If you want your small business to have any chance of being successful, you must use marketing techniques. Whether the business is large or small, all businesses have to market themselves, and they have to continually do so. Many people become overwhelmed when it comes to marketing, not knowing how to do it, or which methods are the best to use. Choosing different marketing methods are really dependent on your business and how you run it, and what you are selling. Let’s take a look at different marketing techniques for your small business.

Printed Media

In today’s time and with the technology that we have readily available, it’s quite easy to obtain printed marketing material for you small business. Prices are not as high as they used to be, and tons of companies are choosing to use printed media for marketing, it simply spreads the word in a simple and effective way. Printed media marketing can be anything from brochures, printed t-shirts, flyers, banners, billboards, business cards, and freebies. If you haven’t started marketing yet, this is where you should start.

Online Signatures

When you send an email to a friend, acquaintance, co-worker, or a business contact, you have the option of setting a respective email signature. Use this to your advantage, leave a link back to your website to promote your business. The same goes with posting in different places on the internet, you can join a forum that discusses business strategies or anything relating to your business. Set up your signature with the link, and everyone will see it when you post.

Lead Capture Pages

Lead capture pages are very popular with online businesses and marketing. The pages are simple, they consist of one page with general information about what you are selling, however you don’t want to go into detail here, use a video that tells all the great things they can do when they buy your product, but don’t tell them how it works. These pages will ask for an email address from the prospective buyer, and you will give a promise in return, like signing them up for informational emails.

Internet Marketing

Internet marketing comes in various forms, there is almost a limitless amount of possibilities for marketing online. Some we have already mentioned, like the online signatures, but there are more. One of the most popular strategies that businesses use is signing up with Google AdWords. Google AdWords is great for beginners, it’s not that expensive and it’s relatively easy to set up. When you use this as a marketing strategy, your ads for your website will show up all over the internet, especially when someone uses the Google search engine.

Other ideas include:

• Using social media for your business
• Attending networking events
• Using referrals to your advantage
• Use your friends and family to spread the word, this is free!

Burnside | A technology professional with more than two decades of experience writing.  He has served as contributing author for ‘Talking Tech’ Column in the Pride of Durham News Paper(NC), and has an ongoing contribution here on CyrilBurnside.  He is a professional services consultant with PC99Solutions, an IT consulting firm for small business. Contact us today and watch your online business grow.