Are you taking advantage of the internet to reach more people? Sell more products and get more awareness for your business? If you are not already doing some form of marketing online, you need to rethink your entire marketing strategy. Having a website is simply not enough. Although, it is a good place to start but there’s a lot more you can do on the internet to push your business

Many small and medium sized business owners would opine that advertising is expensive. Yet in order to run a booming business, you need to call attention, publicize and promote it. You can’t have a spectacular product and service and keep mute about it; you have to talk about it. Doing business without advertising can be likened to making beautiful T-shirts and folding them in your box. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.

So how do you advertise your business effectively without spending an arm and a leg? The answer can be found in online advertising. Whilst we realize that every business has its unique marketing needs, online advertising provides a variety of methods by which a business owner can create more awareness about his business, get new qualified leads and make more sales.

The first step running any online advertising is to most importantly determine what your customers and prospects are searching for online; find out how you can reach your target audience (are they mainly on Facebook, twitter, Instagram, gossip blogs, health and fitness websites, betting sites etc.), then ascertain what online marketing techniques will help you increase traffic to your website and differentiate your product from competitors.

In addition to your findings these three online marketing options will be beneficial to every business.

Online business directory listing: Online business directory listing is a great way to spread your business information all over the internet. This increases your visibility thus, making it easy to find you online. Increased online visibility means more calls from potential customers and more visits to your website and business offices. To take advantage of this benefit, you need to list your business in as many online business directories as possible. The more business directories you submit your information to the easier it would be for your customers and prospects to find your business.

When you put your information in a business directory, visitors of the directory who never heard or knew of your business will find you through it and may do business with you in future. You would be surprised at how many potential customers are already looking for your products and services.

Pay Per Click (PPC): Paid search is commonly referred to as pay per click (PPC) advertising because you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. For the startup working on a very lean budget, every kobo spent on advertising matters very much. There’s no money to waste; whenever you invest resources, you want to see results. Luckily, PPC can be measured using conversion rate (such as- lead generation, sales) down to the ad and keyword levels so that you know exactly what’s working and what’s not. Whether you want to reach potential clients in Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, Onitsha, or halfway across the world, you can target searchers down to their city level location. PPC is cost effective and its success rate is really high.

Facebook advertising: Spend as little as $5 daily (about 850 naira) and begin to see results. Facebook is cheap and has a massive audience which includes some of your customers. Facebook has over 800 million active users so you can be sure that no matter what business you run, a substantial amount of your customers are on Facebook. Despite the huge population of the Facebook community, it is still a puzzle as to why some businesses choose not to get on Facebook. With Facebook, you can create more awareness for your business, create new leads and prospects, engage with your audience and make some sales.

So no matter what your marketing budget is, there are advertising options that will help you achieve your business goals fast.

Are you taking advantage of the internet to reach more people? Sell more products and get more awareness for your business? If you are not already doing some form of marketing online, you need to rethink your entire marketing strategy. Having a website is simply not enough. Although, it is a good place to start but there’s a lot more you can do on the internet to push your business

Many small and medium sized business owners would opine that advertising is expensive. Yet in order to run a booming business, you need to call attention, publicize and promote it. You can’t have a spectacular product and service and keep mute about it; you have to talk about it. Doing business without advertising can be likened to making beautiful T-shirts and folding them in your box. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.

So how do you advertise your business effectively without spending an arm and a leg? The answer can be found in online advertising. Whilst we realize that every business has its unique marketing needs, online advertising provides a variety of methods by which a business owner can create more awareness about his business, get new qualified leads and make more sales.

The first step running any online advertising is to most importantly determine what your customers and prospects are searching for online; find out how you can reach your target audience (are they mainly on Facebook, twitter, Instagram, gossip blogs, health and fitness websites, betting sites etc.), then ascertain what online marketing techniques will help you increase traffic to your website and differentiate your product from competitors.

In addition to your findings these three online marketing options will be beneficial to every business.

Online business directory listing: Online business directory listing is a great way to spread your business information all over the internet. This increases your visibility thus, making it easy to find you online. Increased online visibility means more calls from potential customers and more visits to your website and business offices. To take advantage of this benefit, you need to list your business in as many online business directories as possible. The more business directories you submit your information to the easier it would be for your customers and prospects to find your business.

When you put your information in a business directory, visitors of the directory who never heard or knew of your business will find you through it and may do business with you in future. You would be surprised at how many potential customers are already looking for your products and services.

Pay Per Click (PPC): Paid search is commonly referred to as pay per click (PPC) advertising because you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. For the startup working on a very lean budget, every kobo spent on advertising matters very much. There’s no money to waste; whenever you invest resources, you want to see results. Luckily, PPC can be measured using conversion rate (such as- lead generation, sales) down to the ad and keyword levels so that you know exactly what’s working and what’s not. Whether you want to reach potential clients in Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, Onitsha, or halfway across the world, you can target searchers down to their city level location. PPC is cost effective and its success rate is really high.

Facebook advertising: Spend as little as $5 daily (about 850 naira) and begin to see results. Facebook is cheap and has a massive audience which includes some of your customers. Facebook has over 800 million active users so you can be sure that no matter what business you run, a substantial amount of your customers are on Facebook. Despite the huge population of the Facebook community, it is still a puzzle as to why some businesses choose not to get on Facebook. With Facebook, you can create more awareness for your business, create new leads and prospects, engage with your audience and make some sales.

So no matter what your marketing budget is, there are advertising options that will help you achieve your business goals fast.