When you hear the word marketing, what do you typically think about? Do you think about those cheesy commercials that might come across as funny? Or maybe you think about the hundreds of billboards you see as you drive through town. Perhaps newspaper ads cross your mind. All of these are great forms of advertising and marketing for your business. However, these forms can be pretty costly.
The typical billboard cost is around $500. While it’s a great visual tool to reach people, that’s quite an expense and newspaper and television ads can be just as costly if not more so. For a newspaper ad, the cost depends on how large the ad is, if it’s going to be in color ink, how frequently the ad will run, etc. On the low end, a newspaper ad can be around $200 and increase based of the previously mentioned factors. Similarly, television ads, on local stations, can range from $200 to $1500 for a thirty second clip.
But have no fear! With the advent of the internet, self-marketing has become easier than ever before. The internet is really a great tool for promoting yourself and your business!
Thanks to the creation of Facebook, you can create a page for your business where you can leave updates for your clients, post upcoming events, blog and let everyone know about deals you’re doing. You can even post pictures and videos from events, new products, and the like.
Facebook isn’t the only social media application that helps self-promotion! Twitter lets you post instant updates and images, while Instagram lets you update and tell a story through pictures. The best part, though, about using social media is: you can be as creative as you want, doesn’t cost much at all, helps you connect with your clients as well as other businesses, and you are totally in charge of it. Further, most social media sites usually have a ‘share’ button that allows you to share a single post with all of your social media accounts, which is convenient. Social media makes it easy to have a web presence and not spend hours agonizing over design layouts and your page can easily be edited to make sure it’s the most up to date version.
Further, it has some interesting and unique perks that traditional outlets of marketing lack. Being a presence on social media not only lets you get your products and services out to your customers and clients immediately, but it also allows you to be interactive with them. Whereas someone may need to call for information, now with just a click, they can simply pull up your Facebook page, for example, see what going on, what’s new and share a comment or message with you. This is a great tool for business owners to get instant feedback from their clients and customers and network with other business owners.
These are the new ways to promote your business and it’s easier than ever to reach the masses. For Facebook alone, there are more than one billion active users and for Instagram, there are more than 100 million people using it every month. Twitter has a grand total of 974 million total accounts. Based on popularity alone, the only way to reach everyone far and near is through social media portals, all of which you can manage from your computer or smart phone from anywhere on the planet with an Internet or Wi-Fi connection.
If you are interested in signing up on social media accounts for your business and need help, please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, and concerns you may have!
Stay tuned for more information next week about Facebook business pages and perks!
