Marketing your business online has pretty much become a necessity in 2015. Without doing so, it makes your business appear non-existent. After all, it seems as if nearly everyone uses a smart phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer to either buy merchandise or seek information about brands that they’re interested in. So how are you utilizing the internet to market your business? Over the past week, our blogs have been focusing on this concept.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are all the rage. Who isn’t aware of that? And last week, we dedicated our blogs to finding ways to use each of these platforms to your advantage. However, in yesterday’s blog, we began exploring another online entity that has helped many a business owner to advertise his or her business. Craigslist, while not a social networking platform, is incredibly popular in the world of buying and selling online.
One of the key benefits to using Craigslist is that it is free to use. But, as Shanon Lewis of Entrepreneur.com points out, it’s not just for business owners alone. “Keep in mind that as a business owner, you’re just as likely to compete with everyday people selling the contents of their attic as you are a national brand retailer with sights on breaking into your market,” she writes. So how can you best use Craigslist to your advantage? Here are five more tips.
1. Use a catchy title. Try to grab your reader’s attention by creating a title that worth looking further into. Remember that you are competing with thousands of other postings. You don’t want to come off as run-of-the-mill. According to MannixMarketing.com, “the title of your post is undoubtedly the most important component of your ad. Be clear and descriptive when including price and key details of your product or service, and avoid using too many characters.”
2. Keep it simple. Keep in mind that many online users don’t have very long attention spans. Keeping your ads concise and to-the-point will make them most effective. Use everyday language and don’t try to get too fancy with the extras. “Craigslist sees heavy HTML code as a sign of spam or fraudulent post,” Mannix Marketing warns us, “Keep your ad mostly text based, with simple code only and working in creative bolding.”
3. Include a link. In each and every one of the ads that we post on Craigslist, we make sure to include a link to our website. Our website, of course, includes more photos of our promo gifts as well as product descriptions to better inform our clients of what we have to offer. MannixMarketing.com recommends that you include a link, not just to your website, but to a specific item that you may be posting about.
4. Post often. Remember that people are posting on Craigslist every day. If you go several days without posting, your last post will end up getting lost in the shuffle. MannixMarketing.com recommends that you post regularly. In our case, we post an ad for each business day of the week. And each day, we post in a different city. “Be warned,” says Mannix Marketing, “Craigslist’s policy states that the same ad may not be re-posted within a 48-hour window.”
5. Use varied ads. This is an important tip that bears repeating. In yesterday’s blog, we commented upon the fact that Craigslist does not like to see the same ad being continually posted. “To avoid being marked as spam and flagged for removal it is helpful to use varied ads,” MannixMarketing.com tells us, “Do not use duplicate content, switch up the title, etc. It’s helpful to have multiple variations of your ad ready in advance, which will make posting throughout the week a very simple and efficient process.”
And, as we mentioned yesterday, each of our ads include our contact information. And so do the majority of our blogs. Give us a call at 1-877-748-9884 to learn more about our awesome promotional products!