Running a business is incredibly time-consuming, and finding enough hours in the day to get everything done can be quite a challenge. When your phone is constantly ringing, your emails are piling up and you have 101 other things that need to be done, something will likely have to take a backseat. For many business owners, this ends up being their marketing and advertising.
Although posting on Facebook or sending out a promotional email may seem less important than dealing with everything else on your ‘to-do’ list, any marketing and advertising expert will tell you that this most definitely isn’t the case. Simply put, both of these things are vital to your business success and, when overlooked, you will notice how your phone stops ringing and your business starts to get left behind as competitors take over.
Thankfully, marketing and advertising your business don’t take nearly as much time as it’s commonly understood, and even if you’re really busy, there are ways that you can still ensure you’re getting the word out about your business. Just 5 minutes a day of business promotion can make such a huge difference if you know where to spend your time. Here are a few things you can do to make the most of your 5 daily minutes of marketing and advertising.
Post on social media platforms
In this digital day and age, all business owners should be using social media platforms, as they are undeniably one of the best ways to promote your business online for free. Once you have decided which social media platforms are right for your business and created business accounts, it’s time to start posting engaging content regularly.
If you’re a busy person and want to make sure your social media strategy doesn’t fall between the cracks, consider keeping a content calendar and preplanning your social media posts in advance. Tools such as Later, Hootsuite and Buffer can make it so much easier for you to stay on top of posting on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, so make sure you’re using these to your advantage.
Send out automated emails to customers
Another brilliant way to spread the word about your small business is to use email marketing. This can be one of the easiest and quickest ways to get people thinking about your business and the products or services that you offer, not to mention it is one of the cheapest ways to promote your business too.
Popping up in people’s inboxes every now and then will encourage them to return to your website and increase the chances of them doing business with you, so it is definitely worthwhile. Again, there are some brilliant tools, such as Mailchimp, Dot Digital and Sendinblue, that make it quick and easy for you to reach out to all of your subscribers at once and dramatically reduce the time and effort on your end.
Don’t know where to start? Learn how to run your first email marketing campaign here.
Engage with your followers online
This can be incredibly easy to overlook, but when using social media platforms, it’s essential to set time aside to interact with your followers. Logging in to your business accounts and responding to any messages you’ve been sent or comments that have been left on your posts is just as important as replying to emails.
Engaging with your customers isn’t only one of the most effective ways you can help to promote your business online for free, but it is also essential for improving relationships with them. Responding to comments on your social media platforms shows your potential customers that you care, which will help increase brand loyalty and improve customer experience, both of which are undeniably essential to business success.
Prepare marketing schedules for the next week
In addition to getting the word out about your business by posting on social media or sending emails to your subscribers, you should also aim to spend some time working on marketing tactics for the future. Creating a weekly schedule that consists of 1 or 2 simple tasks a day will help you to stay on track and reduce the amount of time you spend trying to figure out what to do.
When you’re working on your weekly schedules, be sure to set some time aside to keep track of your metrics, such as your Twitter analytics and Instagram insights. These can help you to better understand your target audience and ensure that you’re tailoring your upcoming content to your followers. Monitoring your analytics and insights really won’t take long at all and the information that you gain will be invaluable when promoting your business.
Staying on top of marketing and advertising
Hopefully, the tips above will help you make better use of your time if you only have 5 minutes a day to focus on promoting your business. When you know which tools to use and how to plan in advance, you will find that you really won’t have to invest as much time as you initially thought. Never forget that the success of your business will be directly influenced by your advertising and marketing efforts, so this area of your business isn’t something that should take a backseat when your ‘to-do’ list gets longer.
When you’re trying to get the word out about your business, whether you’re a new start-up or you’d simply like to expand your business by getting it online, it is always worthwhile investing in a website in addition to using modern marketing tools such as social media. At UENI, we build your website for you so you don’t have to spend your valuable time figuring out how to build a website. Get started here.