For business owners, the ways that you can promote your business and attract attention have changed dramatically in the past decade.

By far, the most significant change has been in digital ad spending. A research report expects U.S. internet ad spending to increase 12.4 percent in 2020 to over $135 billion, which accounts for 53 percent of ad spending. This means more than half of all spending on advertising has now moved to online mediums.

And with COVID-19 and the current lockdowns, the world is much more focused online, and the ability to grab more online attention from your business has increased. Now is a great time to capitalize on the growing trends and to advertise your business. Content marketing, video marketing, and social media marketing can all be used as part of your business promotion.

5 P’s of marketing

The 5 P’s of Marketing – Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People – are key marketing elements used to position a business strategically. The 5 P’s of Marketing, also known as the marketing mix, are variables that managers and owners control to satisfy customers in their target market, add value to their business, and help differentiate their business from competitors

Product

Product refers to the products and services offered by a business. Product decisions include function, packaging, appearance, warranty, quality, etc. Customers need to understand the features, advantages, and benefits that can be enjoyed by buying goods or services. When thinking about a product, consider the key features, benefits, and the needs and wants of customers

Price

Price refers to the pricing strategy for products and services and how it will affect customers. Pricing decisions do not include just the selling price, but also discounts, payment arrangements, credit terms, and any price-matching services offered. When determining a pricing strategy, it is important to consider the business’s position in the current marketplace. For example, if the business is advertised as a high-quality provider of mechanical equipment, the product pricing should reflect that.

Promotion

Promotion refers to the activities that make the business more known to consumers. It includes items such as sponsorships, advertising, and public relations activities. Since promotion costs can be substantial, it is essential to conduct a break-even analysis when making promotion decisions. It is important to understand the value of a customer and whether it is worth conducting promotions to acquire them.

Place

Place refers to where the product/service of the business is seen, made, sold, or distributed. In essence, place decisions are associated with distribution channels and ways of getting the product to targeted key customers. It is important to consider how accessible the product or service is and ensure that customers can easily find you. The product or service must be available to customers at the right time, at the right place, and in the right quantity. For example, a business may want to provide their products over an e-commerce site, at a retail store, or through a third-party distributor.

People

People refer to the staff, salespeople, and those who work for the business. Peoples decisions are usually centered around customer service – how do you want your employees to be perceived by customers?

wAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS IN 2021

Below is a list of various popular ways to promote your business in todays marketing world. Not all methods will pertain to your industry or business, but most of these methods are used in combination with each other to produce the best consumer response.

Pay Per Click
One of the huge benefits of pay per click advertising is the fact that you only pay for what consumers click on. Whether you are a larger or small business, you can tap into the power of the search engine for a small cost. The ability to target and test specific markets and to run niche campaigns means that buyer interest is substantial. It’s a great low cost marketing strategy and an effective way to attract prospective customers. Perhaps the only downside is the competition from other companies in the same industry. Due to the ease of access to Google Ads, most popular markets have several advertisers vying for the top spot.
Social Media Ads
Advertising is the financial engine that drives all social media. The world has become used to the idea of seeing ads in their social media feed. Many people will skip past them, but they still see them, which leads to familiarity. With the invention of tools such as Facebook leads forms, the social media platform has increased the ways that advertisers can reach their market. Social media is great for both brand awareness and business promotion. There are currently 8 different ways to advertise your business on Facebook, which are worth testing out.
Email Marketing
Depending upon your market, sending emails to consumers can still be a viable option. Especially when included as part of a broader strategy, email campaigns can help to keep your products and services top of mind for your consumers.
Press Releases
Every time your business does something newsworthy, it is very easy to send out a press release to your local and regional news outlets. PR is a powerful media tool to use to help generate publicity. Having free distribution through trusted news channels means more people see it and will be likely to engage wit. There are several websites that you can use for your press releases, such as PRLog and 24/7 Press Release.
Podcast Ads
With the rise in popularity of podcasts during the past ten years, there are a lot of opportunities for advertisers to tap into an interested audience. Podcast advertisers are often called ‘sponsors’ as they allow the podcasters to stay in business. As a trade-off for the sponsorship, there is typically an ad read (similar to the radio) that the podcast host delivers on each episode. The considerable benefit of advertising on podcasts is that the audience has high trust with the person reading the promotion. Most listeners know that the podcaster will not advertise products or services that don’t suit their audience.
Referrals
One of the easiest ways to grow your business leads is to ask those who you know for help. Contact friends, acquaintances, former employers, nonprofit organizations, schools and colleges, and even other businesses that have customers who may need your services. Explain to them know you are in business and ask if they can use your services, or if they can suggest people who need what you sell. This might seem like an overly simplified approach, but many of the best business deals happen as a result of someone knowing somebody who needs your services.
Location-Based Offers
Every business that wants to be found online should create a Google My Business page to help grow its visibility. The pages are free and allow local searchers to find a business near to them. According to research from Think With Google, 75 percent of people who find local, helpful information in search results are more likely to visit the physical stores. As well as offering information, Google now allows Offers to be added to your listing. Typically, these are savings or incentives to encourage people to try your business. If a person is already searching for a business like yours in their local area, a small coupon with an offer might be enough to get them to call or visit.
Print Media / Direct Mail
When it comes to direct mail (advertisements sent to a mailbox), the USPS reports that 42.2% of direct mail recipients either read or scan the mail they get. Also, consumers are very likely to visit a website after discovering a product in a catalog.
Pros: Great for local business, can help build brand recognition over time
Cons: Difficult to track results directly, may need several campaigns to show results

DIGITAL MARKETING

So far, the digital marketing trends for 2021 seem to revolve around two distinct, but almost contradictory concepts. First is a general humanization, addressing real issues and tailoring content to suit the individual (as opposed to mass appeal) for more personal engagement. Second is a much more mechanical and technical optimization, fine-tuning the behind-the-scenes areas like search engine optimization (SEO) and how you structure campaigns—the nitty-gritty that your satisfied customers don’t see.

Below, we’ll cover some of the hottest digital marketing trends of 2021, to give you a head-start over your competition. Take these marketing trends to heart and consider them when outlining your own digital marketing strategy for the new year.

Snippets & Zero Click Searches

For many, many years, the goal of search engine optimization (SEO) has been to get your listing in the “position number one” spot of search results. Now, going into 2021, the end-goal is continuing to shift to more search engine optimization (SEO) visibility in “position zero.”

Position zero refers to Google’s “featured snippet”, and 2021 search engine optimization (SEO) marketing trends are prioritizing it above all else. The featured snippet works differently than other search results entries—for one thing, it’s separated by a small box and located at the top. More importantly, it also displays extra, relevant information with the attempt at answering the user’s question without them needed to click on it, prompting the nickname “no-click search.”

Although it sounds counter-intuitive to forego someone clicking on your link, the recognition you get as a thought-leader outweighs a single click/visit. Moreover, featured snippets are sometimes read aloud with Google Assistant voice searches. If you’re going to target a featured snippet yourself, there’s a few things to know. For starters, featured snippets are mostly for long-tail keyword phrases like questions (such as “how to design a logo”). They come in different forms, from step-by-step lists to straight-up definitions to even videos (and more), so match your content with the appropriate format.

In the content itself, make sure you answer the keyword question clearly and succinctly, preferably with bulleted lists or a table structure

Image and Video for Visual Searches

You already know you can search for images and videos by typing in keywords, but did you know you can also submit existing images for a search, or even take original photos and search for context? As more users discover these visual search techniques, it changes the overall landscape of search engine optimization (SEO) in general.

To capitalize on the increased amount of visual searches, you want to make sure your image and video SEO campaigns are in tip-top shape. For starters, apply the basics:

always include alt text in your image descriptions
add images to your sitemap or create a dedicated image sitemap
include your target SEO keywords in the file name of your image
use top-quality images and videos, including HD

Moreover, familiarize yourself with Google Lens, especially if you’re an ecommerce brand. Handle your SEO techniques right, and you can take traffic away from competitors when shoppers conduct picture searches for products or barcodes.

Interactive Content

Here’s a trend that’s technically been around for awhile, but it’s just now being recognized as a best practice. Interactive content doesn’t just promote more engagement, it also improves the user’s enjoyment.

Interactive content like quizzes, open-ended questions, surveys, contests, giveaways, polls, calculator widgets, etc., can do wonders for your brand. At the very least, they increase the length of time users engage with you, which helps your standing in algorithm-based searches and feeds. But more importantly, people want to be engaged, so interactive content almost always improves your user experience.

Interactive content is part of the greater trend towards personalization; by allowing the users to answer for themselves or have their opinion heard, they feel a more personal connection to the brand. Don’t forget it can also be used to collect data on user preferences, such as for product or site improvements.

Proven Marketing Trends

Not all of the best digital marketing trends of 2021 are from 2021. Plenty of marketing trends from last year or the year before are still going strong, and will continue to be game changers throughout the next year as well. And if you still haven’t implemented them yet, there’s more urgency now than ever before.

Shoppable Posts: social media posts that directly connect users to product checkout tend to increase conversions by streamlining the payment process. See if you’re eligible for Checkout on Instagram.
Gen Z Marketing: last year saw the eldest of Gen Z turning 18 and entering the workforce. If you want to infiltrate this young market, first understand the best practices for marketing to Gen Z.
Microinfluencers: as opposed to premier influencers, microinfluencers are more like average people who have a larger-than-average social media follower. If you attract enough of them, typically through social media contests and giveaways, you can achieve the same numbers as top-level influencers at a fraction of the cost and effort.
Voice Search SEO: since voice assistants first hit market a few years ago, voice searches have been upending traditional SEO tactics—people don’t use the same keywords when they talk as when they type! Try altering your SEO strategy to incorporate speech keywords

PROMOTE ONLINE FOR FREE

Before the Internet, small businesses only had a few ways to market their products cheaply, through methods like printing out fliers or sponsoring little local events. Now there are all kinds of opportunities out there on the Web—you just need to know where to look.

Use the three big local listing services
Registering your business with Google Places allows it to be found more easily on Google searches and it shows up on Google Maps. All you have to do is fill out the form and register, then get your business verified through their confirmation process, which can be done either with a phone call or snail mail. Yahoo! also has a big database of businesses called Yahoo! Local. It's free and is certainly worth the few minutes it takes to set up. Microsoft's Bing has a similar service that's easy to sign up for.
Embrace social media
Social media isn't just a tool to gain exposure—it has now become a necessary time investment for every business to make. You can tie in ads and offers on your Facebook page and have a direct channel with your customers on Twitter. Networking on LinkedIn—both at the personal and company level—can be another way to help your startup.
Start a blog
A blog not only helps your company get its name out through followers but is a way to connect with your consumers more directly. But remember that one of the major keys of blogging is to keep your stream updated as frequently as you can. A dormant, abandoned blog is worth nothing.
Put up multimedia on YouTube and Flickr
YouTube provides a free way to distribute creative promotional videos, but in order to succeed you must put up content that people want to view and are relevant to your business—a simple ad will not work. A Flickr profile can also help by giving you one place to compile all the photos for your business, and allows you to link back to your website.
SEO your company website
Search engine optimization cannot be underestimated in the world of constant Googling. Pick up a book or head over to an online how-to-guide on SEO and make sure your site is primed for performance on search engines.
Press releases
Every time your business does something newsworthy, don't hesitate to shoot off a press release—maybe folks will pick up on it. They're a powerful media tool to use to help generate publicity, and having free distribution of them is a bonus. There are dozens of websites out there that you can use for your press releases, such as PRLog and 24/7 Press Release.
Join a relevant online community and contribute
Every niche has communities online that you can get involved in. But just signing up for a forum and posting every once in a while about your business isn't beneficial for anyone, and will likely just annoy people. Actively contribute and build a rapport with the community, while keeping your business out of it. Passively promote your business by putting a link in your signature or mentioning it only when the context is appropriate.

STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

There is no magic bullet for marketing your small business, but the goal is to connect your business’s value to the right customer base. This is a simple concept but can take you on multiple paths that don’t always get the coverage you are looking for. Before diving into the abyss, ask yourself some questions like:

What demographics make up your customer base?
Where do they live?
How do they search for products in your industry/niche?
Who and what do they listen to when making decisions relative to your product?

The answers to these questions will help determine which marketing strategies will be viable and relative to your business.

Facebook Advertising

Millions of small to medium sized business advertise on Facebook due to how inexpensive and effective it is to market to virtually any audience. Facebook ads excel at advanced targeting, allowing you to target a specific audience based on location, interest, age, sex, online behavior, and many other factors. Along with its broad reach to your customers, it is very easy to create with a solid headline, a bit of descriptive working, and image and a link.

The Facebook Ads Manager also makes it fairly simple to run and test multiple ad sets which help with honing in on a winning formula and reach your profitability without needing advanced technical expertise.

Google My Business

If you run a local business that is targeting local clients, the most powerful strategy available to you is Google My Business (GMB). Ranking your business listing is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business. GMB combines all of the different platforms into one central place providing your customers with access to your Google+ profile, Google Maps, and Google reviews. If you have a unique brand name, you can even get a large display showing an image, map and pictures to help with visual marketing which increases the amount of views or clicks for your business.

Google Adwords

There are more than 40,000 search queries on Google every second. No other advertising method has the potential to get your business before that many pairs of eyes. Google Adwords is sort of the godfather of online marketing channels as it has been around a long time. It’s competitive. It’s expensive. And if you know what you’re doing, it can work very, very well for you. Despite being a paid channel, Adwords’ goal is still to deliver relevant search results to users, and as a result, it will be less expensive for you when you are utilizing proper on-page SEO. Google assigns a quality score to your ad, which is dependent on CTR (Click Through Rate), relevance and the landing page your ad sends traffic to. This quality score factors into the bid rate you will need to get an ad displayed, with higher scores lowering the bid cost.

Unlike many of the channels we will discuss today, Adwords is a remarkably symbiotic channel that can be paired with many other strategies to maximize output. As a paid marketing channel, it also allows you to obtain immediate results and can scale as far as your budget allows.

Organic Social Media

If you are not using social media for your business, you are losing out on 67% of your customers. Consumers look to social media for customer support with 33% preferring social media contact over using a telephone. If a consumer is unable to locate your business via social media, they will look at your competitors who are using social media. For example, Instagram users that follow fashion influencers are actively looking to purchase new styles. By building an active, fashion-savvy audience, a clothing retailer can build a consistent direct sales channel. The key to this method is identifying where your customers are looking and how they like to be approached with your business information.

Free Consultations

Depending on your industry and business practices, people want access to professional with expertise in the subject they are searching. If you have done a good job of positioning yourself as an expert or authority in your niche, promoting a free consultation is a great way to generate new leads. If you have a good interpersonal sales process in place, it also sets you up to close a large percentage of leads.

A lot of service providers worry about disclosing too much info in a free consultation. They feel like potential clients will just take the info and run. In reality, the exact opposite is true. While freeloader types might grab and go, they were never going to buy anyway. The type of people interested in paying for quality will be impressed by the value you provide in the consultation. After all, if you can provide so much value in 30 minutes to an hour, they will believe that your claims are true and that hiring you is the right decision.

This can be used both online and offline. It can be advertised via pamphlets, newspapers, signs, or even word-of-mouth. And it can be prominently displayed on your website and social media channels. This strategy won’t be ideal for every businesses, but if you offer an expert service or a high-priced service, it is very much worth considering.

Join Local Business Groups

Joining local business groups will give you the opportunity to meet up with other like-minded people who already share some common ground with you: owning a business. While a lot of more general entrepreneur groups exist, there might also be some niche-specific groups and meetups in your area.

These groups are a great opportunity to bounce ideas off other smart people, share referrals, find talent, and identify new opportunities. They are also a major catalyst in expanding your network around the city in which you live. Connections tend to multiply, and if your group takes networking seriously, you can leverage your seemingly minor connections into much significant ones. While these groups are typically best found online, it’s preferable to have in-person meetups for the bulk of your interactions.

PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS IN 2021

Authenticity is the key to connection with customers, especially when times are tough. Instead of depending on discounts and promotional offers to attract customers, focus on building a strong emotional bond with your audience. This is especially poignant in the case of small businesses that have been serving customers in their communities for a long time.

Although a lot of companies are trying to appeal to human empathy these days, it's very easy for customers to discern authenticity from PR. Customers who support your business want to hear your story and what you have to say and see the face behind the brand. Being active and visible on social media and other channels helps to get your message seen and heard, which can go a long way in building true connections with your customers.

Promoting Your Business in 2021