How to Promote a New Businesses

Creating a digital strategy will help you promote your products and services, as well as grow your audience, reaching new customers. Wondering where to start?

• Understand your brand identity and your consumer demographic

Your brand needs to have a recognisable voice and clear values to differentiate it from its competitors. The first step in achieving this goal is to show your authenticity and uniqueness to stand out to potential customers, proving you’re a credible and trusted organisation. Do your research, get to know your audience and their interests and shape your messaging accordingly. This also includes identifying different customer profiles and building buyer personas to choose effective marketing strategies to meet their unique needs. Designing your logo and building your website will also help you have a consistent brand identity and promote your business.

• Be active on social media

Creating a social media plan can help you achieve your business objectives whether that’s driving traffic to your site, increasing sales or growing your audience. Set specific, timely and measurable goals and use in-platform analytic tools to track what’s working and what’s not. Decide which platforms are right to engage with your audience, targeting Gen Z on Instagram and TikTok and Millennials on Facebook. Review your strategy often and remember that trial and error is key in finding a successful strategy that will help you achieve your goals. Interact with your audience, ask them to follow you and remember to keep nurturing relationships with your existing customers to build a loyal base.

• Build a media contact list and share press releases

Before writing and distributing your press releases, you need to build a media contact list, contacting local journalists and publications that cover relevant stories and could help you reach your target audience. A press release might include new product launches, product updates or new, exciting partnerships to make your business stand out and grow your audience. You can then create an email template to introduce your business to your contacts and clearly explain why they should consider writing about it.

Remember to share it on your website and social media pages, as well as monitor its performance in your performance analytics tool of choice. Also, consider promoting the press release in your email marketing campaigns as an  additional way of bringing attention to important launches and updates.

• Attend industry events

Word of mouth is also a powerful tool that can have a big impact on effectively marketing your business. Attending industry events will provide you with opportunities to network and connect with other professionals and like-minded people, while also learning best practices and regulations. Plus, you’ll get to showcase your brand to potential customers and encourage them to spread the word. 

• Don’t forget Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and content marketing

SEO could help your business get discovered by the right people and, ultimately, grow your audience and drive sales. To help your website rank higher in search engine results pages, you need to create high quality, authoritative and relevant content that’s optimised for Google search and includes keywords. This will make it visible to a wider audience looking for answers to questions and problems that your brand can help with.

Advertising can be an efficient way to promote your business. Below, we have listed paid and free options that are ideal for the ambitious small business owner.

• Set up a Google Business profile

Looking to help your customers find your business? Create your free business profile with Google, adding your contact information, business hours and other details to get discovered by people near you. Personalise your profile, adding photos and your logo to show what makes your business unique. And don’t forget to engage with your customers, sharing posts, promoting your events and offers and responding to reviews.

• Consider a referral programme

To create a loyal customer base, you can also offer coupons or free products and services, encouraging happy customers to recommend your business to family and friends. Word of mouth and networking could be beneficial for your organisation as they are free opportunities to widen your circle. Looking to increase customer recommendations? Setting up a dedicated referral scheme could also help create a buzz around your company and introduce it to more people.

• Leverage user-generated content

Consider including reviews on your site, enabling your customers to rate your service or product to show that your business is trustworthy. Positive customer testimonials could boost your brand’s reputation and build an online community. Remember to actively promote their content by reposting it, to show how your product or service improved your clients’ lives or solved their problems. This could help you increase engagement and gain more followers.

• Use pay-per-click (PPC) ads

PPC ads are also a good way to grow your business, reaching potential customers and driving traffic to your  website. Use Google Ads or Microsoft Ads to promote your products or services in paid search results. To create successful PPC advertising campaigns try to bid on relevant keywords and focus on optimising your landing page, so it includes relevant content and clear calls to action.

• Invest in social media ads

Use social networks to reach your target audience by demographic and interests and learn more about your  customers and their preferences. Looking for more impressions? Boost your social media content with paid ads, showing your creativity and building brand awareness in a low-cost way. Running competitions and donating prizes, while asking something in return, like subscribing to your newsletter could also be a good way to engage
with your audience and drive business performance and growth. 

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• Get expert advice and marketing tutorials. American Express offers free materials, resources and guidance, as well as access to events and workshops to help you efficiently promote your business, increase your customer base and stay up-to-date on the latest industry trends.

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