As the effects of the global pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on the economy of virtually every country of the world, most businesses are increasingly finding it difficult staying afloat.

Based on this challenge, it has become crucial for every business to find ways of cutting down on overheads while still remaining in the consciousness of their target audience. With average household income plummeting and spending power of consumers yet to return to pre COVID-19 levels, it has now become a buyers’ market as more businesses continue to chase after limited buyers.

Below are various cost effective ways you can propel your brand to the limelight without having to break the bank. 

Use Free Publicity – Website Listing

Let’s face it; running any form of advertisement can be costly, especially for small businesses. However, one of the smart ways to achieve same result without having to spend some precious cash is by making use of free publicity by way of website listing.

In addition to saving you cost, free publicity will also enhance your creativity and push you towards leveraging other platforms that could potentially help to create more far reaching awareness for your brand than a paid ad could achieve. 

Oblivious to some business owners, there are lots of popular sites that can offer massive publicity for their business at no cost. They include the following;

  • Google My Business
    • This is one of the most beneficial platforms every business should take advantage of. With Google My Business, you can get meaningful localized advertising at no cost. You can list vital information about your business such as your address, phone number, directions, website, pictures and hours of operation, and they will all appear on Google maps and search results.
  • Bing Places
    • This site is very similar to Google My Business and they offer similar privileges without charging you for it.

  • Facebook
    • At the last count, billions of people globally are active on Facebook and this presents a limitless opportunity for business owners. You can create your brand page and furnish it with pictures of products or services you offer, as well as your contact details. Also, you can easily update your page and add new details, and also gain more knowledge about your niche by joining related groups.

Other important sites you can freely list your brand include Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube etc. 

Use Social Media and Optimize Your Social Media Pages

In today’s digital age, traditional ways of getting information such as through radio and newspapers are becoming increasingly obsolete as more people now prefer the internet and by extension, the social media. The social media has taken over and form the look of things; it has come to stay for good. Any brand that wants to stay ahead of competition will not just have a presence in the social media but must utilize it optimally. 

Already, the number of people making use of the social media is staggering; especially on platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Whatsapp that has over 2 billion users respectively! There is need to emphasize that other social media platforms aside these three are equally as important. However, the ideal thing to do is to weigh your options and choose based on two basic criteria i.e. a social media platform that would be compatible with your brand and also have the potential to reach most of your target audience.   

Sponsor with Fundraising Companies

Making use of fundraising companies to sponsor your business project is another smart way of enjoying huge benefits at very minimal costs. Some of the benefits you can get through sponsorship with fundraising companies include helping to promote your offerings, adding value or sophistication to your brand, enhancing your visibility by advertising to their own peculiar audience and ultimately, helping you to make more sells without adding more to your overhead expenditure. 

It may interest you to note that most big companies often have a budget set aside annually for projects like this, so it is up to you search for them and get in touch appropriately. 

Website fundraising should be top in your To-Do list considering its importance to your business. 

Join With Audience Club

As you may already know, Audience Club is a social group whose members are people of like minds with the objective of making life easier for people. It is usually membership and community based, so you will have to look out for any of such clubs nearest to you and join.  You can also consider their objectives and programs to know the one that will be most suitable for you. 

Design a Website for Brand Presence

There is no gain in re-emphasizing that every business in today’s world must have a website if they really want people to take them serious. Every business worth its salt is not just expected to have a website but one that is standard. Once people get interested in any brand, one of the things they often do to ascertain such brands authentication is to search them on Google or have a look at their website. 

Try to Keep Frequent Communication with Customer

One huge advantage small businesses have over big brands is the ability to keep in touch with their customers in a more personalized way. Bear in mind that no business can exist without customers and every single customer is important. Human beings are social animals and thus people mostly appreciate it when others make effort to reach out to them. Likewise, when a business gives a sense of belonging to its customers by way of constantly communicating with them, it makes the customer to develop affinity with such brand and they often go out of their reciprocate such gesture by being loyal to the brand.  

By Jim Kittridge