5 CREATIVE WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS THAT ISN’T FACE TO FACE

5 CREATIVE WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS THAT ISN’T FACE TO FACE Host a “March Madness” with Your Inventory or Menu The NCAA tournament may have been cancelled, but you can host your own! This is a great way to get lots of engagement from you followers, which will in turn cause your posts to come up on their feed more frequently in the future! How it works: ● Create a bracket with some of your top selling items ● Have people vote on instagram stories and in the comments for their favorite ○ The winner proceeds to the next round ● Whatever item is the champion you do something special for! ○ Ideas: ○ A giveaway ○ Everyone who purchases gets a % off for product if they order online ○ A gift card for the most engaged follower (announce it at the start) Create an Informative Video on Your Brand Your consumer LOVES authenticity. People want to support your business, but more than anything they want to support the people (that’s you!) running them. Be open about your story and how you got to where you are. How it works: ● Interview your owner and ask questions about how your organization started ● Interview an employee on what their favorite thing about your brand is ● Tell a story about why you love what you do! ● Ask a question in your video to the viewers ○ Whoever gets it right receives an incentive for your product/service Ask one of Your Best Customers to Post a Review Think about this: how many times have you tried a new restaurant, product or service because a friend recommended it? Personal reviews are powerful marketing tools. People love to see a familiar face and are more likely to interact with your post! Your best customers are already spending their time with you, why not have them tell all of their friends about how great you are, too? How it works: ● Ask them to go in depth with the review, including: ○ The name of product or service ○ How it is crafted (if applicable) ○ The brand or ingredients (name the branded ingredients if they are important, too!) ○ Why it is their favorite ○ How does it make them feel (ex. Energized, confident etc.) ○ Why they think others should try or buy it Offer a discount to one of your best regulars if they post a video review of your product or service. Make sure they post it to all of their socials and that you share it to your business page(s). Encourage others to comment on what their favorite item is, or what they think of the product or service your customer is reviewing. Photo reviews are great if that is what they are comfortable with, but videos get significantly more interactions than other posts. Which in turn will cause you to come up on their feed more. Now is a Great Time to Learn a New Social Media Platform Social media is a great way to get your business name out there without spending a lot of money! There are new social platforms popping up, but let’s talk about a few newer ones that your business may not utilize. Instagram Does your business have an instagram account? Instagram is a great way to share quick photos of your business, services, inventory, or menu items to a wide variety of people. The idea of instagram is to share a quick image or message that catches a person’s eye with a product that they like. Tik Tok Tik Tok is a video platform that you can add sounds, effects, and captions to. A popular trend is to do many outfit changes, which is perfect for local retailers who want to showcase some of their inventory. You can also do videos making a craft, signature drinks, and more! Chances are, most businesses do not have a Tik Tok account, but Tik Tok is a great way to get your business information, product or service out for free. Tik Tok’s platform features a “For You Page” which shows videos to the audience that is most likely to interact with your posts based on other videos they like. Show That Your Organization is Helping or Investing in the Community Of course, not everyone has the extra funds to donate to other organizations all the time. But when you show that you are involved and invested in the community, you get a great response. Here are some examples of how you can show you are being involved without needing to donate your funds: ● Volunteer! There are tons of places to volunteer your time from all areas. From the humane society to the food shelf and everything in between, the possibilities are endless! ● Donate! Does your organization have products that could benefit a local non-profit? Put together a basket and drop it off! Tons of non-profits depend on donations to keep in operation, and a basket from you makes more of an impact than you would think. Share their news and events to your business’s social media! A quick share saying “You don’t want to miss this event” or “Thanks to [org name] for doing this for the community!” will travel to your followers who may not know about this organization. It shows that you care and helps the other organization in the process!