Starting a business is one of the hardest things you’ll likely ever do; starting a business in London is even harder.
If the monolithic rent prices don’t crush you, the competition will. Standing out from competitors is one of the most important actions to take to have any hope of your business surviving. Generally, the way to do that is through marketing.
Conventionally, this refers to practices like handing out flyers, setting up billboards, deploying Facebook ads and using word-of-mouth tactics. And while these methods can be effective, most of them require at least a hefty amount of money and investment to have any real impact. For a small business, this can strangle their finances. However, this doesn’t mean you’re out of options. We’ll discuss a number of ways that small businesses can make themselves known even in the shade of titanic competitors.
Local listings
We’re assuming that your business already has a website – it’s a prerequisite for any business looking to establish a foothold in a digital world after all – therefore, making use of these marketing tools, particularly one named List Local, is one of the easiest and best ways to help regional customers discover you. Essentially, it means you’ll be adding your business to a business directory and this includes making it discoverable on important listings such as Google Maps and other search engines. This, in turn, will allow you to connect directly with your customers, opening channels of communication for strong business relationships.
Guerrilla marketing
For creatives who have a small budget for advertising, guerrilla marketing is your go-to strategy. It involves thinking outside the box to promote your product or services in unconventional ways with the intention of creating an energetic and imaginative advertisement that sticks with people for longer. It’s less about bombarding the public with an ad over and over again and more about utilising a condensed and clever solution that is instantly more memorable. Check out some of the best examples here.
Company blogging
Many small businesses ignore this, but starting a blog is a great way of getting noticed on search engines as well as drawing in customers with valuable information. A blog gives you a platform to provide information about the products or services that your business offers, giving customers insights and value that’s likely to make them rank your business more favourably. However, it’s important that you don’t just throw up any old scribblings. The content of your blog should always be informative and of high quality; if it’s not adding value to your customers and is purely promotional, it’ll likely be seen as spam by both Google and prospective readers.
