Over the past few weeks, we have been focusing heavily on the importance of a website for small businesses. Planning is key to a successful website so don’t rush it, but don’t forget about marketing your business in the meantime.
Build your identity
While you might not have an actual website presence, you can still secure your brand and start leveraging it on print resources such as business cards through VistaPrint, flyers, and advertisements. Organizations such as Intuit offer domain name registration services and provide additional resources to get your online “footprint” established when you are ready.
Advertise through some traditional print publications
Leveraging resources such as local newsletters can be a cost efficient way to promote your business and build awareness of your products and services within your local community. These can be homeowner associations or other organizations that publish monthly or even quarterly communications and are typically read more thoroughly than general newspapers. Even better, a lot of these are now going online through services like MailChimp that offers a simple way to track readership and statistics.
Get listed in online directories
Consumers are most likely not buying a newspaper or sifting through a heavy yellow pages phone book, they are going online and searching for what they need. Sites such as Yelp, MerchantCircle, Google Local Business Center, Angie’s List, Yahoo! Local, YellowPages.com, SearchLocal, and SuperPages offer online directory services that allow businesses to create a free listing. Inaddition to listing your businesses details at no cost, this is a great resource for your customers to provide testimonials, feedback and reviews about your business.
In a nutshell, you don’t have to have a website to start marketing your business. Take advantage of the free services and low cost options to promote your brand and be found, online!