Opening up your own small business from your home or corner shop is a big step, and your work doesn’t stop there! You will need to promote your business to bring awareness to your brand, and to gain more customers purchasing your products or services.
When marking a small business, your disadvantage is your budget – you don’t have as much budget set aside for marketing as large, established businesses do. You have to rely on simple but effective marketing strategies to get your business up and running.
Your advantage? Your size and streamlined decision-making process. You can immediately jump in on trends and promotional tools to market your small business without having to run the idea through a series of mid to high level managers. Plus, there are a lot of tools online and offline that you can utilize for your business:
1. Custom Water Bottle
Something as simple as a water bottle is already a great promotional tool when utilized properly. Are you starting up a restaurant, bar, or cafe? How about a gym, daycare center, or miniature golf course? Whatever the nature of your business, serving bottled water fitted with custom labels of your brand would help you gain more customers, and look well-established.
Custom water bottles are perfect as promotional products in events, particularly sports events and marathons where people generally enjoy a cool bottle of water as they cheer on their favorite teams. Placing your logo on the bottle instantly ingrains your brand to any consumer who receives your promotional product!
2. Canva
Canva is free to use, and provides multiple free and premium templates for you to use for your business or event. You won’t need any graphic design skills to create stunning, eye-catching flyers, posters, and social media posts as Canva allows you to customize their ready to use templates with your business details.
3. Google Ads
For ads targeted to your audience, Google Ads is a great ally in spreading word about your small business. You will need to shell out some budget for their advertising packages, but the returns are worth the investment as long as you input the appropriate details. Google Ads will automatically show your ad to consumers who have the highest chance of purchasing from you.
4. Labeled Tote Bags
You probably don’t notice it, but you tend to subliminally remember brands that provided you with tote bags that are fully labeled with the brand’s logo. This may sound like a simple promotional tool, but it is highly effective as customers bring your tote bags around as they shop, attracting more consumers to your business!
5. Branded Packaging
Think back to the last time you bought an item that had wonderfully unique and aesthetically pleasant packaging. You probably kept some boxes and tin containers that had artistic designs. Your business would fare well with clean, branded packaging that consumers are delightfully greeted with.
This will make them want to remember your brand, and continuously buy from you! Turn your packaging into a promotional tool with artistic designs, gift-ready elements, or minimalist packaging that is both economical and eco-friendly!
