficult for them to reach the advertising ideas of large, established  corporations.  

Fortunately, there are still numerous ways for business owners to increase brand awareness  using small business advertising ideas and strategies that are both effective, and inexpensive.

Here are some simple strategies you can use to market your local business and drive in more  customers.

10 SIMPLE WAYS TO MARKET YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

1. USE ONLINE TOOLS LIKE GOOGLE ADS

Google Ads is an effective digital marketing tool to use across all types of businesses. Creating  an account is free - simply follow the steps to set up your business account, and you can start  advertising on Google’s search engine results. The fees are relatively inexpensive compared to  most advertisement spaces, and are effective for when consumers search keywords.

The most common form of advertising on Google Ads is the PPC, or Pay-Per-Click advertising  model, which ensures that you only pay for each time a potential customer clicks on your ad.  The PPC offers you immediate engagement with potential customers, and is a great gauge for  how well your business stands out from the competition.

2. GO FOR SPONSORED ADS ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

While scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, you may have noticed that ads litter every other  post or so. While some ads may be repetitive and annoying for the social media user, they are  helpful for brands to create awareness for their business by showing potential customers that  they exist, and are offering these helpful products or services.  

Most sponsored ads are inexpensive, and are tailored to the user’s data history for the best  chance that the viewer of an ad will click on the link. Facebook, too, encourages users to put out  sponsored ads by providing businesses with complimentary ad credits. Sponsored ads are great  for local businesses looking to connect with their target audience.

3. MAINTAIN A SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

More than just sponsored Facebook ads, small businesses will benefit from establishing and  maintaining a social media presence in the forms of constant updates, relevant posts, and  consumer engagement. Social media marketing strategy is at the height of digital marketing,  and businesses can bank on the fact that creating an online page for their business is typically  free.

4. PARTNER WITH LOCAL INFLUENCERS AND ARTISTS

Influencer marketing is a controversial marketing strategy, especially with news going around  about so-called ‘influencers’ attempting to gain freebies from brands and businesses. However,  partnering with local influencers and artists that have (1) a good amount of followers, and (2) are  relevant to the nature of your business can drive more customers your way when done properly.

Japanese businesses, for example, love partnering with local artists to create more consumer  traffic to their brand. One example is Snow, a Japanese app that provides digital filters and  stickers, partnered with Mofu Sand, a local artist who specializes in cute cat illustrations in their Snow JPxMofu Sand collaboration.

5. PARTNER WITH LOCAL BRANDS

Besides local personalities, partnering with local brands and businesses is another great way to  mutually benefit from a collaboration is to create small business advertising ideas and  campaigns with another local brand to harmoniously complement each other’s business, and  bring in more customers to each brand.  

6. CREATE BRANDED CONTENT

YouTube and Tiktok host some of the world’s most varied content and by now we’ve all seen a  branded video or two mixed in with our favorite YouTubers and TikTok personalities. The  alternative to collaborations would be to create content yourself, featuring your expertise and  the products or services that your business offers.

An example would be the Vat19 YouTube channel, which has over 8 Million subscribers. Their  channel presents as fun, marketable content, but are subliminally made as advertisements for  the products they sell geared towards kids and teens. Their videos show how the products are  used, and make the viewer feel like they can relate to the personalities in the channel.  

7. PRINT CUSTOMIZED ITEMS WITH YOUR BRAND LOGO, CONTACT, AND  NAME

Lastly, customized items bring a flair of luxury to your business. While many people think  customized packaging, freebies, and merchandise are expensive, they can be cost-effective  and gain a substantial return on investment (ROI) with the right supplier.  

Here at My Own Water, we supply businesses with plastic and aluminum water bottles that are  customizable to your brand’s design, aesthetic, and logo. Bring in awareness to your brand in  an unconventional, but effective way with walking billboards on these portable water bottles.  

8. HOST PHYSICAL AND ONLINE EVENTS

Nowadays, online events are the popular forms of branded events, but both physical and online  events are great for bringing more awareness to your business, as well as driving more  businesses to purchase your products or avail of your services. Online events are great for all  sizes of businesses across different industries.

The key to creating a successful online event is to get the word out about your event as early as  possible. The more people you reach, the more people can attend your event. Having freebies  and giveaways will surely get your business some forms of engagement, and increase your  likes and shares for your content.  

9. GET FEATURED IN LOCAL REVIEW SITES AND BUSINESS FEATURES

Many local news sites typically have segments that feature local shops and businesses, with  interviews from the manager or business owner on the nature of the business, the products or  services offered, and the importance of these offerings to the consumers at home.  

These segments are done in hopes to boost the local economy by getting locals to purchase  from small, locally-owned businesses in the area. To get featured in a news segment or feature  article, the business owner, social media manager, or marketing team would usually receive an  email from the feature page asking if they would like to be featured in a segment.  

10. SEND OUT BROCHURES AND PRINT ADVERTISING TO GET THE WORD OUT

Small business advertising also means to set aside some budget for print advertising. More  often than not, business owners think that social media is enough to get the word out about their  businesses. However, the effect of digital marketing is dependent on the demographics of their  target market.  

Businesses that target older age groups would typically do better with print advertising, as these  brochures are offline, and can be viewed in person. Hand out brochures with a pleasing design  and information about your business to attract more customers to your shop.

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