”A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work” – Colin Powell
In an era where finding a good job has become so difficult and even when you find one, you are almost always likely not to be satisfied with it, self employment seems the best way forward for the youth. However, there is always the challenge of a ”starting capital”. With little or no experience in the field that you may choose, many investors will not buy into your idea until you have built it to an advanced stage. Online marketing seems a very effective way to let people know about your small business and cause it to grow steadily. However, that itself can be very expensive and the costs involved may deter young startup owners from delving into that area. Jumia Travel suggests 5 inexpensive ways to quickly make your small brand popular.
1. Social Media – Every startup needs to establish a presence on social media. Creating profiles on major social media platforms such as facebook, twitter, Instagram, Linkedin and G+ is just the beginning of a long journey in reaching millions of people. These days, almost everybody is on one social media platform or the other. Apart from giving you the license to engage more with your target market and potential customers, social media gives you a platform to showcase all products and services as well as inform the world about what you have to offer. You can show pictures and create captions, polls, campaigns etc, to show the uniqueness of your brand and be sure of reaching millions of people with just likes, shares, comments, retweets etcetera.
2. The familiarity tree – Utilize friends, family and colleagues. The best way to start a fan base for your small brand is by using the familiar people in your life. Family and friends can spark off a chain of unending followership and extend your brand name to corners you may never have imagined. A friend in the USA who shares a post on facebook may get a like from his friend in China who will also get a comment from his friend in Argentina. Before you know it, that one post has reached people in every continent of the world. Your small brand will get seen by millions. It is now up to you to ensure that what you are offering is interesting enough for people to want to patronize.
3. Barter – Offer products / services to bloggers, media and firms in exchange for publicity. In many countries, there are strict rules surrounding the payment of bloggers and media for publicity. The best way around this is by ensuring that you don’t come out as bribing your way into getting media exposure or mentions by bloggers. You can offer some of your products or services for them to try out for free. Once the product or service is good enough, they will naturally blog about it or tweet about it. If you are not in a position to give out free things, you can also give great discounts off the products or services so these bloggers and media persons can purchase at reduced rates.
4. Co-market with an established business/brand – When big companies also have events or special campaigns where you can fit your brand, try to offer sponsorship by giving out products and services in exchange for a space on the event paraphernalia or mentions on radio and tv. Since you may not have the funds to run your own radio and TV campaign, co-marketing with established brands gives you a bigger platform to let people know you exist. You can also offer your products or services for CEO’s/MD’s of well established and popular brands to use. People naturally trust people in high positions to recommend good quality products and services. Therefore, a facebook post or a tweet from a celebrity or popular figure about your brand instantly is a hit.
5. Be innovative and interesting – It is sometimes very tempting to be business minded and direct all your posts and topics on social media to sales and serious business. However, to make your brand popular and get more fans and engagements, it is very imperative that you post very fan and interesting content whilst keeping an eye on the business end of things. Be business conscious yet very fun and entertaining. Do not bore your fans with very direct sales posts and too many official content but be careful to stay in line and not give mixed impressions about your brand or mode of operation.
Although there are more ways to creating a massive online presence and getting your brand to be popular, carefully following these steps will get you closer to your desired destination. This will make more people know about you and eventually increase your sales and profit margins.
Credit : JumiaTravel
