No matter what industry your business is in, you need to find clever and innovative ways to stand out from the crowd. Grabbing the attention of your customers, you need them to opt for your products or services ahead of your competitors. Without garnering this attention, your business will soon lose revenue and profits – something that no small business or startup wants to face.
In the modern-day, one of the best ways to gain attention is through developing a strong online presence. To do this effectively, you can use one or several of the following methods:
Create A Killer Website
This should be one of the first things that you do as a business. Nowadays, many customers discover a new business purely through their website. Therefore, it’s vital that you create an extraordinary website that entices them into what you have to offer. As well as making your website accessible across several devices, you should include information about who you are as a company, a payment platform, why your services/products are the number one choice, etc.
You might also want to consider starting a blog. Detailing information about your product/service as well as the latest news in your industry and other related information, it’s a key way of attracting new customers onto your site. You can do this by adding backlinks to other articles, asking for guest blog posts and including high-ranking links.
Ask For Reviews and Utilize Local Listings
To establish credibility, reliability and authority within your local area, it’s a good idea to encourage past customers to share reviews about your business. These can be posted either on your website or within third-party review sites such as TrustPilot.
Alongside reviews, consider creating a business listing on Google. This way, customers can discover what you have to offer through an organic search and they will see your business as credible.
An Effective SEO Strategy
Throughout the last few years, the powerful tool that is SEO has taken over. A force to be reckoned with, a successful SEO strategy can increase your profits in the long term. When creating an SEO strategy, make sure that you optimize your website so that it’s fully-functional and accessible, discover high ranking keywords, publish high-quality content, etc.
Alternatively, you could seek effective seo services to undertake the role for you. Giving you on-going support and ensuring that your website is ranking highly, it will assist with business growth.
Marketing, Marketing, Marketing
This might sound like an obvious one, but it’s still worth a mention. For your small business, you need to create an effective marketing strategy. This can include what your marketing campaigns are and where you will place them.
Think about the best ways that you can market your product or services to customers – will you do this solely online or will you branch out to create physical billboards/advertisements?
Social Media – A Powerful Tool To Harness
When working on your online presence, you should focus some of your effort on social media. Many customers look towards a business’ social media accounts to discover more about them and how they tackle customer service enquiries.
Therefore, you should create and use your social media accounts to not only post articles and links to new products or services but as a forum for customers to connect with you by. Lots of small businesses utilize social media, so don’t get left behind.
To assist with this and to increase efficiency, you can use scheduling software to push the various posts out. An example of which is Hootsuite.
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After all, there are over 30 million small businesses operating around the United States. That stacks up to a huge degree of competition.
The result? Standing out from the crowd, cultivating a well-known brand, attracting loyal customers, and driving sales isn’t easy.
Is your basketball-related business seeking ways to boost its image and generate greater returns?
The good news is that a whole host of strategies can be employed to help. But, believe it or not, basketball promotional items are one of the best.
Promo items are nothing new. Eager enterprises have handed used them throughout time to drive results. It’s a classic marketing strategy that flouts the trend toward digital ads and continues to prove effective.
The trick is picking the right items to use. Want some ideas for the best basketball promo items?
Read on for 9 of them!
1. Foam Gloves
Everybody loves foam gloves.
Every sports-mad household in the country needs at least one in their home. How else would you show your support for a favored team at the weekends!?
That’s good news. The best promo items are those that provide value. Foam gloves are fun, entertaining, and are sure to be put to use.
Pop your logo on the front (and back) and you know it’ll get great exposure. Everybody from the person wearing the glove to the other fans in the vicinity will see it. Even better, that gloves might be worn over and over again, spreading your reach over time.
2. Basketball Stress Relievers
Stress relievers are a classic promotional item.
Ask most businesses who employ promo items and they’ve almost certainly used branded stress balls in the past. However, for obvious reasons (i.e. their shape), they make perfect sense for basketball-related businesses.
A mini basketball-shaped stress-reliever is sure to find a place on desks around the country. You can just picture a basketball-mad exec squeezing away after a difficult meeting.
With your logo on the front, they’ll have you to thank for their better mood.
3. Mini-Basketball Hoops
There’s a time and place for generic promo items.
They make a brilliant investment when they provide true value to the end-user. However, sometimes, it’s the fun and unique items that work best.
Let’s face it, everybody’s received a free branded pen in the past. They’re nice, but will never leave a lasting impression.
A mini-basketball hoop, though, is something new altogether.
They make personable, fun-filled giveaway items that people are sure to use. They’ll be put on the backs of doors in bedrooms or offices. People will play with them for hours on end as a happy distraction from tedious times.
4. Mini Branded Basketballs
This one leads on from the last:
A mini basketball hoop needs a mini basketball to use with it!
You could combine this promo item with the last or offer it individually. Either way, you’ve bagged yourself another fun gift that people will get good value from.
Fun promo items have major benefits to business. After all, your audience associates your brand with the fun they’re having! That’s invaluable.
It informs public perception of your product/service and facilitates future custom.
5. Basketball Jerseys
Nobody’s ever going to turn down a branded basketball jersey.
Most people love getting free apparel of any kind. However, if you’re basketball-mad, then a free jersey is a big deal.
They may wear it all the time- to games, practice sessions, and around the house. It’s a valued gift that will endear your business to them. All the while, your brand enjoys newfound exposure and reach as people come into contact with it through the wearer.
6. Basketball Tote Bags
Tote bags are another traditional promotional item.
There’s a good reason for it too: they’re endlessly popular with users!
These bags are another practical product that provides value to the consumer. They’ll be used for months or even years in their day to day life.
Why not put a basketball spin on things? You could design a totes bag that’s shaped like a basketball, for example, or has a picture of one on the sides. However you do it, you’ll have created a fashionable and iconic bag that basketball-lovers will wear with pride.
Pop your logo on the side too and you’re onto a winner.
7. Basketball Keyrings
Almost everything we said about tote bags can be applied to keyrings.
They’re classic promo items. They’re happily accepted as free-gifts by consumers. And they can easily be customized with a basketball design.
The only difference is in practicality. Keyrings aren’t all that useful in and of themselves.
Their real value comes in identity. People sport particular keyrings to let others know something of themselves. Someone who owns a Harley-Davidson might have a Harley keyring. Someone who loves their Porsche might have a Porsche keyring.
And someone who loves basketball might use a basketball keyring!
8. Basketball Bottle Openers
Basketball bottle openers could be cool too.
Imagine a bottle opener shaped like a basketball, with the opening gizmo in the center. It’s a simple item, for sure. But it’s hard to argue against its value.
After all, there’s nothing better than sinking a few cold ones in front of the game!
They’re sure to be put to use. Better still, they’ll be super cheap to produce and distribute. That’s good news in terms of ROI.
9. Banner Stands
Banner stands make a perfect B2B promo-item.
Think of the many industry events you attend. From tradeshows to conferences and everything in-between, there’s heaps of them throughout the calendar year, right?
Each time you have a display table to help attract interest and promote your product.
For a basketball-related business, a step and repeat banner stand covered in basketballs would be a mighty help. Pop your logo on the side and you enjoy free advertising in the process.
Try These Basketball Promotional Items!
Basketball promotional items make ideal marketing solutions. If you’re looking to take your basketball-related business to the next level and engage with fans on a whole new level, consider incorporating these promotional items. And don’t forget to offer exclusive giveaways such as NBA finals tickets to create even more excitement and loyalty among your target audience
Hopefully, the suggestions in this post will help you pick the best promo options for your business.
Want to read more articles like this one? Search ‘marketing’ on the website now.
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Without the proper marketing, most startups and small businesses will be doomed to fail. Making sure that your product or service falls on the right ears is a crucial part of any successful business plan.
However, with such an abundance of marketing techniques available, it is important that small business owners deploy the correct methods in order to maximize their return on investment.
Complete Your Market Research
Knowing your market is always the starting block for any marketing campaign. You need to identify who your customers are, where they are conducting their research and what’s influencing their decisions. A thorough market research should give you insights into customer thinking, buying patterns, location and initial sales forecasts.
This can in turn help you to monitor market trends and conduct detailed competitor analysis.
Profile Target Markets
The better you understand your target market, the better you will be able to market to them with relevant content and messaging on the right platforms. To maximize ROI and enjoy higher conversion rates, you need to avoid unnecessary exposure. Make sure you are putting out the right message to the right people by grouping or segmenting potential customers, and your existing database, based on key elements like:
Lifestyle: social class, personality, personal values
Isolate Your Unique Selling Proposition
A thorough competitor analysis should help you to identify what makes people buy your product or service rather than your competitors. Being known for a specific service will help you to steal a bigger chunk of the market share from larger competitors.
Decide on Your Marketing Avenues
With so many marketing strategies to choose from, it’s important for businesses to identify the best avenue for their business. From direct marketing to mobile, to social, your marketing platform should reflect your marketing goals as well as your target audiences, personality, budget, location and more.
Whether you are using business advertising to build brand awareness or social to improve lead generation, you will need a well-defined goal in order to ensure that you utilize the correct techniques for your audience. Uncovering your audience’s preferred communication channels and purchasing paths is also crucial in order to make an informed decision. Your marketing strategies should align with the when and where of your target audience.
It is also critical that you identify your marketing budget before deciding on your marketing avenue. Different avenues will have different costs associated, so it is key that you start off knowing exactly how much you have to spend in order to maximize ROI and look after the financial health of your business.
Consider your industry and look into the marketing efforts of your competitors. They may have already identified the best means for communicating with your target audience, and therefore be a useful resource.
Remember to keep testing and interpreting the results of all your marketing efforts. Only then can you know what’s working and whether it looks to stay that way.
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With how popular technology is, it is surprising so many companies are unable to be searched online.
If you want to stand out from competitors and grow your business, you must create a website to draw people in and contact you.
Continue reading to discover the steps you need to take to make small business websites so that you have a strong online presence!
1. Get Started With the Basics
The first step to creating small business websites is to start with the basics and create a domain name.
Your domain name will also be the website’s name. You should check with online resources that you have a unique domain name that won’t conflict with another business. You will also need to take care of website hosting.
Website hosting includes your site’s homepage and files. There are many companies for web hosting, and some are free. This usually takes about an hour to complete, unless you can’t come up with a unique name.
GoDaddy, Bluehost, and DreamHost are all popular and trusted sites that businesses use to create their websites.
2. Set up the Format and Style
When readers go to your website, they should be able to quickly find information and understand it.
Formatting your website is important if you want it to flow for readers. Many people put a banner across the top of their site to help organize information. This has become a common tradition and doesn’t fail.
Without different pages and tabs, the website will look like one long list of information that won’t attract customers. You should also consider the style that you want to use too.
Many businesses design the site to match their logos. You should stay professional and use readable fonts. Try to stick with a common theme, so that your customers don’t feel like they are being misled to other sites.
Don’t be afraid to get creative and come up with a unique homepage. Graphic designers can also help your site stand out!
3. Create an Attractive Homepage
Did you know that the average computer user only spends 10-20 seconds looking at a website?
Beyond those 20 seconds, they have likely moved onto another site or lost interest. You must attract your customers and readers from the minute they get to your website.
By staying up to date on trends and using interactive pages, you can get readers to stay on your page for longer and consider your business. You can use high-quality videos and images on your page along with animation to draw in attention.
There are many things that you can do to draw people in, following the same patterns, however, will leave you forgotten like the rest. Try to come up with a unique way to display your business values and team to encourage new buyers.
4. Encourage Contact
If you want customers to consistently use your services or products, you should allow them a place to contact you.
Including a contact page on a website is standard. People use this tab to include emails, addresses, and phone numbers. If you notice that a lot of your customers like to offer feedback, you can even put a comment box on your contact page.
Letting your customers contact you lets them know that they matter. If something goes wrong or there is a defect, they can easily reach out to you, to resolve the issue. Make your contact page welcoming so that people feel comfortable talking to you and asking questions.
Sometimes, companies will include a picture of the person who will be answering your calls or emails. This help people put a face to the name and make your company more memorable. Adding personal touches will draw customers back.
5. Describe the Business
One of the most important things that your website should have is a summary of what your business is or does.
You want to let people know what your business is, immediately after going to the website. Without telling people what your services are, they may become confused and check out another site.
If you take pride in your company’s progress, it can help to include history online. When potential employees and devoted customers go to your site, they will likely want to know more about the company. A brief history is a great way to get your story heard and gain local business.
While describing the purpose of your company, you can present your mission statement and discuss everything you have to offer.
Explaining the progression of the business can be interesting to readers and teach them more about your values and hard work.
6. Display Your Team
Every good business comes with a solid group of employees that work well together.
If you are proud of your team and want to give them a spot on the website, you can do so with an “our team” page. This allows customers the chance to get to know who they are working with so that they can feel more comfortable.
Lawyers and other types of services that involve other people are recommended to include team pages. Offering this recognition to employees can also help make them more satisfied with their job and feel like they make an impact.
A business isn’t run by one person, rather a collective team working towards the same goal.
7. Market and Sell Your Products or Services
Another page that you may need on your website is a store of services page.
If your company sells products, like clothing, shoes, or accessories, you will want to display each item online. You should post clear pictures of products with detailed descriptions and ordering information.
This is where your customers can add items to the cart and try out your products. If your business doesn’t sell products, you can create a service page.
On the services page, you can include information about all of your offers and what you can do for your clients. Even if you can’t give them exact numbers, you can also include estimated prices for each service.
This will be one of your largest money makers in the company. Keep up to date of what your company offers, so that you don’t have to turn customers down.
8. Set up Payment System and Options
More than $158 million was spent online in the final quarter of 2019.
Online shopping has become so popular because it is convenient and accessible at any time. If you want your business to succeed, it is crucial that you set up a payment system online.
If you plan to sell products or services over the internet, online paying can help increase sales. Depending on the needs of your business, you will have to find the right plan for you. Many people have the account set up so that the money goes directly into the business’ bank account.
PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App are all other excellent options that you can accept payment through.
Don’t forget to include discount codes for customers if you are sending them out. To use these codes, they must be able to enter them in while paying.
9. Try It out
Now that you have all of your pages filled in with crucial information, you can test out the site.
This is an important step because it gives you the chance to fix any errors before making it public. Reviewing the site for spelling and grammar errors should be the first step. Editing and accuracy show your customers that you care and want to offer them the best service you can.
You will also want to make sure that all of your images, videos, and animation were uploaded correctly. Not all files are compatible with websites, so you may have to make adjustments along the way.
Testing out your site can also prevent you from having incomplete sections. With how many details there are in making a site, it can be easy to overlook a portion of the site.
Take notes of everything you discover on your test run so that you can make adjustments or continue down the same path!
10. Publish Your Site
You’ve uploaded all of your information, checked it over dozens of times and everything looks good. It’s now time to go live!
Publishing your site will allow access to internet users. Although your website may not be perfect, you can get feedback from customers about the site so that you can make sure it is meeting their standards.
This is an exciting step to creating a website and the beginning of a new chapter. Your business should continue to grow now that you have a strong online presence.
11. Market on Social Media
If you are wanting your new website to be seen by the world, you will have to market it.
After your site is error-free and published, you need to tell other people about it. By posting the site and sharing it on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest you can attract new customers. Use these sites to teach people about your company and why they should select your business over others.
An article by Corberry Digital Marketing examines marketing and factors that make a business fail or succeed. Read this to determine if your marketing efforts are working!
Don’t be afraid to find other avenues of marketing. You can also do so by word of mouth and posting ads in local papers.
12. Maintain the Website
If your website is continuing to work and bring in customers, you are likely doing something right.
If you want to continue the business, you will need to maintain your site. The contact information you provided should be accurate, along with employee information too.
When your business has new products or services being launched, they should also be uploaded to the website. Maintaining your site will prevent your site from being outdated and mismanaged.
Websites with blog pages should be having frequent uploads that stay up to date on trends and news. Many people recommend that you put aside a certain amount of time each day to work on your website.
13. Interact With Customers
Successful business owners know that you must interact with your customers if you want to keep them coming back.
You should be interacting with the customers online through your website and social media. Otherwise, your business can become forgotten. When customers comment on your posts or reach out to you in an email, you must respond to them.
Unanswered questions from customers can make them unsatisfied. A caring and conversational business owner can help make them feel comfortable to support your business.
You should always acknowledge what people are saying about your company. You may be able to increase sales if you follow the logical requests that people want.
Create Small Business Websites That Impress Customers
When you own a company, a lot of your business comes from word of mouth and through referrals.
Utilizing this guide can help you create small business websites that give you an online presence. This can help people learn about your company and all of the services that you offer. Most people look at online reviews and sites to determine if they want to support them or not.
To have an impressive website, you should use organization, media, and personal touches. Whatever you can think of to make your company look as unique as it is will help your site.
Be sure to check out our blog for more articles about improving your business with technology!
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No matter what industry your business is in, you need to find clever and innovative ways to stand out from the crowd. Grabbing the attention of your customers, you need them to opt for your products or services ahead of your competitors. Without garnering this attention, your business will soon lose revenue and profits – something that no small business or startup wants to face.
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