6 alternative online marketing methods
When it comes to your business, marketing is key. It’s hard to gain new business and clients if no one knows who you are or what you do. Nowadays, online marketing has become an extremely important asset for any business that hopes to become successful. With tools such as online ads, Facebook, email marketing, etc., it’s now easier than ever to increase your brand visibility and become more well known in your industry. If you’re ready to start promoting your business online but are unsure how to go about it, here are six lesser-known online marketing methods guaranteed to help your business gain more recognition.
- Email marketing
Email marketing is a great way to communicate with your customers directly and build customer loyalty. You can use email to let customers who subscribe know about special deals, sales, customer appreciation events, how to achieve customer milestones, etc. The important thing to remember about email marketing is less equals more. Only send out emails that are important and contain information that may be hard to find elsewhere. Otherwise, customers may unsubscribe due to too many emails or start diverting your emails to their spam folders. Sites like Constant Contact, MailChimp, and VerticalResponse are just a few of the many companies that offer this service.
2. Viral marketing
Viral marketing works by creating something that can be shared and passed on by your customers. The goal is to have it go ‘viral’ — meaning multiple views per day and sharing on social media sites at an extremely fast pace. In order for viral marketing to work, it’s important to pick something to create that will best represent your business. It can be an ebook, software, a funny or informative video, etc.
3. Press release distribution
A press release is a statement released to media outlets that shares an important piece of information on something specific. Businesses use press releases for a variety of reasons including change in management, official financial reports, the release of a new product, scheduled events, and more. It contains enough information to pique the interest of news companies and reporters who, if they decide it is newsworthy, can contact the company for more information and to cover the story. Companies that offer press release distribution are a great way to make sure your press releases will be seen by the right people in your industry, promote brand awareness of your company, increase internet exposure, generate traffic to your company website and more.
4. Classified advertising
Gone are the days when most people crack open a phonebook to find specific services in their area. Instead, companies such as Craigslist and Angie’s List allow companies to advertise their business on their site, making it easy for residents to find what they need. You can also contact whoever manages your city or town’s website and see if it is possible to place a classified ad on their page or add your business to their online directory, if they have one. Depending on where you live, the Homeowner’s Association for many neighborhoods also have a classifieds section or online business directory.
5. Forum marketing
If you’re well versed on the in’s and out’s of your particular field, it may benefit you to participate in online forums. Here you can answer questions the average client may have, advertising your business and showcasing your expertise all at once. Online forum sites such as Quora allow professionals to answer questions from the general public. In your profile description, you can list where you work, how long you’ve been in the field, a link to your website and any other pertinent information that will get customers to contact you.
6. Link Exchange
One of the best ways you can get more people to your website and increase your company’s visibility is by having your link on webpages with heavy internet traffic. The more people who visit a website where your link is displayed, the better your chances are of people clicking on it and contacting you for your products or services. This is where link exchange can be extremely helpful and best of all, it’s as simple as its name implies. You simply agree to share a company’s link of your page and in return, they will share yours on theirs. The goal of link exchange is to enter into an agreement with multiple sites so you have the best chance of your link being seen by many people everyday. There are also a number of link exchange directories available online that can help you find the best websites to exchange with.
