11 Marketing Hacks to Boost Your Business

You know you can do more to get your business off the ground and you still don’t know for sure what. There was no shortage of those who came offering you the gold and the Moor, it seemed wonderful and still did not give you results. A part of you knows that there are simple things that can be done with little money but you do not know which ones. Here are the 11 marketing hacks for you to start marketing your business.

1. Choose your strong social network

Everyone tells you that you must have a presence on all networks or at least on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. There are even those who tell you when, where and how often to post, but we have seen that many startups and businesses on the rise usually have a strong social network.

Identify yours: The one that gains the most followers or in which it is easier to publish and interact with your customers. They may love the live streams or photos you share on Facebook, real-time interaction on Twitter, your fans on Pinterest to love your product catalog, or you may go for a young audience via Snapchat.

Identify the network that generates the most exposure and customers. Get used to it and that’s a good start to your social media strategy.

2. Connect with others like you

Known as Networking, it’s what good merchants and businessmen have done all along: seek to create connections. Not everyone is going to be your customers or suppliers, but you can share ideas, seek feedback and even generate alliances that will serve you in the future.

How to get started? Identify your sector or industry and look for activities, from those advertised on Facebook to those of specialized portals. Remember that Entrepreneur holds several events a year that will allow you to meet not only success stories, but people like you in search of growth.

3. Do you have a phone? Make videos

Many times we do not notice the wonderful machines we have in our pockets: smartphones. Many look at price, size or brand, but few at profits. The videos you can take with your phone, equipped with high definition and enhanced sound, can be options for your business.

Whether it’s through a live stream via Facebook, a question and answer session on Periscope, small segments via Snapchat or Instagram and even a video blog on Youtube, you can show your products, your place, answer frequently asked questions from your customers or even communicate offers. In fact, in this post we pass you some ideas.

4. Write

“But, I’ve never been a good writer, that’s why we don’t dare with that blog,” was the excuse that broke records last year among my acquaintances: since I’m not good, we don’t write.

The truth is that all talents are perfected over time. Now ask yourself: who knows better about your business better than you? Who can tell what they do with more commitment and passion than you?

5. Don’t read your e-newsletters? How about physicists?

They tell you to send newsletter emails to all your customers and contacts, but you don’t get a response. If you use a tool like Mailchimp that lets you know how many opened the email or how many decide not to receive your emails, the situation doesn’t look any better.

Think a little outside the box: what would be better for your customers? Maybe a card, brochure, or newsletter short enough to read in the bathroom or waiting room of an office can work. The important thing is that you give them valuable information to take advantage of those 6 seconds of attention they give you before that paper ends up in the trash.

6. Tell stories instead of sales pitches

Do you remember the last time a salesperson came to tell you the benefits of their product and promotion? They are rarely remembered because you develop that instinct to run away, but do you remember a friend who told you how they helped him for the credit of his car, where he found the ideal Christmas gift or some item that he loved in the supermarket?

Stories are easier to tell and retain because we associate products and services with people and put benefits in terms we can relate to. Who didn’t have to go through looking for a taxi in the rain and not find it until Uber helped them with that problem? Who hasn’t heard a hand-asked story in which the atmosphere of the restaurant was key to the moment?

Don’t count benefits. Tell stories and let people get hooked on them.

7. No flyers: show what you do

Have you had to be given a steering wheel on the street, look for where to throw it and when you find a boat nearby you see it full of the same flyers? Before it was useful to give papers for people to read on the way, but now that there are phones to inform themselves, what ways are there?

Make yourself known, not only with video, but in more creative ways: coupons, discounts on the first visit, a glass of wine, a gift on the first purchase, tastings or free samples, promotions, home delivery … imagine what you can give as an extra to that person who is not yet your customer and how to continue falling in love with your current customers so that, in addition to continuing to buy what you offer, they recommend you.

8. Do you have a cell phone? Record podcast

A podcast is an audio recording, more like radio shows, that you can record and upload to the network for others to listen to. There you only have your voice and what you count to attract someone who can hear you in the office, in the car back from work or on a walk to school.

Before, it was difficult not only to record them, but to upload them. Now, with phone recorders that offer acceptable quality and platforms like Soundcloud or Ivoox that automatically upload your podcasts to iTunes but can also be listened to through an App or through Twitter and Facebook, getting to know you has never been easier.

Tip: It is more fun when it is more than one person, because conversations are usually more enriching with the exchange of ideas. Even the topics of the blog can work for you also for the podcast.

9. Seek to be seen: stay present

Don’t even the flies stop in your place? Maybe it’s time to evaluate your location. Is it attractive to customers? If you can’t easily see it on the street, you have to evaluate how to solve that. Many great ideas are lost because of poor localization. Or simply because they are not seen.

We like to think about Food Trucks and the way they dealt with this: they upload their location and samples of their products on social networks constantly. So you can make creative ways to be seen.

Whether it’s uploading your catalog to Instagram or Pinterest, making shouts on the street, leaving coupons to neighbors, giving cards in stationery stores near schools, making memes and viral content that makes people locate you, creativity is the limit. If you can’t think of anything, ask for advice from those around you.

10. Work on your online reputation

Have you already searched on Google? See what you find from your business. Does your store appear on Google Maps? You would be surprised by what is commented on social networks, if they left any recommendation or complaint of your business on Foursquare, you can even know if there is any news of your business.

If, on the other hand, nothing appears, it is a good time to start. Create a Google+ account to be easier to find by the search engine. If you have reporter friends, give them a sample of your product to recommend you with their editor or come out in a note, Add your business and its location on Facebook and Swarm. If you change locations, remember to update yourself on maps.

What’s more, we would recommend that if you are going to pay for advertising, it is better to invest that so that you are found in Google than to pay for flyers. Now, if you want to do it in a more structured way, here is a detailed guide.

11. Create a graphic identity

Maybe we should have started with this, but many take it for granted or just don’t consider it when it should be the most important thing for people to recognize you. After all, remember that most of the stimuli we receive a day enter through the eyes.

Does your business have a logo? If so, put it to the test: ask customers, friends, and random people what they think and use that feedback. You may require a designer to support you with the creation of a new logo.

Remember that the logo is the face of your business: It must appear on your business cards, it will be the profile image on your social networks, it will be on the first slide of your sales presentation and on your website or online store, so try to create an easy-to-remember logo.