The online business landscape is vast and ever-changing, making it difficult to know where to start when trying to market an online business. But it doesn’t have to be difficult. With a little bit of research and some old-fashioned elbow grease, you can figure out a way to market your business that is both successful and sustainable.
Build A Marketing Campaign
The first step in marketing your startup is to build a marketing campaign. For many businesses, this will mean utilizing various platforms to attract potential customers. If you’ve chosen a B2C (Business to Consumer) approach to marketing, then your main platform for online marketing will be your website. But in order to attract the right audience to your site, you’ll need to have other platforms for online marketing. This could be a blog, social media, or a combination of the two. If you’re just getting started, then it’s wise to focus on building your brand online first before expanding to other platforms.
When it comes to digital marketing, there are a variety of tools available to the entrepreneur and startup seeking to market their business. Although many businesses have a preferred digital marketing tool, there are benefits to using a variety of platforms, making it a smart decision for the sustainability-minded business owner.
Get A Domain
A website’s domain is its address in the Internet, often referred to as its “domain name.” If you want to purchase your domain name, you’ll need to consult with a professional who handles domain investment, acquisitions, and management. But don’t worry, there are a variety of extensions available for cheap or for free that you can use to build your website. For instance,.com is the most popular extension and can be purchased for a one-time fee of around $12 per year. Alternatively, you can choose from a range of free domain extensions such as.io,.ly, and.in.
When choosing a domain name for your business, consider everything from the short name to the the tld (top level domain). The.com extension is the most popular and can be the most costly, but it also has some of the most prominent brand names in the world. One of the advantages of having a domain name is that it provides you with a memorable web address that can be easily remembered by customers and potential customers. Additionally, many web browsers provide suggestions for web addresses, so it’s often a matter of pressing the enter key to visit a suggested web address or typing in the address manually.
Set Up Email Marketing
The next step once you have your domain is to set up email marketing. Setting up email marketing for your business means you’ll need to decide the best course of action for communicating with your customers. Do you want to send out regular newsletters? Send out special notifications when you have new content published? Or would you rather focus on engaging with your audience through social media? All of these options have their benefits, but none of them are particularly effective when it comes to marketing a business online. Email marketing combined with social media is a potent mix that can help drive organic traffic to your site.
Get Web Design And Development
Once you have your domain and email marketing set up, you can move onto the next stage of your business—getting web design and development for your site. There are a variety of freelancers that you can outsource the work to, so you don’t have to be burdened with design and development yourself. If you do decide to take the plunge and try and develop your own website, you’ll need to get someone with experience to help you make it look great.
Set Up Social Media Marketing
Once you have your website up and running, you can move onto social media marketing. Social media marketing is a form of online marketing that involves using social platforms to engage with current and potential customers. Popular social platforms include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. Each of these platforms provides you with a variety of tools that can be used to market your business. Some people prefer to use one particular platform more than others, but it doesn’t matter as much as you might think. The important thing is that you are aware of and utilize all of the tools that each of these platforms provides.
Each of these platforms can be used to promote your website, but don’t forget about the importance of other platforms. For instance, while Twitter is a great tool for engaging with customers and potential customers, you should also be aware of the power of LinkedIn.
Consult With An Accountant
The next step for many businesses is to consult with an accountant. An accountant can help you figure out the best way to structure your business and financials, as well as advise you on how to market your business. Just make sure that the accountant that you choose is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and not just an EA (Enrolled Agent). You can find an accountant that is based near you through the National Association of Accountants (4 NOs: 413-667-7777). Don’t hesitate to ask for references!
Do You Need An Attorney?
If you’re a business owner, it’s important to understand what your obligation is to your employees. You must comply with all relevant employment laws in your state or province, so it is essential that you consult with an attorney to make sure that you have everything covered.
An attorney can help you understand your obligations and provide you with the proper documentation required to ensure that you are in full compliance. Depending on your needs, you may also want to consider the employment of legal assistants or paralegals who can help with the administrative tasks associated with running a business. A business attorney can also help you negotiate your contract with an employee. Negotiation in a contract is always tricky, but with the help of an attorney, you’re guaranteed to come to a satisfactory agreement. A business attorney can also advise you on various legal matters including intellectual property, licensing, and franchising. The choice is ultimately up to you, but it’s important to understand the benefits of legal representation whenever possible.
Market Your Business
Once you’ve finished setting up your business and have had some time to settle in, it’s now time to market your business. As you may have guessed, marketing is the process of getting the word out about your business and encouraging potential customers to learn more about your company.
To do this, you’re going to want to focus on three key areas, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SMM (Social Media Marketing), and PPC (Pay-Per-Click Advertising). The goal of SEO is to rank your website at the top of search engine results for relevant search terms. For example, your website could rank for the terms “marketing” and “SEO tools,” but not for the terms “law” or “taxes.” The idea is to increase your website’s visibility on search engines so that it shows up when people are searching for products or services that you offer. After all, if someone is looking for your product or service, they’re probably also searching for an alternative that they don’t want to pay for.
SMM is similar to SEO, but instead of focusing on a single keyword or phrase, it’s often preferable to target a broad range of keywords and phrases associated with social media. For example, if your target audience is on Instagram, you could create a hashtag for photos that you’ve uploaded to the platform. You can then use this hashtag in your marketing, promoting your Instagram account and its contents. Alternatively, you could create an app store page for your product, using the keywords and phrases that people might enter when searching for your product. The idea is to utilize as many platforms as possible, so that you can reach as many customers as possible.
Get Help From Family And Friends
Last but not least, we have help from family and friends. Although you might believe that your family and friends would say wonderful things about your new business and might even offer to help out, that probably won’t happen. It’s always best to be skeptical of unsolicited praise, no matter how well-meaning it might be. Instead, bring your family and friends together and have them tell you what they think about your business. Then, you can choose to act on any constructive criticism or to ignore it. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of encouragement from those that you care about the most.