marketing Archives - OceanOne Design

20 Problems That A Web Design Agency Can Solve For Your Business

by DG | Aug 15, 2023 | Web Design, Website Design

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses face an ever-growing challenge: keeping up with the breakneck pace of technological advancements while maintaining a competitive edge. As consumer behaviors shift and online interactions become increasingly pivotal, the significance of a captivating and user-centric web presence has never been more apparent. Enter the realm of web design agencies – the modern-day troubleshooters equipped to tackle a multitude of obstacles that can impede a business’s journey to success. From grappling with mobile responsiveness and lead generation woes to navigating the intricate world of SEO and user engagement, these agencies are the guiding lights that illuminate the path towards relevance and resonance in the digital realm.

With a myriad of challenges stemming from outdated design, ineffective messaging, and the perpetual race against competitors’ superior websites, businesses often find themselves tangled in a web of complexities. While some things are being made simpler, the constant learning curve can be too costly as companies try to stay focused various other aspects of the business like HR, growth, profits etc.

The artistry of a skilled web design agency lies in their ability to untangle these intricacies, transforming problems into opportunities for growth. But the true alchemy is not just in solving these issues – it’s in understanding that businesses are not simply seeking a service; they’re yearning for a strategic partnership that bridges the gap between their visions and the ever-expanding possibilities of technology.

Below, we take a look at some of the challenges that a forward-thinking web design agency can resolve, liberating businesses from the shackles of technological stagnation and propelling them into the realm of innovation and unmatched digital prowess.

20 problems that a web design agency can solve for businesses:

The Website Looks Bad on Mobile Devices: A responsive and mobile-friendly design ensures that your website looks and functions seamlessly across various devices, enhancing user experience and accessibility.
Low Conversion Rates from Website Visitors: Web design agencies can optimize your website’s layout, call-to-actions, and user flow to boost conversion rates, turning visitors into valuable leads or customers.
Ineffective Lead Generation: A well-designed website incorporates lead generation techniques like contact forms, pop-ups, and landing pages, increasing the likelihood of capturing potential customer information.
Lack of Online Visibility (SEO Issues): Web design agencies can implement SEO best practices, optimizing your site’s structure, content, and technical aspects to improve search engine rankings and visibility.
Unclear or Confusing Messaging: Expert designers can refine your website’s messaging and content hierarchy, ensuring that visitors quickly understand your value proposition and offerings.
Outdated Design and Branding: A modern and consistent design refresh can revitalize your brand’s image, making it more appealing to customers and portraying a sense of innovation.
Non-Compliance with Regulations: Web design agencies can ensure that your website adheres to relevant industry regulations and web accessibility standards, reducing legal risks.
Difficulty in Website Maintenance: A well-structured and user-friendly Content Management System (CMS) can make it easier for your team to update and maintain the website without technical expertise.
Limited User Engagement: Engaging design elements like interactive features, animations, and multimedia can enhance user engagement, making your website more memorable.
High Bounce Rates: Through strategic design and clear navigation, a web design agency can reduce bounce rates by keeping visitors engaged and guiding them to relevant content.
Competitors Have Better Websites: Expert designers can create a unique and compelling online presence that sets you apart from competitors, attracting and retaining customers.
Lack of Trust from Visitors: Trust-building elements like testimonials, reviews, certifications, and secure payment gateways can be integrated into your website to establish credibility.
Ineffective Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Web design agencies can optimize CTAs’ placement, design, and wording to drive visitors towards desired actions, such as signing up or making a purchase.
Poor Website Speed and Performance: Technical optimizations can enhance your website’s loading speed, ensuring a smooth user experience and reducing the likelihood of visitors leaving due to slow performance.
Unimpressive Visual Design: Aesthetic enhancements, such as professional graphics, imagery, and typography, contribute to an appealing visual identity that resonates with your target audience.
Difficulty in Booking Services Online: Streamlined booking processes and user-friendly scheduling interfaces can simplify online service bookings, making it convenient for customers to engage with your business.
Inconsistent Branding Across Platforms: A cohesive design strategy ensures that your brand’s visuals are consistent across your website and other marketing materials, fostering brand recognition.
Underutilization of Social Proof: Incorporating social proof elements, like case studies, success stories, and client logos, can demonstrate your expertise and build trust with potential customers.
Lack of Impressive Portfolio Showcase: A visually appealing and well-organized portfolio section highlights your past work and showcases your capabilities to potential clients.
High Costs of In-House Design Superstars: By outsourcing to OCEANONE Design, businesses gain access to a team of expert designers and marketing strategists on-demand, at a fraction of the cost of maintaining an in-house superstar. OCEANONE Design’s commitment to excellence ensures that every project aims to wow clients and deliver exceptional results. Clients often find this approach more cost-effective and yield better outcomes compared to handling design internally.

By addressing these challenges, a web design agency like OCEANONE Design provides businesses with the tools and expertise needed to enhance their online presence, attract customers, and drive growth.

Ask about our flat rate, unlimited design packages.

The Power of B2B Marketing Automation – How it works…

by DG | Jan 11, 2023 | Content Marketing, Online Marketing, Technology, Web Design, Website Design

Technology is changing so fast in today’s world and marketing is one area that can be extremely complex, time-consuming and costly. It can be overwhelming for small and medium sized businesses so companies are looking for ways to streamline their processes but still grow their business.

If you’re looking for ways to improve and streamline your marketing efforts then marketing automation might just be the unicorn you’re looking for. It will take some planning and effort to get started but once it is performing you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner.

Marketing automation is the use of software and technology to automate marketing tasks and processes, such as email campaigns, social media management, and lead generation. It allows businesses to target, engage, and convert their audience more efficiently, freeing up time and resources that can be used for other tasks.

Here are some marketing automation statistics gathered by StartupBonsai:

A lack of clear instructions makes building an online presence challenging for B2B companies. To be successful online, your business must have clear goals and understand how online marketing works.

This post will give you some clarity and help you decide whether automation is what you need.

There are several benefits of marketing automation for businesses of all sizes:

Increased efficiency and productivity: It saves time and effort by automating repetitive tasks, such as sending emails and social media posts. This allows marketers to focus on high-value tasks, such as analyzing data and creating strategic campaigns.
Improved targeting and personalization: Marketing automation allows businesses to segment their audience and create targeted campaigns based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This level of personalization can help increase engagement and conversion rates.
Enhanced lead generation and nurturing: It can help businesses generate and nurture leads through targeted campaigns, such as email drip campaigns and lead-scoring programs.
Better analysis and measurement: Detailed analytics and reporting are a big benefit of automation software. This allows businesses to track the effectiveness of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

The ROI of a successful marketing automation campaign can be significant. According to a survey by the Data & Marketing Association, businesses that use marketing automation see an average ROI of around 300%. This is because the automation allows businesses to reach their audience more effectively, resulting in higher conversion rates and increased revenue.

To get the most out of it, it is important to have a clear strategy in place and to use the right tools and technology.

When it’s done wrong, a campaign can also fail miserably. Do testing on a small scale first and then scale it when you have it fine tuned. It is also important to continuously test and optimize campaigns to ensure that they are delivering the desired results. With a well-executed campaign, businesses can achieve significant growth and success.

What does marketing automation actually do?

By automating and streamline marketing tasks, companies can find more time to put into actually closing deals and building relationships. Automated tasks can include a wide range of activities, such as email marketing, social media management, lead generation, and customer segmentation.

Some specific tasks that automation can perform include:

Email marketing: It can send targeted and personalized emails to specific segments of a business’s audience. This can include newsletters, promotional emails, and automated drip campaigns.
Social media management: Marketing automation can help businesses schedule and publish social media posts, as well as track and analyze the performance of these posts.
Lead generation: Marketing automation can help businesses generate leads through targeted campaigns, such as lead-scoring programs and landing page optimization.
Customer segmentation: Automation can segment a business’s audience based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This allows businesses to create targeted campaigns that are more relevant and effective.

How does marketing automation work?

Marketing automation works by using software and technology to automate and streamline marketing tasks and processes. Here is a general overview of how automation works:

Set up: The first step is setting up the software and defining the goals and strategy for the campaign. This includes selecting the appropriate tools and technology, such as email marketing software or social media management platforms.
Audience segmentation: Marketing automation allows businesses to segment their audience based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This allows businesses to create targeted campaigns that are more relevant and effective.
Campaign creation: Set up email drip campaigns and social media posts. These campaigns can be triggered by specific actions, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.
Delivery and tracking: Delivers the campaigns to the appropriate segments of the audience and tracks the performance of the campaigns. This includes measuring metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
Analysis and optimization: The detailed analytics and reporting, allows businesses to track the effectiveness of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions. This includes identifying what is working well and what can be improved upon.

What does marketing automation mean for the customer journey?

Automation can have a significant impact on the customer journey, as it allows businesses to deliver personalized and relevant experiences to their customers throughout the entire customer journey.

Here are a few ways in which marketing automation can enhance the customer journey:

Lead generation and nurturing: Marketing automation can help businesses generate and nurture leads through targeted campaigns, such as email drip campaigns and lead-scoring programs. This can help businesses guide potential customers through the sales funnel and convert them into paying customers.
Personalization: Marketing automation allows businesses to segment their audience and create targeted campaigns based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This level of personalization can help increase engagement and conversion rates.
Customer segmentation: Marketing automation can segment a business’s audience based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This allows businesses to create targeted campaigns that are more relevant and effective, improving the overall customer experience.
Customer service: Marketing automation can also be used to provide customer service, such as answering frequently asked questions or providing personalized recommendations. This can help businesses improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

By following these best practices, businesses can ensure that their marketing automation campaigns are successful and deliver the desired results.

What are common problems that marketing automation can solve?

Automation can help businesses solve a variety of problems, including:

Lack of time and resources: Aave time and effort by automating repetitive tasks, such as sending emails and social media posts. This allows businesses to focus on high-value tasks, such as analyzing data and creating strategic campaigns.
Lack of personalization: Businesses can segment their audience and create targeted campaigns based on specific criteria, such as location, demographics, and behavior. This level of personalization can help increase engagement and conversion rates.
Inefficient lead generation and nurturing: It helps businesses generate and nurture leads through targeted campaigns, such as email drip campaigns and lead-scoring programs. This can help businesses convert more leads into paying customers.
Difficulty measuring and analyzing campaigns: Marketing automation provides detailed analytics and reporting, allowing businesses to track the effectiveness of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions. This can help businesses identify what is working well and what can be improved upon.

When asked why they think they’re not utilizing their tools properly, marketers identified the following barriers:

39% of respondents said they lacked the training to fully utilize marketing automation software.
32% said they did not have the resources to manage the automation process.
31% of respondents reported that maintaining their tools was beyond their budget.
25% of respondents cited a difficult setup process as the issue.

According to another study, respondents identified several challenges when implementing marketing automation:

33% of surveyed companies identified a lack of expertise as the biggest obstacle

33% of surveyed companies identified a lack of expertise as the biggest obstacle preventing them from implementing marketing automation.

Overall, marketing automation can help businesses solve a variety of problems by streamlining repetitive tasks and allowing marketers to focus on high-value activities, such as analyzing data and creating strategic campaigns. It also helps businesses reach their audience more effectively and increase conversion rates, leading to increased revenue and growth.

At OCEANONE Design our marketing platform of choice is VBOUT. It’s a comprehensive online marketing application that really has no limitations since it can easily integrate with all other modern applications that use an API. For instance, if our client likes to use the popular Hubspot CRM, we can easily connect to it so that leads from Facebook, email or any other campaigns will be sent directly to the their CRM. We can also alert them via text message if they prefer.

Many clients tell us that the high cost of software and complexity are the barriers that hold them back from going all-in with automation. If that’s the case for you, we can help. We can set you up using our software to run the campaigns and connect to your free CRM. That way there is no software cost to you. As you grow, you can invest in your own system and hire staff to run it.

Don’t get left behind, contact us anytime for a free consultation.

Social Media Strategy Tips for Local Businesses

by DG | Aug 25, 2020 | Social Media, Digital Marketing, Online Marketing

In recent years, we have seen great advancements in data connectivity and a rise in mobile users. Due to this, social media has risen up as a new platform for marketing. While the conventional platforms have not yet become obsolete and still play an important role for some businesses, social media not only provides you with an opportunity to target a wider set of audience but also enable you to interact with them at a more personal level.

So, before you start your social media marketing campaign, it is very important for you to have a well-thought-out strategy ready to be executed. This will not only help you to identify the hurdles in social media marketing but you will also be able to use the right tactics to tackle these hurdles and reach your goal in the time.

Keep A Business Objective in Mind:

Social media has its own perks and by using it effectively, you can achieve many things. It has made a lot of things easy such as performing customer service, engaging with customers, increasing web traffic, expanding the audience, getting valuable feedbacks and much more.

But to achieve all these you need to have a goal in mind that you can work towards. Now to achieve your objective, you need a strategy and you need to very careful while making it. Don’t let social media make your objective, instead make your own business objectives and let the social media drive those them.

Optimize Your Content

You probably have read many blogs in which they mention that your content must be high quality, original, relevant and appealing to your audience. But how does one create a content like that? If you want to position your brand at a very high position in your industry, then you should take a look into what the successful brand are already doing.

Follow 60/30/10 Rule

This rule means that you should create and post 60 percent of the content that is relevant to your product. Share 30 percent of content that is relevant to the local community or a non-competitive local business and share 10 percent of the content regarding sales and promotions of your services. This will help to create high quality content and still maintain the consistency.

Your Content Must Be Shareable

Better than original, high quality and relevant, you must put focus on content that is shareable. If you are confused what is content is most shareable, take a look at your competitor’s activity and note what content gets the most likes, comments and shares. Now go back to your project and start creating posts and curating content that has similar elements but better. Sharable content can include…

How to Posts
Positive Content
Trending Topics
Social Causes

Be Present

This is the easiest way to talk directly to your customers and you can do that without spending any money. Be sure to like, comment, share and answer content relevant to your niche as well as on monitoring and engaging. It can be challenging to optimize the time you’ll spend on this activity so keep in this in mind.

Good news is that you don’t need to monitor all the social media channels all the time. A good way to start deciding where to be present is to look where your competitors are. For instance, if they are posting more on Instagram then maybe you should start paying attention to that platform too.

Share compelling visuals whenever you can

People now days, specially millennials are always in a rush, so you get only a few second to grab their attention. You need make those few seconds count, else they’ll move on to some other post or website. So, always try to include quality visual components in your posts because if your content seems to be below average no one will stop scrolling and see what you have to offer. Posts including image produce 650% more engagement that text-only post and is more like to get shared 40 times more. Again good quantity visuals are important as they tend to increase the people’s willingness to read it by 80%.

Prepare to Spend Money on Social Media Marketing

“There is no free lunch”. Yes, this also applies here. Fact is that organic growth is dying. Platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter have updated their apps to prize more to paid content and less to non-paid content. This means it’s harder to get space in your customer’s timeline. Now, what would be the point of spending so much time and effort in producing content, if nobody is going to see it.

However, you must understand that you should prepare before you start to pay, otherwise you’ll be just wasting money. Now the question arises that how much should you spend? Well, this all depends on the nature of business and target customers.

When we are talking about Facebook in particular, there are a few approaches. If you are promoting something specifically like a Product Sale or Signing up for a mailing list you should run an ad campaign because there is a lot that you can control. There is much to know about Facebook Advertising strategies which is beyond the scope of this post. In fact we have a Free eBook called “How To Win On Social Media” on this topic. See the signup to the right of this article.

USEFUL TIP – Sometimes you just want to get people to read your blog post. In this case use “Boost” and set it for $1/per day for 7 days. This is very low cost exposure but “what’s the value?” you ask? If you have Facebook Pixel installed on your site you can use Google retargeting ads so those visitors to your blog post will see your ads on other sites. They will become more familiar with your brand and you’ll increase the likelihood of them buying from you.

DOWNLOAD Our Free Social Post Planner (In Google Sheets, click FILE > make copy). It has a daily, monthly and archive view as well as a brainstorming tab.

Get Your Content Shared

Do you best to encourage people to share your content. There are also some great services like quuupromote.co that will spread your blog posts to get shared by influencers for a small fee and this works great. There are similar services but this is one of our favourite and very affordable.

Grow Your Following

Post frequently – 4x per day if possible
Optimize your posting time
Use visual content – Photos – & Videos
Use hashtags strategically
Engage with replies
Create an inviting profile
Find followers within your network

A special note about Instagram…

How to quickly grow your Instagram Following.

When you post something on Facebook, how many people engage with your post? 5? 10? 20? Instagram is very different. With zero followers you can get a lot of likes.

How you say?

The magic of Hashtags!!!

With Instagram you can post up to 30 hashtags per post! That’s a huge number. Now you just have to be strategic about selecting the right ones.

With a new account you should put up about 12 posts.

You want to find relevant hashtags with 50k-300k images per hashtag. After you get over 10k followers, you can use more popular hashtags, but at the early stage don’t go after hashtags with more than 300k images because you’ll get lost in the feed and get zero engagement.

Your goal is to get featured within the 9 top posts under each hashtag.

Moving forward, you should post 3-4 times per day.

Instagram doesn’t work for every kind of business. It’s a very visual platform. If your business is not very visual, like accounting or insurance then Instagram is probably not worth the time. Think about whether you could come up with 3 or 4 good images per day to help make your decision about trying Instagram. Accounting and insurance came to mind as not being visual. However, I have not looked into that and there may be companies in those categories having success.

Repeat what worked

Don’t get disheartened if something didn’t work just try something else. Don’t give up on the idea of using social media as your marketing tool. And if your social media efforts were successful, just stick to what you have been doing. It is as simple as that. Just if one thing didn’t work for you doesn’t mean that nothing will work. Try again, just stick to the basics, redefine your audience and reconsider about the amount of investment.

Social media is great tool for small business owners as it is unique and it can take a company’s fame to new heights, broaden its reach and can create a wide range of customers. But all this is going to work only if you are determined to do it.

If you need help with your Social Media Strategy, our design agency offers a full range of Social Media and other digital marketing services. Just click here to book a Free Consultation.

How To Develop A Digital Marketing Strategy That Gets Results

by DG | Oct 18, 2018 | Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Branding, Business, Online Marketing

Today’s advertising mediums include more digital channels than ever before. Factors such as faster reach capabilities, lower advertising costs, and global branding opportunities make digital marketing a viable avenue for building awareness. When creating a digital marketing strategy, it’s imperative to plan out each messaging deliverable, communication channel, and content strategy so that you don’t lose yourself in a whirlwind of social media accounts and content deadlines.

Approaching your strategy means taking initial steps to determine what your end goals are and then devising a practical plan to bring them to fruition. Here’s a 4-step process for creating a solid digital marketing strategy.

Create A Finish Line

Know what your goals are before you embark on your strategy. Create a list of measurable short and long-term goals. For example, are you looking to increase sales? If so, by how much exactly? Are you looking to increase your social media followers? If so, by how many exactly? And on what platforms? Don’t rely on vague goals that can’t be measured.

Put numbers to your goals. For instance, we want to generate 800 leads in one month, Increase sales by $5,000 this month or gain 1000 Twitter Followers in one week. Whatever it is you want to achieve, make it a number and then you can figure out a way to get there. Then you can track and measure your results to see whether you were successful or not in achieving the goal.

If you achieve your goal successfully, great. If not, look at what worked and what didn’t make some adjustments and try again. Try different messaging or images or maybe it was just not enough budget. If you’re tracking everything you should be able to figure out how to improve your results. Expect that there will be some trial and error.

Setting realistic goals gives you accountability and allows you to forecast things such as cost, time, and resource allocation. You don’t want to have to guess what your marketing budget is, and you certainly don’t want to assume which team members can complete certain tasks. Create realistic goals and milestones.

List Your Mediums

What digital marketing channels do you plan on using to get your message to your audience? Are you planning to focus on one main channel or a combination of three or more? Consider making a list of 10-15 potential marketing channels and then narrow it down to your top five. Next, find out which platforms work best for your target audience based on their demographic and online behaviour and then decide which ones work best for your plans. Laser focus in on your main channel to help you get the initial traction that you need when you first begin your campaigns.

Plan Out Your Content

Knowing what type of content you’ll create and how often it’ll be delivered is crucial to your digital strategy. Whether it’s article writing, social media posting, or video production, there should always be content that’s being created behind the scenes. Find out which types of content work best for your products and your audience and then create a calendar to keep a steady messaging stream flowing your audience’s way. Content calendars are essential to digital marketing, as they help you avoid the headaches and confusion that can come with last-minute content development.

Implement, Monitor, and Measure

Once you’ve outlined your digital strategy it’s go-time. Make sure that you have all of the resources you need. Make sure that all of your team members know their deliverables and when they’re due. And most importantly, make sure that you’re monitoring and tracking your progress throughout the entire time. Know what metrics will be used to track each goal, and if you fall short of meeting a goal, use it as a lesson for your next project and campaign. The more you monitor and track your activities, the better insight you’ll have on what types of content your audience responds to best.

Setting up Google Analytics is the most important step to track all your results. There are many online tools out there to help you track all of you digital marketing activities and choosing the right one depends on the depth of your campaign. If you are only using Google ads, then tracking through your Google Analytics and Google Ads control panel are probably sufficient. However if you ad Facebook Ads or any other advertising channel to the mix, there is a lot more to track and you’ll want those reports to be side by side for easy evaluation and comparison. As I mentioned, there are a ton of tools out there price according to their level of capabilities. We have a free tool that is great for tracking your Facebook and Google Ad campaigns. It’s called Advertising Intelligence and you can read more about it on our pricing page.

A well-planned digital marketing strategy will ease the confusion that can come with setting up marketing campaigns. Once you have your content and channels figured out, it’s just a matter of setting up the right goals and metrics.

This sounds simple but it can be overwhelming without some guidance. We would be glad to help you with a Free Marketing Strategy Consultation where we will discuss your goals and we can provide you with solid advise to start building your successful Marketing Strategy!

This is a high level view of what is involved in building a digital marketing strategy. For a more detailed deep-dive, check out this post: Execute a Powerful Marketing Strategy to Grow Your Business

11 Innovative Ideas for Small Business Marketing

by DG | Mar 22, 2020 | Online Marketing

Take your marketing efforts to the next level with these innovative ideas! We’re sharing the 11 best ideas for small business marketing in this post.

Updated March 22, 2020

Marketing is the bread and butter of every small business.

Unfortunately, many companies often overlook its importance, believing they don’t have the budget for it.

This is a massive mistake. There are many affordable ways to promote your business online and offline. Don’t just take our word for it. Check out 11 innovative ideas for a small business.

1. Become More Social

One of the most powerful marketing tools is also one of the most affordable marketing tools.

What are we talking about? Social media marketing, of course.

If you want to stand out in the market, you must aim to create small business accounts on social media. Don’t follow the norm. Focus on developing an online presence that’s full of personality. What could help you stand out from the crowd? Could it be unique competitions? Breathtaking photographs? Funny memes? Your tone of voice?

There are many different social media networks that can provide free marketing. For instance, create and maintain pages on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Google+ is also ideal for small business, as it provides special local features in Google, such as improved address listings and contact details.

Think about a USP, services, and the customer to create unique ideas for small businesses. Offer discounts, VIP offers, and competitions that will encourage engagement. Don’t forget to use your tone of voice to reinforce your brand.

2. An Active Blog

The one thing letting your marketing efforts down could be your website.

Your website should offer so much more than your contact details and a business summary. When used well, your website can become your company’s most valuable asset. Offer superb content to the customer with an active blog, which can provide many benefits to your brand. Aim to become a thought leader who provides reliable industry resources.

Some of the blog ideas for a small business you can write include:

Industry news stories
Company news
How-tos
Listicles
Opinion pieces

Don’t forget to incorporate high-quality, professional images within each article, too. What’s more, you should develop a unique tone of voice that complements your brand.

Blog content can also help turn a lead into a conversion. Integrate calls to actions to direct them to a product page, which can boost your profit margin. The more content you create, the more people will discover your website – which will improve sales. You can even promote your articles across social media to drive traffic to your site.

3. Paid Social Media

If you have next to no budget, organic social media leads can be an ideal solution. Yet, if you do have a little money to play with for a marketing budget, you should consider paid social media.

If you have some great ideas for a small business, it can be a great way to showcase them to a wider audience. The likes of Facebook Advertising, Instagram, and Twitter will allow you to pay for sponsored posts. You can set the budget (it could be as little as $10) and you can also target the post to your demographic. For instance, if your target market is 18-25-year-old females, you can target the age range and gender. This way, you don’t have to worry about the marketing message becoming lost in the crowd.

4. Online Reviews

Unfortunately, many businesses overlook the many benefits of online reviews.

One of the biggest reasons they may not use reviews is because they’re scared about what they may read. Yet, if you offer a great product and a great service, online reviews should be a no brainer. Forrester stated trust is the most critical aspect of brand development and maintenance.

Online reviews can encourage trust in a brand and products. Potential customers can gain an insight into your services by reading impartial reviews. If you have glowing reviews, they’re more likely to choose you over a competitor.

5. Respond to Reviews

Don’t set up an online review profile and think your job is done. You must aim to respond to every positive and negative review.

It will prove to potential customers that you’re responsive. It will also make previous customers feel valued. It will display your dedication to exceptional customer service. There will be a time when you receive a bad review. Every large or small business will receive one at some point. It’s how you handle the bad review that can encourage trust in your brand. Reviews will impact a buyer’s decision. If you apologize for a bad experience and aim to rectify the mistake, people will trust in your brand a little more.

6. Ask Your Happy Customers to Write a Review

Want to receive positive reviews from happy customers?

During the checkout process, ask them if they have had a positive experience at a hotel or store. If they offer a positive response, ask them politely to write an online review.

You can guarantee a happy customer will want to help you if they can. If you don’t want to ask the customer, consider making the request with a follow-up email.

7. Free Publicity

The best publicity is free publicity, right?

Does that sound easier said than done? Well, it doesn’t have to be. For instance, you can host a charity event that garners the attention from the press.

You could also invite the media to grand openings or event days, who may feature the event in print or online. What’s more, if you’re a thought leader, you should connect with editors or journalists. When an industry news story arises, you could become the voice on the subject of a feature or news article. It’s a great way to showcase your brand and it won’t cost you a penny to do so.

8. Create a Brochure

Are you looking for offline ideas for a small business?

Create a brochure that showcases your brand, product, and services. For instance, if you offer renovation services, you can create a stunning brochure to feature both in the hotel rooms and the lobby. You can also ask other local businesses to promote the brochures to their customers, too.

9. Get Involved in the Local Community

Looking for local ideas for small businesses? You need to get involved in the community. Think about the many ways you can connect with your neighbors whilst promoting a brand.

It’s a great method to generate a buzz around your business whilst helping a local area. For instance, you could sponsor a local sports team or event. What’s more, you could collaborate with other local brands to cross-promote your services. It’s a superb way to come up with new and exciting ideas for a small business. For instance, you could showcase each other’s products on social media channels. This will allow you to reach a whole new audience and customer base.

If working with other companies isn’t an option, consider taking part in craft or food fairs. You could also host a local fundraiser or get the whole team to volunteer on a community project.

10. Ask for Referrals

Sometimes the best way to receive referrals is by asking for them. If you have a satisfied customer, why not ask them to refer other businesses and entrepreneurs to you?

It’s important to remember that people often enjoy helping other people. For instance, if a happy client no longer needs your services, ask for them to join you for a final meeting. Here you can cross the t’s and dot the eyes, and it’s also an excellent opportunity to ask for a referral. The worst they can say is “no” – so what do you have to lose? It could turn out to be one of the most profitable ideas for a small business on this list.

11. Call-to-Action Ideas for a Small Business

It’s believed more than half of website visitors abandon a web page in less than 15 seconds.

If you have a low conversion rate, this could be the reason why – so take a look at your bounce rate. One of the best ways to boost conversions and capture attention is with a call-to-action. It’s a brilliant way to encourage a potential customer to take action on your site. It instantly tells a customer what the page is about and how they can order a product or service.

The best call-to-actions are clear and simple and should encourage instant action.

For instance, the following words work well in a call-to-action:

Start
Learn
Discover
Free
Build
Stop
Save
Try

It might be the difference between them buying with you or losing them to a competitor. For this reason, it could be one of the best conversion ideas for a small business.

Conclusion

Some or all the ideas for a small business can help propel your company to a new range of customers.

You don’t have to be a big company with a large marketing team to become the competition. It’s important to look for ideas and marketing tools to help you affordably boost your reach. As a result, you could receive improved engagement and conversions.

The goal is to be as creative as possible. A little hard work will also help you stand out from both your large and small rivals.

Do you want to learn more about how we can help your business grow? Click here to contact us to get started with some marketing ideas for your small business. We were selected as one of the Top Small Business Web Design Companies. See the designrush agency listings.