Effective Online business marketing is crucial to the success of a new business. Setting up a new company is relatively easy; the tricky part is finding your first few clients to get your new venture off the ground.
To help you make your new business a success, we’ve put together a list of 10 online business marketing ideas which you can use to attract potential customers and secure your first customers.
Online Business Marketing Strategies
1. Email Marketing
Email marketing remains an effective way to reach out to potential clients and pitch them your product or services. However, there’s a fine line between email marketing and simply spamming people – and you should be sure to stay on the right side of this to avoid annoying potential customers and considerably reducing your conversion rate.
2. Cold Calling
For certain types of businesses, cold calls can be a good way to generate new leads and secure new business. As with email marketing, it’s important to qualify potential clients first so you know there’s a good chance that they’ll be actually interested in what you have to offer.
3. Facebook
Facebook remains one of the most popular and active social media networks – and with so many people using this particular platform, it can be a good channel for generating business, irrespective of what sector your company is in.
You should definitely set up a Facebook page for your new business and ask any previous customers to write you a positive review to help attract new business.
4. Web Directories
Submitting your business to web and business directories can help potential clients find your company and potentially end up using your services/buying your products. There are thousands of such directories on the internet, with some being very broad, like Yelp, while others are more specialized and niche.
Some of these directories are free to list on, while others have premium plans which will give you a more prominent listing and therefore more exposure.
5. Pinterest
Pinterest is another great social media platform for new businesses, though it’s a bit more restrictive than Facebook due to it primarily being used by women and people interested in a fairly narrow range of topics and themes.
Nevertheless, creating a Pinterest account and various boards can be a good way to generate new clients or at least get some brand exposure for your new business.
6. LinkedIn
Next up, we have LinkedIn. If you’re a B2B business, LinkedIn is one of the best marketing channels out there for you.
You can connect with prospect clients and pitch them even though LinkedIn’s rules state you should only try to connect with people you already know. For B2C businesses, LinkedIn is less useful and you’re typically better off focusing on the other marketing channels we’ve discussed.
7. PR
Generating positive media coverage for your new venture can be an awesome way to attract new clients, even if you just get some exposure in the local paper or a niche trade publication. You simply need to reach out to relevant journalists, tell them why your story matters, and hope they decide to run an article on it.
8. Guest Posting
Writing guest posts on popular and relevant websites can be a great way to get your business a lot of free exposure. It can take some time to find a suitable website that accepts guest posts, but it’s well worth the effort, especially as it’s free marketing.
9. Google Ads
This is the only paid marketing idea on our list, but it doesn’t necessarily have to require a large upfront investment. Google Ads can be an effective way to reach your target audience and put your products or services in front of them by targeting certain keywords.
10. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
If you don’t love the idea of spending money on Google Ads, you can instead focus on optimizing your website for search engines to generate traffic organically. This can take some time, but if done properly, it can offer a steady flow of warm leads and new clients.
A Quick Summary
- Online business marketing is vital to the success of a new business.
- There are many different marketing channels for you to experiment with – some of which are free, while others are paid.
- LinkedIn outreach is a great way for B2B businesses to get new clients, while cold calling and email marketing can also be very effective.
- Running a Google Ads campaign is another awesome way to secure your first few clients.
- Building a website and optimizing it for search engines can help you get a steady flow of new clients.