If you’re running a website as a means of promoting your business or making money, then you clearly already have some understanding of how the internet can help you to reach a wide audience. You may be using SEO too to increase your awareness online, and perhaps you might also have looked at social media marketing too.
Any online business should seriously considering using a digital marketing campaign to promote their business, which should consist of:
- SEO
- PPC
- Content Marketing
- Guest Posting/Link Building
- Social Media Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
- Etc.
But these are the internet marketing techniques of webmasters – not of businesses. There are many other ways methods that companies use online to promote themselves, and all of these can be applied to websites too. The great part, is that thanks to the free and open nature of the web, these are all things that even small companies and websites can benefit from too.
Promotional Gifts
Many companies that understand the importance of brand awareness, will attempt to increase their recognition by giving away free gifts. These might include lanyards, mouse mats, bags or caps, but they will all include the company’s branding as a means to get it seen by more people and into the homes of existing customers.
Thanks to the web, it’s much easier and more affordable for even small companies and websites to use this strategy. Just head over to one of the many online services, choose your blank item, and then choose where you want your logo to show. Now you can order as many as you need relatively cheaply and start handing them out at tradeshows and other events.
Advertising
Most website owners have dabbled in PPC advertising such as AdWords to promote themselves, but what few do is to go the more traditional route of simply paying for advertising space on relevant and desirable websites. This can be a very cost-effective way to get your site seen by thousands of relevant visitors and is considerably less expensive than advertising on television or radio.
That said, having adverts appear on TV or radio has its advantages and can be done in a cost effective manner. Another option is to look at advertising in a magazine. Look at the circulations and the target audience and you can then place ads that will potentially be seen by millions for a very small amount of cash.
Sponsorship
Similar to advertising but notably different, is sponsoring a company or individual in order to increase your visibility. There are a number of different ways you can do this online, and many more than you’d be able to find otherwise. You could offer to sponsor a YouTube channel for instance and affordably reach a huge audience, or you could offer to sponsor another website – or even back a Kickstarter project for some good publicity.
This is an example of influencer marketing and it can take on a number of different forms. The idea is to hack your own growth by exposing your brand, service or product to the audience that someone else has already managed to build.
Flyering
Flyering has long been a favorite strategy for many businesses, particularly businesses that are tied closely to their local area. Again, many tools online make this easier and cheaper than ever before even for individuals – sites like LuLu and VistaPrint make it easy to create your own promotional materials, while anyone can cheaply find a designer on a webmaster forum like Digital Point or even on Fiverr. Yes $5 to get a flyer designed…
Business Cards
The same goes for business cards, which can be very useful for spreading the word about your site when networking or just among your friends. Again you can get these designed cheaply online and there are plenty of sites that will print them for you too – often you can get your first batch entirely for free!
As you can see then, the web makes it possible for individuals with moderate budgets to start using the kinds of promotional techniques that were previously unavailable to all but the biggest companies. Treat your site like a proper business and use the tools available, and you will find that you really soar.
Proper Company Stuff
Or why not go the ‘RCS’ route? That stands for ‘Real Company Stuff’ and is also referred to as PCP or ‘Proper Company Promotion’ and describes strategies such as running competitions, or revamping your website with the sole hope that it will lead to media coverage and word of mouth driving more visitors to your site.
Getting covered by the press is of course a fantastic success for any company selling a product or service, or any site that makes money from visitors. Even using the web, there is no way to guarantee that you will get press coverage, however website owners can still make use of a large range free press-release templates, and can find a lot of useful addresses to send them to online as well.
You should also look into contacting journalists and directly telling them about your news – or sending them your press releases. You could alternatively hire an individual or set up a team within your organization to do this.
Proper Company Promotion also refers to things like publicity stunts. This is some kind of high profile event, activity or other attention seeking plan that will gain coverage. This could be something as basic as a flash mob or as elaborate as a world record attempt. The right type of promotion will ultimately depend on your brand, budget and intended audience.
