by Umar Farouk Kabir | Nov 15, 2021 | Business & Finance
For any business to succeed, regardless of its scale, it needs publicity. Publicity is the most effective tool in bringing your business to the awareness of the public. The more people are aware of your products, the higher your chances of selling the said products. No matter the type of business you’re in, there is always an angle in publicity that you can capitalize on.
Do you want to know what’s better than publicity? Free Publicity! In this article, you will learn about the best ways to get free publicity for your business.
9 Best Ways to Get Free Publicity for Your Business
1. Have Good and Efficient Services
They say that the best free publicity you can get for your business is your customers’ referrals. When you sell top-quality products or provide top-notch services, your customers are sure to spread the word. Be it through social media or privately, one thing you can count on is that your business will develop some clout in no time. Put in the work and let your products do the talking for you.
Social media these days is so much more than a Hotspot for gossip. It is a compelling tool for those that know how to utilize it. You have to be creative enough to post your products and services on social media channels. Nearly everyone is on one social media and sure enough, a word about your business will spread.
Take Facebook for example. Facebook has roughly about 2.9 billion active users. All you need to do is create a page about your business and keep posting. If Facebook isn’t your thing, you have Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Whatsapp Business at your disposal.
You can learn how to market your business online.
One of the quickest ways to get the attention of the masses is to offer free products. For you to gather enough clout, you’ll need to use your social media. Make posts about giveaways. Before long, people will start talking, and of course, that’s what you want.
For instance, go on Twitter and organize a little fun competition with your product as the prize for whoever wins.
It’s Twitter, done correctly, it’ll blow up overnight.
4. Create a Website for Your Products and/or Services
Another way of getting free publicity for your business is by having a website dedicated to it. By doing so, you have successfully brought your business online.
Next is to use your social media channels to share links to your website so people all around can see what you have to offer. The more people visit your website, the higher the chances of getting customers interested in your products and services.
Another thing you have to be aware of is SEO. SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. If you utilize this properly, you’ll generate a good amount of traffic. The higher the traffic, the higher the number of audiences.
5. Publish Customer Reviews on Your Website
They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Well, posting good reviews on your website is certainly good publicity.
Publishing customer reviews will help you get free publicity as potential customers read these reviews, and it reassures them about the quality of your products or services.
When they buy your product or service and enjoy it, they will in turn give you a good review and refer you to others.
6. Engage in Local Charity Events
Local charity events are another excellent way of generating free publicity for your business. Imagine a scenario where you partake in a local charity wearing a shirt advertising your business, maybe even go as far as providing free products.
This will not only improve your standing with the community, but it’ll also raise awareness to the general masses about your business.
7. Utilize Video Marketing
Video Marketing is designed to increase audience interaction through social activity around the video. It is a very effective tool in getting free publicity for your business.
In fact, 61% of marketers view this type of marketing as “very important”.
Some types of Video Marketing that could help boost your ratings and help you gain free publicity include;
Educational Videos
This video as the name implies helps to enlighten the customers about something new. The effect this has goes beyond free publicity. It builds trust between you and your customers as it portrays you as someone who is an expert in your field.
Tutorial Videos
I bet you’ve seen a ton of tutorial videos on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. A tutorial video is a great way to show off your products and bands while showing them how to go about using them.
Product Launch Videos
You can choose to make product launch videos when launching your new products. The video helps to create hype and get people talking.
Here, you have to enlighten people about why they should buy your products. Make it look as if it’s the most natural and common-sense thing to do. Customers love a confident seller.
Whether it’s a YouTube video with numerous views or a creative video on Twitter with hundreds or thousands of retweets, a viral video guarantees your business publicity a massive boost. Time to strap on that director’s cap and go “lights, camera, action!”.
8. Write Articles About Your business
Another strategy employed for getting free publicity is by writing articles. Write a great article about your products and services. Highlight all the strong points about your product, what makes it unique, and why people should buy it.
Ensure your article isn’t too wordy or boring. The aim is to capture the attention of the readers, not to make them fall asleep. Write a good article and drop the link on your business’s social media pages and website for people to access it.
9. Get Featured by Popular Users or Platforms
Another fantastic way of getting free publicity for your business is getting featured. Whether you own a corporation or small business, or solo practice, what you want is to stand out against the competition as the better option.
What makes your business different could be your ticket to ‘clout-dom’, a unique aspect of your service, or a novel product.
You may have friends that have huge social media accounts. Ask them to feature your products there once in a while. There are a couple of Instagram and Twitter handles to feature entrepreneurs based on how hot their products are. So, start taking Instagram-worthy pictures and get to posting. You never know, you might be one picture away from getting featured on a large platform.
Conclusion
The idea of free publicity for business is often brushed off because it’s criminal to even think good things come for free. The reality is, a lot of good things out there are free and these tips are a great example of that.
With these free ideas, you would be able to get publicity without spending a single kobo for it.
It is advisable to try all of them, and enjoy a good amount of traffic while you grow your brand.
For more help on how to grow your business into a successful venture, check out Northpad Nigeria for business and finance articles.
I hope you find this piece worthwhile. If you do, kindly leave a comment in the comments section below. Thank you.
by Michelle Anama Abari | Sep 15, 2021 | Business & Finance
Social Media provides targeting capability, as well as reach and scale, at a lower cost than almost all other marketing channels. This makes it the best way to market your products online. People are on social media all day, every day. Every business owner, who can get customers who will buy his products regularly, is what makes his work complete which makes online marketing the best way to sell your products.
The best ways to market your business online may include ways like;
How to Sell Your Products Online
Selecting an online platform that works for your business is one way to market your products online. There are many social media platforms and websites which are on the internet but finding the one online platform which works for you is a sure way to market online.
Finding the best platform for your business is essential. This is because that’s where your money is and also where you get your customers. So, finding a platform that works effectively for you is a good way to market your products online.
2. Sending Free Samples to Influencers Is A Good Way to Market Your Business Online
In Nigeria, the internet is packed with social media influencers, influential bloggers, journalists, entrepreneurs, and even vloggers from a wide range of industries and niches. So, being in contact with these people is also a sure way to build and sell your products online.
Contacting social media influencers with a good amount of audience is a way to market online. This is because, with their high amount of followers, you can get a good amount of audience. More so, people who are interested in your products can contact you to do business with them.
3. Network on Social Media Groups
Online discussion forums and social media groups are great places to share industry tips and advice, answer questions, and acquire a customer or two.
You can use Google or Facebook to find active forums and groups that directly relate to your niche. When posting, ensure you are not breaking any rules when you promote your brand or products.
4. Experimenting With Google Ads Is Also a Good Way to Market Your Product Online
Google Ads is Google’s hugely popular pay-per-click advertising network that allows online retailers or small businesses to place advertisements on nearly every Google search results page, YouTube video, and partner website.
The beauty of Google Ads lies in its speed and massive reach. Because a lot of people use Google every minute of the day, it is a good way and platform to sell your products and reach a large targeted audience.
5. Have a Good Customer Service
This cannot be stressed enough. The key to having good sales especially online is having a good diplomatic and polite conversation with your customers.
A lot of small businesses keep wondering why their business is not booming and making sales. Well, the answer to that is your customer service. If you want to sell your products online especially in Nigeria, you have to have good communication skills and your customer service should be top-notch. Learn to build a loyal and healthy relationship with customers for future patronage and referrals.
6. Selling the Benefits Not the Feature of Your Product Is another Way to Market Your Products Online
Paint a beneficial picture of your products to your consumers. A lot of upcoming entrepreneurs fall into this category, not knowing the benefits of their products. Most just post without knowing what their marketing is all about.
Small business owners fail to realize and understand that people usually research products before purchasing those products. All they need from you is a tangible reason to buy that product from you, which is where selling the benefits of that product comes in. Do not sell what your customers already know rather, dive deeper into your products and find benefits of that products and find ways it helps solve consumers’ problems.
7. Share the Load with Affiliate Marketers
Affiliate Marketing is a type of marketing where there is a party who gets his profit by helping companies market their products to a larger audience. These affiliate marketers do not have to have a huge fan base or followers on all social media, they know the products and who to sell them to.
So, another good way to sell your products online is by sending some of your products to an affiliate marketer who knows what he or she is doing. This is another way to sell your products online for free because most at times, these affiliate marketers add their profit on the prices of the goods and they are paid instantly after you get your customers.
8. Sell a Wide Range of Products
How will you know what moves best if you do not give your customers variety? Having a wide range of products will give you a better edge out there, plus, you give the impression that you are the go-to person for all your customer needs.
Having varieties of products is very essential if you want to sell well online. Be limitless, but do not overdo it.
Conclusion
It will be sad to know that you wasted all your funds and data on digital marketing just to come out unproductive. This is when giving up becomes quite understandable.
But then, with some of the points above, you will be sure to gain a good audience online. You could also get a good amount of profit with these best ways to market your products online in Nigeria and also out of Nigeria.
by Johnson Temiloluwa | Mar 21, 2021 | Business & Finance
Importation sounds like something that requires a considerable amount of money to start. In recent times, you do not need so much money to start a mini importation business as it is one you can start with 10k or less in Nigeria.
Have you been thinking of starting a small-scale importation business in Nigeria? This is for you and I’ll be your tour guide. I’ll be taking you through the steps and hows. But first…
How Does Mini Importation Business Work?
Importation is a long-standing industry that has a tremendous impact on the lives of people and the economy of the country. Mini importation business is a small-scale business that involves buying goods from abroad (mostly China or other countries) at a wholesale price (mostly in bulk) and selling in Nigeria with your profits added.
These tools are things that you have access to, making it even easier to start up the mini importation business and start cashing out on time. They include:
A smartphone or personal computer
Good internet connection
A valid email address
A valid ATM card (visa or MasterCard)
An easily accessible residential or physical address
A minimum of 10k in your bank account.
How to Start a Small Importation Business
1. Decide on a Niche for Your Products
An importer should first know what they want to import, this is crucial. You can decide to import several things but deciding beforehand builds organization.
Several products can be decided on. You could even do more than one niche with a bulkier capital. This includes; clothes, accessories, gadgets, home appliances, shoes, furniture, etc.
2. Search for Products
If you have decided on the niche you want to delve into, you search for the kind of products you intend to sell. Where?
This is where your smartphone or pc comes in handy, while connected to a good internet connection, you can get access to online retail stores like Amazon, AliExpress, Alibaba, and so on, just make good use of your device in searching. The one who seeks finds.
3. Find a Supplier(s)
This is an essential step as one can easily get duped if connected to a fraudster. Also, making sure your products are quality as to do with the kind of supplier you are dealing with. So, watch.
How do you do this?
There is a section in online stores that shows reviews, ratings, and recommendations, watch this and make the best decision.
4. Buy Your Products
This is also one of the ways to start small importation business in Nigeria. After finding a quality supplier, connect with the supplier and buy your products. How?
The good news is, paying for your products is not as stressful as it used to be. Here is when your ATM card (visa or MasterCard) comes to play. The process is seamless and quite straightforward. Just ensure your bank account is funded with the amount of money you will be needing to get the products so it goes through. Doing this is your sure way of knowing your products will be shipped to you.
Now, you have paid for your goods and you are waiting for them to be shipped to you. How?
There are two ways they can be delivered:
Free Shipping
This is a long process that takes 20-30 days to get your goods delivered. You won’t be paying any money to have your goods delivered to you if you choose this.
Premium or Express Shipping
This is a short process that involves using external logistics companies to deliver your goods and it takes 2-3 days. If you are choosing this, you should calculate the cost also with your goods.
The two processes will need your valid and accessible physical address as this is where your goods will be delivered to. You will be contacted to ensure your products gets to where you are.
What Do You Do Next?
Market your goods however you want to. Be tactical and expressive. Show the value of your products and advertise them; you can do this with the internet also. At this point that you are, selling your goods is all that matters as it is what brings the profit.
After the advertisement has been done, sell to customers.
How Do You Advertise Your Products?
Talking about your business does the job of the advertisement but, placing it on the internet aids the speed and number of audience it gets to. Online Stores like Konga and Jumia can be used for this.
Also, sell to your friends and family members and ask that they refer you. Your product should speak for itself.
How Do You Deliver to Your Buyers?
There are reliable courier agents here in Nigeria that deliver fast and carefully. You just need to find one and start selling.
Conclusion
Mini importation business is a sure way of getting profits. It is even done in the comfort of your home and good internet. Being diligent with the processes and business also pays.
I liked being your tour guide on how to start a small importation business in Nigeria, go make profits.
