2020 has shown that many businesses are struggling to thrive in order to attract as many customers as they can. Some of them do free marketing and others do paid ads. The only thing that matters, whatever the business choice, is that they must produce profits from it.
Free Marketing
- Social Media - Get your customer to engage with post & leave good reviews about your pages
- Google My Business - Get your business listed to the top in google maps & google search. A review from the customer & post about your business may help another potential customer to reach you.
- Feedbacks - Get a genuine feedbacks for your customer by providing links to your Facebook page or Google My Business profile. Don't take a screenshot of the feedback, instead make them leave their review on your business profile
- Search Engine Optimization - building online authority through SEO takes time, but for long term business, it will return a huge investment and direct traffic through the website.
Paid Marketing
- Social Media Ads - With the power of online marketing and paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and more, targeting the right audience will diversify your message and produce results.
- Google Ads - Target your audience when they're looking for your products/services. Google Ads can skyrocket your business, on average, businesses earn $2 on every $1 spent on Google Ads
- Search Engine Optimization - Finding the right keywords to win at the SEO game isn’t easy and hiring a marketing firm will give your company the advantage it needs to be noticed online.
Which one should I focus on?
Well, depending on which business you are in, I would say that most businesses need both to thrive. There's a moment when you're ready to boost your business with paid advertising, and you will need to focus on free marketing. Yeah, business wants to reduce costs, right? To ensure that they earn an optimal profit.
It's important to update your social media so that consumer/customer know that your business still exists, you can see the analytics of the interest of your audience as they interact with your business profile. From this, the database you receive can be exported to make low-cost advertising and still produce high-impact results.
Both methods can help you meet its objectives, but you do need to set it up. Make sure your website, along with your social media, is up to date. Since marketing is the core of the business, you will also get committed clients who will pay you and help grow your business, not a total stranger who comes from nowhere.