26 Jul

5 Ways To Increase Your Facebook Reach Without Paying

Posted in Social Media, Synergy Suggestions on 26.07.16 by John Meloche

This week we are dedicating our blog to social commerce. We are finding ways to improve your presence across all the major social media mediums. First we are starting with one of the most famed and biggest social media outlets: Facebook. Right now more than 1 billion people are on Facebook. It is one of the most popular mediums, if not the most popular. With the immense audience present, you want to make sure you’re getting the most out of your posts. So here are 5 ways to help you increase the reach on your Facebook posts.

  1. Create a lot of Content. This just makes sense. You have to post a lot to actually get people’s attention. If you constantly create quality content, then expect the number of likes you have on your page to increase.
  2. Mix it up. Don’t just post pure text all the time. Include some pictures, links, interesting graphics, etc. Posting interesting content coupled with eye catching graphics can be critical for reaching new audiences.
  3. Incite Comments. A great way to get people on board with your Facebook page is to get them involved. Encourage your followers to comment on your posts; ask for their opinions. A great way to achieve this is by starting your posts off with a question to your followers.
  4. Get involved with Other People’s Pages. This is a great way to build social media relationships with fans. People and other pages love it when you notice and share their material. So when you do stuff like that, people appreciate it and are more inclined to return the favor.
  5. Don’t use Hashtags. This might come as a shock to you, but believe it or not hashtags aren’t too effective on Facebook. In fact, they’ve been proven to be the opposite. According to research from EdgeRank Checker, hashtags on Facebook have no positive effects on your posts’ reach. Posts without hashtags have actually been found to have a better reach than those containing hashtags. While hashtags may be ideal for other social media sites, it has not yet found its place on Facebook.

Reaching audiences on Facebook can be difficult but when it comes down to it, it’s all about building relationships with your fans. Showing them love will only lead to them doing the same.

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15 Jul

5 Ways To Strengthen Your Social Media Presence

Posted in Small Business Advertising, Social Media, Synergy Suggestions on 15.07.16 by John Meloche

Did you know that YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter serve as the 2nd, 3rd, and 8th most visited websites respectively? There’s such an immense audience present on social media, but still businesses struggle to direct traffic to their social media pages. Well, fear no more, cause here are 5 ways to strengthen your company’s social media presence.

  1. Constantly Post. This is kind of obvious. People don’t want to follow a plain and boring account. They want to see a consistent stream of interesting content. At least a post a day is good, but if you can post more then that would be ideal.
  2. Change it up. It’s good to post consistently but make sure you’re changing the material. People don’t want to see the exact same post every day. The whole point is you want to keep people interested, steady similar posts doesn’t really achieve that.
  3. Make the Content Relevant. You have to make sure the stuff you post actually relates to your business somehow. Ideally you want to explore different routes that help reveal your businesses’ niche in an interesting way. Also when you post, you want to portray a realistic image of your company. You have to realize that your Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram account, etc., are all your virtual representatives. You need to post stuff that your business would otherwise be interested in. You have to conduct yourself in a professional matter over social media in order to maintain a beneficial/good image of your company. People look to social media for pretty much anything, you don’t want them to develop a poor image of your company because of some irrelevant posts; that’s a large market you don’t want to miss out on.
  4. Like Random People’s content. Believe it or not this is a pretty effective strategy. There’s no better way to appear on social media, then on someone’s notification page. People are obsessed with getting likes, some would even go as far to buy likes for their posts. When you like a person’s post, they notice it, and some would even get so happy that they’d maybe even follow you back. Neil Patel, from Quicksprout, used this strategy and found that for every 100 likes he made on random people’s photos, he got 6.1 followers.
  5. Take Advantage of Hashtags. Hashtags have made many marketer’s dreams come true. With a simple hashtag, you can reach millions. However, there is a caveat to hashtags. It’s extremely easy to misuse hashtags. It’s important to stress quality over quantity for hashtags. Make sure your hashtags are actually relevant to your company and posts. Irrelevant hashtags can easily confuse your audience and throw them off your posts. For example, #followforfollow probably isn’t the right thing to say when you’re posting about a big sale.

Social media can open so many doors for your business, but it’s all about using it the right way. Your posts need to be relevant and interesting, otherwise you can say #goodbye to new followers.

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07 Jun

What Are The Best Ways To Interact With Your Customers Online?

Posted in Customer Service, Small Business Advertising on 07.06.16 by John Meloche

dp6pfFWPiVNN+fTY9gAFKSFCaOeCoLyOXPcZa5v6bAz086jRgHYKVRQMNsVn8WzMB1U3PKEqE7Th7siZWbCox9cT9lnjdNfMNIRWI8vShtJvmb8d8dZds6mwu10jHZJVriMb3tfDbyAlTJoxzEVYGanNgjVjYBN39a6K2Ghv7q2W29lkIebb9PAZr8vJ8nqO/rJGes//oD8IC2/qxtfBAkZRZ40lOExCh/ZtticrSoy116dyhTSAUVe0WVYVQi/nZH2Dl+Tr2uA=It’s no secret that using the internet to connect with customers is a must in today’s business world. But because so many people utilize the internet for personal social interactions, it’s important to not get your brand name tied into matters of a personal nature. For example, the way you would interact with your friends is different than the way you would interact with your customers. So, it’s really no different online.

The problem is that some business owners get a bit too friendly with their audience through their social media accounts. Now, let it be clear that there’s nothing wrong with being friendly. We highly advocate friendliness when it comes to interacting with customers. But starting conversations with “yo, what’s up?” using your company’s social media accounts may not necessarily be good for business.

Why is it important to maintain a professional attitude online? You never want your brand to be misunderstood or misinterpreted. No matter how friendly you decide to be, never lose your sense of professionalism. “Be pleasant, but not overly friendly with online customer interactions,” says Stephanie Walden on Mashable.com, “If there’s one thing social-savvy commenters will call a brand out on faster than a poorly placed typo, it’s getting too chummy online in an awkward, insincere manner.”

She goes on to point out that it’s a bad idea to use emojis and other symbols that are in keeping with informal text messaging and internet-speech. Using overly casual language, cheesy puns or banter and improper grammar and punctuation can hurt your company’s brand image. Keep in mind that there are many other members of your target audience out there who may be looking to your social media accounts for information. You don’t want to turn them off.

How important is responding to customer questions in a timely manner? The probably-too-obvious answer is that it is extremely important! In fact, social media are commonly used as modern day help desks. If customers ask you questions or make requests for help using their Facebook or Twitter accounts and you don’t respond within a day, most of them will consider themselves ignored.

“Millennials in particular can be averse to speaking on the phone, and reaching out via social may come as second nature,” informs Walden, “Having a dedicated person paying attention to online inquiries is key. Be sure this employee knows to check not only Twitter mentions or Facebook post comments, but also the comment sections on any company-produced blog posts, as well as direct messages on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram — and yes, even the dreaded YouTube comments.”

Should social media be used to handle disputes? We would definitely advise against it. If a customer has become disgruntled and has used social media to air his/her grievances, it’s best to contact that customer directly. Not only should you be treating the matter in a serious enough way that you put in a phone call to the customer, you definitely don’t want an argument of any kind to be made public.

“Every now and then, you’re going to have to deal with a customer on social media voicing complaints, sometimes in an obnoxious manner,” admits Walden, “It’s key to get these heated conversations offline, as quickly as possible and in a way that not only placates the upset customer, but also communicates to online observers that the issue is being handled.”

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26 Apr

3 No-Brainers That Boost Your Brand’s Image

Posted in Small Business Advertising, Synergy Suggestions on 26.04.16 by John Meloche

Depositphotos_54688729_s-2015In yesterday’s blog, we revisited the topic of brand image and listed a number of ways that business owners can improve theirs. It should come as no surprise that being active on social media is a well-heralded tip. Using the internet to improve the image of your brand is practically a no-brainer type of strategy in today’s digitally-crazed world. In today’s blog, we’ll add to our list of no-brainers that boost your brand’s image.

Here are three:

1. Update your website. The importance of having your website updated on a regular basis cannot be understated. When people visit your site on any given week and then decide to revisit it the next, it shouldn’t look exactly the same. There should be some sort of new content that communicates that your business is keeping busy and doing well. Stale, stagnant websites give impressions that nothing is happening with the companies they represent.

“Like it or not, your website may be the first impression a potential customer has with your organization,” says Elliot Markowitz on TheVarGuy.com, “Your website should be dynamic, contain updated industry news or company information, and include any relevant content feeds or blogs…Having a poorly designed or out-of-date, stagnant website will turn away potential customers fast.”

2. Make your customers laugh. We’re not just talking about providing excellent customer service. That’s expected. To make your brand stand out, you’ll need to employ interesting and every quirky ways to gain public interest. Why not post humorous videos to YouTube? It’s no secret that people watch videos online each and every day. The marketing company, Forgelight Creative suggests that the creation of funny videos becomes a new practice of yours.

“How many times a week, or even a day, do you find yourself distracted by an entertaining video you saw on Facebook?” they ask on their website, “If this doesn’t sound like you, trust me, it sounds like a lot of your potential customers. Consumers like companies that have a sense of humor, so if you really want your image to improve, try to make them laugh!”

3. Make your employees happy. If the people who represent your company in the public eye don’t appear to love their jobs, you give little to no reason for the buying public to think very highly of your brand. If you truly want your company to have a strong brand image, ensure that each and every member of your staff is a staunch supporter of your mission statement. Markowitz highlights the importance of addressing corporate culture.

“Employees who have a positive work experience share it through their own social media channels and word gets around,” he reveals, “Conversely, employees who are treated miserably or feel taken advantaged of also share. How you run your company is on display for the world to see. Companies will want to do business with like-minded companies that share the same values.”

Of course, it’s also always a good idea to put your brand’s logo on a great promotional gift to hand out to your customers. To place your order for the promo gift of your choice, call Synergy Marketing at 1-877-748-9884 between 9am and 5pm EST or email us at info@gosynergygo.com! You can also sign up for our Insider E-Flyer Program HERE!

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25 Apr

3 Tips For Improving Your Brand Image

Posted in Small Business Advertising, Synergy Suggestions on 25.04.16 by John Meloche

Construction site crane building a blue 3D text. Part of a series.Brand imaging is everything. The opinion that the general public has about your company holds a lot of weight. People talk. And they don’t even have to know each other to do it! Each and every day, people jump on their social media accounts to connect with friends, acquaintances and even complete strangers. The likes and dislikes of a person are very easily made known these days. Where does your company fit in such conversations?

Could your brand image use some improving? Here are three tips for how to do so:

1. Expand your social media activity. We just mentioned that social media make very popular ways for people to share news and opinions these days. Your company should certainly be doing its part to stay active on social media through such accounts as Facebook and Twitter. However, these two are obviously not the only types of accounts out there.

Perhaps, it’s time for you to expand your social media reach. “Maybe it’s time you try expanding to the fastest growing social media platform, Instagram,” suggests the marketing agency, Forgelight Creative, “What better way to enhance your brand image than through connecting with customers and potential customers with visuals?”

Elliot Markowitz on TheVarGuy.com agrees that business owners need to have strong social media presences in order to improve their brands’ images. “Someone inside your company should be populating any social media presence regularly,” he advises, “They should be responding and interacting with the community. And they should be pushing out content that is both educational and relevant and aligns with your business.”

2. Host a contest this summer. Needless to say, the upcoming summertime will present ample opportunities for you to welcome new customers through the doors of your store. But, we’ve been saying it anyway! Last week, we posted a number of blogs detailing ways that you can turn the summer into your most lucrative time of year. One way to do that is to host a contest to inject excitement into those who hear the mention of your brand.

“As long as you’re giving away something realistic (not a brand new car or $100,000) and you’re using the right avenues to market the contest, you will see your followers grow and people will remember your brand easier,” says Forgelight Creative, “A great example of this would be a restaurant offering a free dinner for the first person to correctly answer a trivia question that relates to that restaurant.”

3. Start writing a blog if you haven’t done so already. Earlier this month, Synergy Marketing celebrated its 200th follower on Twitter. As of this writing, we’re sitting at 219. Now, you don’t have to tell us that that isn’t a huge number. However, it’s proof of our growth on social media. Thanks to our daily blogs (which have their links posted on Facebook and Twitter each day), we’ve been able to gain new followers and greater website traffic.

“Create weekly or biweekly posts that talk about what’s going on in your business, gives advice, or is general commentary on your industry,” recommends Forgelight Creative, “You may not directly see how this will improve your brand image, but it will. People like to know what’s going on with companies they’re working with and a blog shows that you care about what you’re doing.”

Be sure to check back for tomorrow’s blog as we continue to list ways to boost your brand’s image!

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13 Apr

3 Sensible Ways To Focus Your Marketing Efforts

Posted in Small Business Advertising, Social Media, Synergy Suggestions on 13.04.16 by John Meloche

Magnified illustration with the word Marketing on white background.No matter the size of your business, it’s important to have a strong focus on your marketing efforts. It doesn’t necessarily have to cost you a lot of money to advertise your business. You just need to come up with creative strategies for getting your company noticed in positive ways. At Synergy Marketing, we champion the use of the promotional gift giveaway as a cost-efficient, yet effective way to market a brand.

But what are some other ways to focus your marketing efforts? Here are three:

1. Make sure your website is regularly updated with content. Content marketing is all the rage these days. And, at Synergy Marketing, this is one tip that we’re very happy to report that we follow pretty closely. The more interesting and informative content you have on your company website, the more often it will get picked up in search engines. If you’re looking for internet surfers with an interest in your industry, you’ll want to start up a blog like we have.

On Wordstream.com, Megan Marrs advocates for the publishing of great content on business sites. She offers up some ideas about the ways in which you can present your content. “Try top 10 lists, tip collections, best practices for your industry, etc,” she suggests. As you may have noticed, many of the entries in the Synergy Marketing Blog are lists that offer helpful pieces of advice to industry professionals. We strive to continually offer relevant content on our blog.

2. Treat your brand like a person. What does this mean, exactly? Well, consider the fact that all people have personalities. Some you like and some you don’t. What is the personality of your brand? What is the feeling you’re wishing to instil within others who come into contact with your business? When it comes to marketing your business, think of ways that will make people happy to even know about it.

“Every one of us is an individual whose character is made up of beliefs, values and purposes that define who we are and who we connect with,” explains Dan Einzig of The Marketing Donut, “Our personality determines how we behave in different situations, how we dress and what we say. Of course for people it’s intuitive and it’s rare that you even consider what your own character is, but when you’re building a brand it’s vital to have that understanding.”

3. Utilize your social media accounts. We’d be willing to bet that on the many lists of advice that we’ve posted to the Synergy Marketing Blog, this particular tidbit has been the most cited. This is mainly because using such social networking platforms as Facebook and Twitter is free. Furthermore, social media continue to be today’s generation’s top choice for communicating with people all over the world.

Why wouldn’t you use it to promote your brand? Marrs advises that you become a savvy social networker. “Create business accounts and participate in the big social media sites – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest,” she recommends, “Add Instagram in there too if your business is image-oriented.”

As we mentioned earlier, Synergy Marketing advocates for the giving out of branded promotional gifts. They have long proven to increase sales and improve customer relationships. To place your order for the promo gift of your choice, call Synergy Marketing at 1-877-748-9884 between 9am and 5pm EST or email us at info@gosynergygo.com! You can also sign up for our Insider E-Flyer Program HERE!

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24 Mar

Combining Blogging With Social Media To Engage Audiences

Posted in Small Business Advertising, Social Media on 24.03.16 by John Meloche

Technology internet modern lifestyle. Female finger touching screen of computer laptop showing blank copy space. Business at home.In yesterday’s blog, we revisited the topic of social media and highlighted the fact that it’s important for business owners to be social if they expect to use their platforms as effective advertising methods. Remember, social media advertising is less about advertising than it is about engaging audiences. But what are the best ways to go about engaging audiences using social media?

At Synergy Marketing, we believe that it’s all about blogging. It only makes sense to practice what we preach, right? For years now, we’ve been taking to daily blogging to engage our audience. And we feel that it’s probably the best way to grow our company’s reputation using social media. Naturally, blogging does a lot more than simply make a comment in 140 characters or less. We use our tweets to bring people to our blogs.

Blogging helps you to showcase your “expert ideas”. It provides entertaining and informative pieces of advice and develops a “voice” for your company that people can relate to. Content marketing is all the rage these days because of the personal touch it adds to the interactions between companies and their potential customers. In fact, today, companies have “fans”, not just customers.

And having fans can go a long way because, inevitably, a fair number of those fans are bound to become customers. On AllBusiness.com, Alex Morris points out that blogging is a great way to boost traffic to your website. “Putting out a fun, informative, news based blog once a week can add great new content to your site,” he agrees, “This, in turn, makes your site livelier in Google’s algorithms, which allows the opportunity for new traffic to visit your site.”

Blogging isn’t meant to be a one-sided conversation. Your blogs should encourage comments from their readers. If you don’t necessarily wish to have people leave comments on your website (especially if you wish to control its content), your social media accounts offer the opportunity for others to leave their opinions. The more people comment, the more interest you’re bound to gain for your blog topic.

The most interest your blogs garner, the more people who will become familiar with your brand! You get the concept. On Bplans.com, Shay Wright discusses the importance of responding to reader comments. “When people do leave good insightful comments, be sure to respond to them and thank them for participating in the conversation,” he advises, “If someone leaves a question for you in a comment, be sure to respond to their question.”

What’s the best way to garner comments? Be creative! Clearly, it pays to make your blogs interesting. “Creativity is encouraged, so you should take advantage of this,” insists Morris, “This doesn’t mean you have to invent amazing new topics, it just promotes content using your writing style. A good example for topic ideas are seasonal events (such as Halloween, Christmas and New Year’s).”

We hope that this blog has encouraged you to learn more about Synergy Marketing. To hear more about our promotional products, please call us at 1-877-748-9884 between 9am and 5pm EST or email us at info@gosynergygo.com! You can also sign up for our Insider E-Flyer Program HERE!

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23 Mar

Being Social On Social Media Is A Good Business Practice

Posted in Small Business Advertising, Social Media on 23.03.16 by John Meloche

Social media and networking concept: group of color signs with social media services in metal office bucket isolated on white backgroundWe’ve never claimed to be social media experts, here at Synergy Marketing. But we do know one thing for sure. Ever since we took to posting links to our blogs on both our Facebook and Twitter accounts, our followership has significantly grown. We wouldn’t say that our profiles are the most popular on the internet. Nevertheless, the fact that we remain active has certainly gained us a growing number of fans.

Social media are practically musts in today’s business world. If nothing else, they represent free forms of advertising. The truth is, however, that they represent so much more than that. It can’t be forgotten that the “social” part of using the Facebooks and Twitters of the world plays a big role in the ways in which you can engage an audience. You see, social media advertising is a lot less about advertising than it is about interacting with others.

Essentially, this is what social media are used for. Getting reactions out of people is the objective of every post, whether it’s personal or business-related. The trick is for business-related posts to still have a personal touch. This is why every one of our social media posts is a question. The point is to get readers curious enough to wish to know the answer to the question and click on the link that brings them to our website.

However, as mentioned earlier, we don’t claim to be social media experts. In truth, there is still a lot that we’re learning as it relates to engaging our audience. This is why we so often take to the internet to research expert opinions about how to utilize social media to our advantage. As a result, we’ve learned that Facebook posts and tweets shouldn’t be written as straight advertisements.

This is a point that is strongly communicated by Shay Wright on Bplans.com. “The days when large companies could just blanket the airwaves with their sales pitches and actually expect a return from such advertising are gone,” he asserts, “People are tired of being sold to. They want companies to listen to them and slowly gain their trust over time before they’ll open their wallet to them.”

The point, once again, is to be social on social media. Remember that your profiles give you opportunities to showcase your personality. These days, people often form their opinions of businesses based on the way they interact with the public. Clearly, it’s not just about selling quality products anymore. Companies are expected to show genuine forms of interest in the people who support them.

“There are plenty of deadly serious business articles out there which approach this topic in greater detail than I will,” says Alex Morris on AllBusiness.com, “This mechanical, meticulous process often ignores what customers would actually like from you. If they’ve taken the time to Like your Facebook page they don’t need to be bombarded with spam. Adopting a sense of humour, and being fun, can have a much greater impact for your marketing campaign.”

Be sure to check back for tomorrow’s blog as we’ll list a number of effective ways to engage your audience through social media. And don’t forget, of course, that you can call Synergy Marketing directly at 1-877-748-9884 between 9am and 5pm EST or email us at info@gosynergygo.com to order promotional products to advertise your business. You can also sign up for our Insider E-Flyer Program HERE!

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29 Feb

4 Inexpensive Ways To Advertise Your Small Business

Posted in Small Business Advertising, Social Media on 29.02.16 by John Meloche

Depositphotos_27701395_s-2015Running a small business can be a very rewarding experience. But it certainly comes with its challenges. Quite frankly, it’s a challenge for all small business owners. Generally working without large advertising budgets, entrepreneurs are forced to come up with clever marketing campaigns that won’t cost them a lot of money. At Synergy Marketing, we’re in the business of helping such business owners find inexpensive ways to advertise their brands.

Here are four ideas:

1. Hand out coupons. You’d be hard pressed to find a consumer who is disinterested in saving money. When you offer ways for people to save money, they’ll be a lot more likely to give your business a try. Discount-offering coupons are great incentives for shoppers to choose a brand. Even small discounts work as great incentives. As Julia Forneris discusses on Chron.com, coupons have the ability to both attract and retain new customers.

“Give new customers an incentive to visit your business by offering coupons for a percentage off of your merchandise or service,” she advises, “You can ensure repeat business by promptly honouring the coupon and giving occasional discounts to repeat customers. Try offering customers a discount for bringing in new clients for you. For example, give a 10 percent coupon to anyone who brings a friend to shop at your business.”

2. Make use of value additions. What are “value additions”, exactly? Well, as the term suggests, the offer greater value to the buying experiences’ of your customers. Think of the different things that you can do to make your customers that much happier with each purchase. What can you add to the purchase so that greater value is received? On Investopedia.com, Andrew Beattie writes that value additions are among the most powerful selling points for any product or service.

“Common value additions include guarantees, discounts for repeat customers, point cards and referrals rewards,” he explains, “Often the deciding factor for a person picking between one of two similar shops is whether he or she has a point card or preferred customer card. You don’t have to promise the moon to add value; often you just have to state something that the customer may not realize about your product or service.”

3. Create a viral campaign. These days, it should probably go without saying that if you are neglecting to use the internet as an advertising source, you’re simply out of touch with the modern world. Not to mention, doing online to advertise your business is, most often, free! Forneris recommends that you set up a free blog and write about updates in your business or industry. At Synergy Marketing, we have certainly taken that route!

“Online advertising is composed of many outlets: email marketing, business websites and social networking sites, among others,” she explains, “Take advantage of all the websites that allow you to promote your business for free…Create a page on Facebook or place an ad on Craigslist… An additional benefit to online advertising is that you can track its effectiveness more easily than other marketing techniques.”

4. Hand out promo gifts. At Synergy Marketing, promo gifts will always be part of our inexpensive marketing strategy lists. Our experience, by the way, tells us that handing them out is arguably the best method out there! Known to encourage customer loyalty and garner referrals, promo gifts are marketing methods that have the ability to advertise a business for very long periods of time. Consider the fact that every time a recipient uses your promo gift, your business is being advertised.

To place your order for the promo gift of your choice, call Synergy Marketing at 1-877-748-9884 between 9am and 5pm EST or email us at info@gosynergygo.com! You can also sign up for our Insider E-Flyer Program HERE!

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11 Feb

4 Other Ways To Promote Your Brand On The Cheap

Posted in Promotional Products, Small Business Advertising on 11.02.16 by John Meloche

Marketing and advertising cloud word 3d renderThis week, on the Synergy Marketing Blog, it’s been all about advertising. To be specific, low-cost advertising is the name of the game. Coming off a weekend when the most elaborate and expensive advertisements were getting a lot of attention – thank you Super Bowl 50! – we found it important to highlight the fact that not all business owners require big budgets in order to promote their brands.

Here are four other ways to promote your brand on the cheap:

1. Write an editorial-style ad for a local newspaper. Content marketing is huge these days. Maintaining a regularly-updated blog on your site helps to encourage online users to keep visiting your site. A blog helps you to showcase your expertise in your field, giving people stronger impressions of your reliable and trustworthy nature. On SmallTownMarketing.com, Tom Egelhoff suggests that you take things a step further by offering your expert advice to columns you submit to local newspapers.

“Try an editorial style ad,” he encourages, “These are ads that look like actual stories in the newspaper. They will have ‘advertisement’ at the top of the article. Develop a good headline, and 50% more people will read the article than would read an ad of the same size.” This will enable you to cleverly advertise your brand in a media source that generally charges a lot for standard ad space.

2. Give YouTube a go. In yesterday’s blog, we championed the cause for social media advertising. It wasn’t the first time, and it certainly won’t be the last. It’s free to use such platforms and Facebook and Twitter to advertise your business. But they don’t stand alone as social networking sites that allow business owners to market their brands. Online users just love to watch videos. So you may want to start up your own YouTube channel to upload your own.

“Given that YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine, create a YouTube Channel and leverage proven video marketing tactics, like ‘how-to’ style video content and response videos to improve search visibility and potentially drive leads,” advises Ken Lyons on SearchEngineWatch.com. He highlights this tip as one of the many free ways a business owner can market his or her business.

3. Plan for rainy days. It’s always a good idea to have a bit of a financial cushion when it comes to your advertising budget. Different opportunities to advertise your brand may pop up without a moment’s notice and you’ll want to be in a position to take advantage of them. As well, unexpected emergencies may arise and you’ll need that extra dough to handle them. Egelhoff sheds some light on this reality.

“During the year put a small amount aside each month for emergencies,” he writes, “You never know when you’ll need to react quickly to whatever the competition is doing. You must be able to capitalize on breaking national events or news regarding your industry. If negative things happen in your industry you may need to respond quickly to make sure the right message is presented.”

4. Hand out promotional gifts. Of course, you can never forget about the almighty promo gift. Among the most effective and cost-conscious methods of growing your brand, promotional products are must-haves! To place your order for the promo gift of your choice, call Synergy Marketing at 1-877-748-9884 between 9am and 5pm EST or email us at info@gosynergygo.com! You can also sign up for our Insider E-Flyer Program HERE!

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