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Promoting your Business Locally
Is your business known around the city where you are located? If it’s not, it should be! There are so many easy way to promote your business locally; I’ve outlined a few for you below:
1) Sponsor Events: Keep an eye on your local chamber and/or visitor’s bureau sites; they should have an up to date list of events. Check out each event’s website and social media site to see what the sponsorship opportunities are. For many events, you can get in as a sponsor for as little as $50 – $100. This usually gets you placement on their website, a logo in marketing materials, and sometimes even gets your logo on a projected screen or t-shirt. Events are also a great way to gain media mentions as many will get press leading up to the big day. And a final benefit is that you commonly will receive free tickets to the event you sponsor, so you can also use this as a networking opportunity.
2) Attend your Local Chamber Events: Local Chambers of Commerce are a great way to meet some of the most important people in your community. You are guaranteed to run into at least one decision maker at every single event you attend. Plus it’s great to put a ‘face’ to your business, establish a demeanor around possible clients, and pass out lots of business cards to increase brand recognition. I’m recommending specifically the Chamber events because these are generally the most promoted and highly attended events. That being said, I’ve made many great business connnections at smaller, lesser known networking events as well.
3) Advertise in Local Publications: Many cities, even some of the smallest, run their own publications. These are typically much less expensive to purchase ad space in and are more targeted than larger, national publications. Many of these publications can be found not only with business owners, but also in the waiting rooms of dentist and doctor offices, local small businesses, university campuses, and more. Your exposure is much higher in the local area and you can have the peace of mind knowing that your advertising money is being spent efficiently.
4) Email Signature: Something that is completely free and takes just a few seconds to set up is your email signature. Include your company website link within your signature at the bottom of each email, whether it’s business related or not! This is an easy way to gain visibility and name recognition. It’s also a good idea to include links to your social media sites if that is an option as well.
5) Social Media: Speaking of social media, this is another great way to promote your business locally. Through your personal circles, you can easily expand the knowledge of your business. Share your business updates on your personal page, ask your friends and family to comment on and like your posts, and just create general chatter around your business. This, of course, can be a slippery slope because you want to avoid annoying your friends, but it can be a great local promotion tool!
Each and everyone of these tips are fairly inexpensive (if not free) and should help you to easily promote your business locally.
What techniques do you use to promote your business locally?
Until next time,
Melissa