4 Min Read It can become frustrating when you know you have a great product or service, but the customers just aren’t coming. You might even be considering using paid ads to promote your business… but should you? Keep on reading to learn our thoughts on the subject.
Why you don’t need to
If you really don’t have the money (or time) to spare on creating advertisements, then there are luckily a large number of ways to promote your business without spending a penny. The most obvious route would be through social media marketing.
By using social media, you can quickly and easily notify your audience of any new product releases, offers, or important updates. You can also access analytics that help to inform your decisions on which messages to share and when. However, social media can be time-consuming, and algorithm updates mean that it’s becoming more difficult to reach a wide audience without paying for ads.
On the other hand, you could start a blog. Everybody’s doing it these days, and for good reason: Blogging is one of the most effective ways to get people coming to your website. Simply come up with an engaging topic, write a fantastic, informative piece of work, post it to your website and see the visitors stack up. The only downside is that this will take someone with good writing skills and a bit of SEO knowledge to make it work.
Another option for you is to set up a Google My Business page. They’re free, and for local businesses especially, they’re pretty much vital. A Google My Business page will allow your premises to show up in the search results for location-based queries like “[x] near me” or “Local [x]”. As well as this, they allow you to add your business hours, business address and business category, which will help people to find you more quickly and easily.
Why you might want to
If you do have money to spare on ads, we genuinely recommend it. Not only because it speeds up your progress, but also because it helps you to reach a much more targeted audience. Let us explain.
At least for the main social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), you can run paid ads with very little investment. These advertisements also come equipped with a number of targeting tools, wherein you can target your ad towards people with certain attributes or online behaviours. This means that you can literally place your posts in front of people that you think would be interested in your products or services, as opposed to leaving it up to luck.
Leading on from this, spending some capital on PPC advertising or remarketing ads can bring people straight to your website through their search intent. This is a great method because you’re bringing in an audience of people who already require your product or service, therefore boosting your chances of purchase straight from the get-go.
So, do I need to use paid ads?
In short, if you don’t have the cash to spare or you’re happy with how much your company makes right now, then stick to free methods of promotion. However, if you’re in the exact opposite situation, we really recommend investing in paid ads. And if you don’t know where to start with Google Adwords or Facebook Business, we can help.
We are a full service marketing agency with a plethora of experience in advertising. Whether you need help with advertising planning, promoting your products or services, or designing ad creative that drives people to buy, we can help.
Call us on 01244 347 545 for a chat, or send us an email at hello@eclipse-marketing.uk and one of us will get back to you as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you!
