As a business owner, you are responsible for protecting your brand and its reputation. The Internet has become an increasingly important tool for businesses to reach potential customers and build their customer base - but it also holds immense power when it comes to damaging your brand.

To ensure that your online presence is safe from harm, it's important to understand the concept of brand safetyā  and how to protect yourself against digital risks.

This blog post will explain exactly what brand safety means and give you proactive strategies for safeguarding your brand online.

What Is Brand Safety?

Brand safety is a term used in the advertising and marketing industry to describe the condition of a brand being in a context where it is not likely to be associated with negative content, such as obscene or inflammatory language, hate speech, or terrorism.

The need for brand safety has become more pressing in recent years as social media has become an increasingly important platform for advertising. The vast and open nature of social media can make it difficult for brands to control the contexts in which their advertising appears. It can lead to brands being inadvertently associated with negative content, which can have a negative impact on their reputation and cause them to lose customers.

Brand safety is therefore an extremely important consideration for advertisers and marketers. They must ensure to place their brands away from harm and any hate speech/inflammatory content on the internet.

Here is an example of top coke brand's ad being displayed on violent content -

How Can You Protect Your Brand Online?

There are many things business owners can do to protect their brand online. One of the most important is to create a strong social media presence. It will help you monitor what is being said about your company and correct any inaccurate information.

You should also set up Google Alerts for your company name and ensure your website is fully protected with an SSL certificate.

Additionally, you can use TM protection to trademark your company name and logo. Doing all these things can help ensure your brand remains safe and secure from online fraudsters and imitators. For those unfamiliar with trademark concepts, understanding the basics of trademarks is crucial. A solid foundation helps you determine what aspects of your brand can legally be protected, thereby strengthening your online defense.

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has introduced a list of harmful content to help businesses protect their brand reputation from unsafe content. The toxic content is referred to as the Dirty Dozenā  by the global advertising community that needs to be avoided.

Image Source: Silverpush

What Is the Importance of Brand Safety?

Brand safety is of utmost importance when it comes to advertising. As we all know, there are a plethora of ways for people to consume content online. There are also many opportunities for brands to be associated with content they may want to avoid being associated with. For this reason, brands must take measures to ensure their safety online.

One way that brands can protect themselves from potentially harmful or undesirable content is through brand safety platforms. These platforms work by scanning the internet for any mention of a brand and then flagging any potentially unsafe content. It allows brands to quickly and easily identify potential issues and take appropriate action.

While brand safety platforms cannot guarantee that a brand will never be associated with undesirable content, they provide a level of protection essential in today's digital world. By using a brand safety platform, brands can rest assured that they are doing everything possible to protect their image and reputation.

What Constitutes a Brand Safety Violation?

Brand safety violations include anything from offensive or derogatory content to misleading or inaccurate content. In some cases, the violation may result from how the content is presented, while in other cases, it may be due to the nature of the content itself. Whatever the case may be, brand safety violations can have a serious impact on a company's reputation and can even lead to customers abandoning a brand altogether.

Image Source: MarketingCharts

There are several ways in which companies can protect themselves from brand safety violations. One of the most important is to ensure that they clearly understand what is and is not acceptable content. It means having policies that dictate what type of content is allowed and setting up filters to help identify potentially harmful content.

Companies should also be proactive in monitoring their brands online and take swift action when they find any violations.

Protecting Your Brand From Negative Content

It’s important to protect your brand from negative content. If someone posts something negative about your company online, it can damage your reputation and cause customers to lose faith in you. You can do a few things to help protect your brand from negative content –

• First, make sure you have a social media policy in place. It will help ensure that all employees understand what is and isn’t acceptable behavior online. They should know not to post anything that could potentially harm the company’s reputation.
• Second, be vigilant about monitoring the internet for any mentions of your company. Use search engines and social media monitoring tools to track what people say about you online. If you see any negative content, take action right away. Reply to the post, apologize if necessary, and try to get the conversation back on track.
• Third, build a positive online presence. Ensure your website and social media profiles are filled with positive content about your company. Showcase customer reviews and the awards you’ve won. It will help drown out any negative content that may surface online.

By taking these steps, you can help protect your brand from negative content and take proactive steps to ensure a good reputation.

Monitoring Your Brand's Online Reputation

Online reputation management (ORM) is monitoring your brand's online presence and reputation. It includes tracking what people are saying about your brand online, addressing any negative comments, and taking steps to improve your online reputation.

ORM is important because it can help protect your brand's reputation and ensure potential customers have a positive impression of your company. It can also help you identify and address potential issues before they become major problems.

There are many things you can do to manage your brand’s online reputation, including:

• Monitoring Your Brand’s Presence Online
• Responding to Negative Comments
• Developing Positive Content About Your Brand
• Tracking Keywords and Search Results
• Using Social Media Monitoring Tools
• Creating a Crisis Plan
• Monitoring Competitor Activity

Tips for Safeguarding Your Brand Online

Brands are constantly attacked online by counterfeiters and scammers looking to make a quick buck. Businesses need to take steps to protect their brand and their customers.

Here are some tips for safeguarding your brand online:

1. Use trademarks and copyright notices prominently on your website and other online properties. It will help deter pirates and counterfeiters.
2. Ensure your website is secure, with HTTPS and up-to-date security certificates. It will help protect your customers’ data.
3. Monitor your online presence closely and be prepared to take action against anyone who infringes on your trademarks or copyrights.
4. Educate your employees about how to protect the company’s brand online. They should be aware of the dangers of phishing and other scams and know how to identify counterfeit products. Authenticate your email domain with a DMARC policy to avoid spoofing or impersonation attacks. Use a DMARC record checker to verify your domain's authentication and ensure protection against these threats.
5. Stay up-to-date on the latest trends in online branding protection, and use the latest tools and techniques to keep your brand safe.

Brand safety protects your brand from negative content and reputation damage online. There are many ways to protect your brand, including monitoring your brand’s online presence, creating positive content, and using digital marketing tools. However, it is important to remember that the internet can be a dangerous place, and you should always take precautions to safeguard your brand from any attempts to malign your brand.

As the world continues moving away from physical toward digital interactions, agencies of all sizes are competing in an ever-evolving virtual landscape. With companies increasingly relying on data-driven marketing solutions to reach their audiences and those audiences equally demanding strategy and content delivered in innovative ways agencies and entrepreneurs alike need to understand how the metaverse can be leveraged as a powerful marketing tool.

In this blog post, you'll learn what metaverse technology is and how it's changing the way businesses use digital platforms for marketing purposes over time. From implementing strategies that leverage AR elements within 360° ads, surfacing relevant products when keywords are used through AI chatbots, to using holographic avatars in video conferences, we'll explore it all!

What Is the Metaverse Technology?

Metaverse technology is a term for a digital world that exists online and allows users to create and interact with digital objects. These digital objects can be used to represent oneself or create scenes, worlds, or games. Metaverse technology is similar to virtual reality because it allows users to experience a simulated world. Still, it is different than the usual 2D, and does not require special equipment as virtual reality does.

Metaverse technology can bridge the gap between physical and digital worlds, allowing marketers to deliver a unique customer experience. Companies can leverage this technology for more immersive storytelling through virtual reality content, interactive product displays, and holographic avatars.

Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI) provides automated customer service, personalizes the customer journey, and delivers more relevant product recommendations. Metaverse technology is also being used to create virtual events and conferences, allowing companies to connect with their audiences without leaving the comfort of their homes.

What Are the Key Benefits of Using Metaverse Technology for Marketing?

Metaverse technology provides a whole new range of possibilities for delivering marketing content.

• By leveraging this technology, businesses can create more engaging experiences tailored to their target audiences.
• Companies can use metaverse technology to reach untapped markets and engage with customers in real time. This immersive experience is also more cost-effective than traditional marketing campaigns as it can reach a larger audience with minimal cost.
• In addition, metaverse technology also helps eliminate geographical boundaries and create better customer relationships by allowing businesses to interact with customers from anywhere in the world.

Image Source: ADLittle

How Is Metaverse Technology Changing the Way Companies Use Digital Platforms for Marketing Purposes?

Metaverse technology is a term for a collection of digital platforms that allow businesses to create and manage their virtual worlds. These worlds can be used for various marketing purposes, including promoting products and services, engaging customers, and training employees.

• One of the advantages of metaverse technology is that it allows businesses to create customized virtual worlds tailored to their specific needs. These worlds can be as simple or complex as desired and include many features, such as 3D environments, customizable avatars, and interactive objects.
• Another advantage of metaverse technology is that it allows businesses to engage with customers more interactively. Customers can explore the virtual world, interact with other characters and objects, and participate in activities relevant to the company. It can help customers feel more engaged with the company and its products or services.
• Metaverse technology can also be used by businesses to train employees. The virtual world can be used as a simulated environment where employees can learn new skills or practice tasks they will need to complete in the real world. It can be helpful for businesses that want to train employees on specific tasks or procedures without the risk of losing productivity due to training sessions.

AR Elements in 360° Ads

AR elements are becoming more and more common in 360° ads. It is because they allow users to interact with the ad more meaningfully and can help create a more immersive experience. For example, a user might be able to use AR to view a product from all angles or see how it would look in their home. It can be especially useful for products that are difficult to visualize, such as furniture or clothing.

Here is an example of Gucci – ‘Try On’ Campaign

Another benefit of using AR in 360° ads is that it can help capture the user's attention. With so much online content, it can be difficult for ads to stand out. However, using AR, brands can create an interactive experience likely to pique the user's interest. AR allows users to engage with the ad personally, making them more likely to remember it.

There are many reasons why brands should consider using AR in their 360° ads. Not only does it allow users to interact with the ad fun and interestingly, it can also help capture the user's attention and increase brand awareness.

Leveraging AI Chatbots

Most people are familiar with chatbots; computer programs that can mimic human conversation. They are commonly used to provide customer service or to help users with tasks like online shopping. But what many people don't know is that chatbots can also be used for marketing purposes.

One of the biggest advantages of using chatbots for marketing is that they can help personalize customer interactions. Chatbots can gather customer preferences and other information to create a more personalized experience. It can lead to increased customer loyalty and better brand awareness.

Another advantage of using chatbots for marketing is that they can help you automate your marketing efforts. Chatbots can be used to send out automated messages to customers, which can save you time and money. They can also be used to schedule appointments and track customer behavior.

Using Holographic Avatars in Video Conferences

Holographic avatars are becoming more and more popular in video conferences. They allow people to see and interact with one another as 3D holograms, which can create a more personal and immersive experience. This technology is still in its early stages but has already shown promise for enhancing communication and collaboration.

One of the main benefits of using holographic avatars is that they can help people feel more connected to one another. In traditional video conferences, people can often feel detached from the other participants. However, by using holograms, people can see each other's facial expressions and body language, creating a stronger rapport. Holographic avatars can also make it easier to communicate complex ideas, as they provide a more visual way to communicate.

Image Source: DailyMail

Another advantage of holographic avatars is that they can improve collaboration. By using holograms, people can work together on projects in real time. It can be especially useful for tasks requiring coordination between multiple people. Holograms can reduce misunderstandings, as people can better understand the other participants' words.

What Are the Challenges of Using Metaverse Technology for Marketing?

Although metaverse technology is a great tool for delivering marketing content, there are some challenges to consider.

1. Security and Privacy: Security and privacy concerns are one of the main issues, as this technology can manipulate or distort a customer's perception of reality. Hence, companies need to ensure they're taking robust security measures to protect their clients' identities and other bits of important information.

2. Technical Limitations: For metaverse technology to work correctly, technical difficulties also need to be addressed, such as latency and lag time. Most devices today support Metaverse, so it's a good sign to get on top of your Metaverse marketing plans.However, it's still best to ensure your customers are using the right technology to actually benefit from your Metaverse marketing campaigns.

3. Costs: Finally, it is important to consider the cost of implementing and maintaining a metaverse platform, as this can be quite expensive. Metaverse is still an evolving concept, and many are yet to get a hold of what exactly it entails. This confusion and lack of knowledge can easily catapult businesses into a financial blindspot if they're not careful enough.

Image Source: XRToday

Hence, it's wise to consider the reasons you want to use Metaverse marketing for and go from there!

In conclusion, metaverse technology is a powerful tool that has the potential to revolutionize how businesses use digital platforms for marketing. By leveraging this technology, companies can create more engaging experiences tailored to their target audiences and reach untapped markets.

Summing Up!

Metaverse is a great tool for digital marketing because it allows companies to create and manage their virtual worlds. These virtual worlds can be used to promote products and services and to connect with customers.

Metaverse also provides a secure platform for online transactions, which makes it a valuable tool for e-commerce businesses. Additionally, companies can leverage AR elements in 360° ads, AI chatbots, and holographic avatars to customize the customer experience further.

If you're a business owner, late payments may be your biggest arch-nemesis, right next to tax season! U.S. credit card debt reached $1.14 trillion in 2023, highlighting the broader financial challenges faced by individuals and businesses alike.

Late or unpaid payments alone add up to almost a trillion dollars each year, and SMEs have no option but to write them off as bad debt.

A survey by Businesswire magazine tells us that businesses in the US frequently experience late payments. A sizable chunk receives payments 20-30 days past the payment due date.

It can be quite annoying and detrimental to your agency's growth.

Agencies work very hard to deliver results for their clients, fighting off many challenges that impede their speed and productivity. They also need to make payments to their team members and freelancers apart from other operational costs.

And when their clients ignore all T&Cs and habitually pay late, it can be extremely disheartening.

The Severe Consequences of Late Payments

Here are some of the serious consequences late payments can have on businesses:

1. Cuts cash flow and makes it difficult for SMEs and agencies to take on new projects due to insufficient working capital.
2. Reduces cash flow and makes it difficult to meet operating expenses.
3. Affects your future relationship with your suppliers and vendors if you don’t pay on time.
4. Affects your credit rating and impacts your ability to obtain future credit facilities.
5. May lead to shutting down your business in the worst-case scenario.

Image Source: Melio

5 Easy-To-Learn Tips to Help You Collect Payments on Time

FreeAgent suggests five tips you can try to get your invoices paid on time. Read these below!

1. Use the Benjamin Franklin Effect

It works on the stimulus-response principle and later on uses classical conditioning to bring about the desired response. Here you'll use induced kindness to condition your client's mind to make them pay on time.

According to the story, Benjamin Franklin successfully befriended a man who despised him by asking him to borrow a book. In line with this approach, one act of kindness induces another one, provided you're able to get them to do the act of kindness in the first place.

What is important here is that you can't achieve the same result if you initiate that act of kindness. So, ask your customer to do a favor for you in the initial stages of your relationship. It will help you forge a strong friendship with them and build trust. It also helps them form an image of you in their mind as someone who is worthy of doing a favor and replicate the same behavior again.

2. Don't Make Them Feel Guilty

People generally don't like to feel guilty and making late payments actually leads to a guilt pang. So when you send emails about invoice reminders, add the phrase, I need your help. It's a recommended practice to appeal to the good senses of your client.

3. Use Your Client's Name and Make Them Feel Special

It is an old tactic that is endorsed by Dale Carnegie in his bestseller How to win friends and influence people.ā  In any language, a person's name is the sweetest word for them, and when you call someone by their name, they feel special. And what better way to get your clients to make payments on time than by making them feel special?

4. Use Swift Reminders From Day One

Invoices might come as a rude interruption, and to avoid this, you can include the payment due date in your communications and emails as a soft reminder from the beginning. It's not considered rude if you clearly set out your payment terms just after you sign the contract. Late payment charges and legal consequences for non-payment should also be highlighted. But your first email should be a bit friendly. Warning for legal consequences can come later. Tools like Invoice Simple make it easier to add these clauses in a soft tone because their templates use a language that's nice yet professional.

Image Source: Regpack

5. Use Nouns More Frequently

Nouns are extremely powerful. Instead of asking someone to participate in an event, tell them to become a participant and reap the rewards. You will likely see a greater turnout. Instead of mentioning late payment, refer to the people as late payers while warning them about the legal consequences.

Other Tips to Get Clients to Always Pay on Time

Here are some valuable tips to make clients always pay on time.

1. Adopt a Recurring Billing Model

In this model, you convert your project-based charges into more predictable and consistent revenue, which looks similar to product-like charging. Most SaaS companies follow this payment model. So, you get paid an upfront fee for the duration of the project. You can use Stripe, Square Payment, G2 Deals, or a similar payment service, and your client's credit card will be charged automatically. There are no delays and no need to send reminders in this system.

2. Implement the Retainer Model

As an agency, you have many options. You can charge an upfront fee and claim the remaining fee through an invoice after the completion of the project. It's quite transparent and doesn't lead to any fuss or trouble later on, as everything is documented and communicated to the relevant people at each step.

However, it doesn't come without its flaws. It can expose you to cash flow issues because of late payments. In that case, you can switch to a retainer model.

In this model, you charge a retainer fee, and you have numerous ways to calculate it. You can divide the project fee by the number of months you'll work on it. For example, if the total fee for the project is $7500 and it's spread over five months, then you'll get a $1500 per month recurring fee.

The prime benefit of this model is that you can avoid late payments as the client is supposed to pay on time to keep the project from collapsing midway. Secondly, it offers a high degree of predictability.

Image Source: Runn

3. Use Deposits as a Guarantee

Clients can pause or abort a project at any time, even without making any investment, because it doesn't affect them at all. You can ensure future payment by using deposits as a guarantee. The step makes a client commit to the project and ensures that they pay for it.

Most agencies don't charge a high deposit because they want to ensure on-time payment.

However, it works given the upfront amount is substantial enough, so a client cannot hold or defer the remaining amount. So, you should collect at least half of the payment upfront to prevent late payments.

Final Words

If you want to ensure guaranteed payments, design your contracts smartly. The contract should mention everything related to payment in clear, concise terms to prevent misunderstandings later on.

As an agency, you can split the entire project fee into a 40% down payment, 40% when you complete half of the project and the remaining 20% after the project gets completed.

Alternatively, you can also sign a one-month, two-month, or three-month term and send the invoice accordingly. Moreover, you should clearly outline the scope of work, due dates, and late payment penalty to prevent any disagreements in the future. So, all prices and payment terms should be included in the contract to ensure long-term success as an agency.

Social media has powerful business benefits, but it can easily overwhelm any marketer. The present social media marketing landscape is riddled with variety and vastness.

As a result, businesses are having a hard time managing different social media channels. Few agencies can keep their channels active. Without a pragmatic plan, inquiries and messages remain unanswered, and you cannot tap the fullest potential of these channels.

You need a cocktail of energy, attention, resources, consistency, expertise, and effort to succeed. It calls for the implementation of robust social media marketing strategies.

Your absence on social media can severely hurt your growth because 3.6 billion people use social media worldwide.

What Is Social Media Management?

You can use social media platforms to achieve many objectives, some of which are as follow -

• Build Relationships With Prospects
• Create Awareness About Your Brand
• Establish Yourself as an Authority in Your Niche
• Nurture Your Brand and Grow It

Efficiently using different social media channels to achieve the above objectives is known as social media management.

Here are the seven tips for digital marketing agencies to effectively use social media for growth -

1. Use Social Listening to Improve Your Marketing

You can drive many benefits using social listening, some of which are as follows.

• Monitor Your Branding
• Develop a Better Content Strategy for Your Brand
• Use Social Listening for Social Selling
• Conduct Competitor Analysis and Learn From It
• Identify Market Trends
• Tap the Most Effective Social Influencers to Promote Your Products

A. Monitor Your Branding

You can monitor your brand name by tracking your brand mentions online. Social listening is also helpful in creating better content. According to Convince and Convert, content marketing is the most effective tactic for 58% of marketing professionals.

B. Develop a Better Content Strategy for Your Brand

But to counter the excessive noise on social media, you need to create highly relevant content for your target audience, and this won't be possible without social listening.

C. Use Social Listening for Social Selling

Social listening is also effective in social selling and is becoming a hot trend globally. People constantly search for recommendations regarding products and services. There are many opportunities you can exploit on social media for selling.

D. Conduct Competitor Analysis

People use social media to discuss your brand and competitors. You will also find people looking for alternatives and inquiring about the features of different products. Social listening also allows you to discover the issues your product or service can solve for people.

Tip: You can use these tools to spy on your competitors.

E. Identify Market Trends

Social conversations allow you to identify market trends and know what people want. If there is a shift in market trends, you can be the first person to get it through social listening and tweak your social media management strategy accordingly. It makes you an agile and highly competitive agency or business.

F. Tap the Most Effective Social Influencers

Social listening will also help you to find the most effective brand ambassadors and social influencers to promote your products and services. Social conversations will reveal which influencers people follow in your niche and why. It will also help you to avoid collaborating with fake influencers that have little or no engagement.

Social Listening Tools You Can Use - You can use many tools for social listening, such as Mention, Brandwatch, and Awario.

2. Tap Social Analytics

Social media analytics is a lighthouse in the vast ocean of marketing. It gives you insightful information about your social posts' performance, audience psychology, hot market trends, and consumer behavior. DashClicks' Analytics App will provide you with a storehouse of information sourced from the analytics section of different social platforms and third-party tools.

Social media analytics also provide crucial insights into audience engagement and referral traffic. These metrics are quite important to succeed on different social platforms. These insights tell you which of your posts are receiving the highest engagement and from where you are getting referral traffic so that you can adopt a minimalistic approach and focus on the most effective channels and strategies.

Tracking your post performance helps you build a solid content strategy and eliminate wasteful practices. Social media analytics also allows you to do competitor analysis. Through competitor analysis, you get to know your competitors' strategies to succeed in this marketplace, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

3. Use a Social Media Calendar

A social media calendar enables you to achieve multiple marketing objectives. It helps you post content according to the different stages of the buyer's journey in the sales funnel. So you have enough content for different stages, such as the awareness stage, consideration stage, and conversion stage.

Promote your blog posts and YouTube channel through social media using a social calendar and also seize the opportunities to utilize events and festivals to promote sales and run marketing campaigns.

Image Source: HootSuite

For example, you can use the first fortnight of February to promote your brand, products, and services on Valentine's week. You can use a social media calendar to create posts to announce contests, promotions, and discounts during the festive season to engage more and more people.

You can also reward your loyal customers on this occasion and use the testimonials and reviews to promote your brand. With a social calendar, it will be possible because you need to publish your posts for the entire Valentine's week, including Rose Day, Propose Day, Chocolate Day, Hug Day, and Valentine's Day.

Announce the contest at the beginning of the fortnight, promote it on your channels, conduct it around the 6th or 7th of February, and build engagement through small contests, rewards, and card samples. Save Valentine's Day for the big announcement of the contest's three winners.

4. Use a Social Media Scheduling Tool

Ideally, businesses use two to three social media channels, which makes managing and scheduling posts manually extremely daunting. Social media scheduling tools such as Buffer, HootSuite, Sprout Social, and Coschedule can ease the burden on your team.

Consistency is the key to success on social media; these tools allow you to be consistent amidst the chaos. Create as many posts as you want according to your content calendar and schedule them to keep your social channels active and prevent missing a post on a crucial day.

Image Source: Yourstory

5. Create a Social Media Strategy

Not every business has the same objective. Some might be interested in brand awareness, while others can be keen on boosting sales and growing their client base. A social media strategy helps you make an action plan to achieve the desired results. But engagement is the key to success in any social strategy you create.

Image Source: HootSuite Blog

You should first boost engagement, and you can easily achieve it if you know what your customers are looking for. Initiate meaningful, relevant, and interesting conversations, be friendly and increase your posts' engagement.

Think about people's needs and desires and put them above yours. Nothing works better on social media than talking about the things people love and crave for. Offer solutions and choose the right metrics and KPIs.

6. Brainstorm What You Need to Share

Social media is not one-way traffic. It gives customers a historical opportunity to interact with brands and sometimes even dictate the terms. The only exceptions are the monopolistic markets.

So, do some A/B testing and ask your teams to brainstorm what to post to achieve the best results. Explore the hot topics and make mindmaps to research interesting subtopics. Share case studies and amazing stats that can be an eye-opener for your audiences.

7. Increase Brand Awareness

You can boost your brand on social media, unlike any place else. You can build a community around your business and offer top-notch customer service through channels like Twitter and Facebook. Many market leaders, including the world's leading brands and airlines, use Twitter to provide instant customer support. Instant customer support helps you build a loyal customer base.

Emirates Airlines uses Twitter to market its brand and tourism in the UAE. It promotes its own services, events in Dubai and UAE, and important milestones the emirates achieve.

Final Words

Social media marketing is tremendously powerful because of the increasing popularity of social media channels. You should maintain an active presence on these channels, even if it is Tik Tok. Building strong relationships with your audience using social media is the key to achieving your business objectives, such as increasing brand awareness, boosting sales, and offering customer support.

You might need different tools to achieve your client's business objectives and manage your social media profiles on various channels. If it sounds overwhelming, you can outsource DashClicks' white-label social posts services, TikTok ads services, and Facebook ads, helps your agency scale quickly.

If you want your business to scale exponentially, you may think of setting aside a considerable amount of money and time for its marketing. After all, marketing boosts the visibility of a business and helps it get discovered by its target audience. But, several small businesses are tight on budget and have a little amount of time, restricting their marketing activities. If you own a small business and currently face this predicament, then fret not! We have a list of low-budget and some absolutely free marketing ideas for your business.

From leveraging the potential of social media to hosting a webinar, these simple yet effective marketing ideas prove to be immensely useful. Let's start:

1. Publish Amazing Content

Do you still don't own a blog? Stop everything and take every step to get your blog rolling! As per the latest statistics, 77% of internet users read blogs on a regular basis. Hence, a blog helps you market your business in the best way possible. Begin with composing instructional guides, best practices, and top 10 lists.

2. Team Up With Other Businesses

When you collaborate with other businesses from your industry, your business gains high exposure to an entirely new audience. You can collaborate offline via an exclusive event or online with a webinar to team up with another business.

3. Host an Event or a Class

In case you notice no upcoming speaking opportunities for you to market your business, just go ahead and create your own. All you need to do is host a class or announce an event at your local library or coworking space.

Tip: When you plan the event or class, ensure you print some flyers and put them on different bulletin boards of nearby coffee shops or libraries. To create professional-looking flyers effortlessly, use DesignWiz, a versatile flyer maker that helps you design eye-catching flyers quickly and easily.

4. Apply for Business Awards

It is not uncommon for organizations and industries to have business awards. If you apply for and ultimately win a business award in your industry, it will definitely generate free buzz. Plus, you can display it in the form of a badge on your site. Winning an award in your field means free marketing for your business and a boost in credibility.

5. Repurpose Your Content

If you already have some old content, consider recycling it. For instance, if you have a collection of blog posts on a particular topic, you can breathe new life into it by converting it into an eBook. Similarly, convert a study you conducted into an infographic. All in all, make the most of the work you have already done.

6. Live Stream Workplace Activities

Live stream events with the help of YouTube and Facebook. Here are some ideas on what you can live stream:

• Sneak peek of a new product
• “How it’s made” videos
• Instructional videos
• Live coverage of a local event

7. Start a Podcast

As per the latest statistics, about one-third of Americans listen to podcasts at least once a month. Hence, we strongly recommend that you start a podcast.

Now, you may think starting a podcast is expensive. However, all you require is hosting and a microphone. This initial spend also comes with multiple benefitsāit will help you create awareness, humanize your brand, and showcase your expertise.

Tip: When you start a podcast, ensure you invite other experts and business owners to join in. Doing so helps promote your business to their audiences as well.

8. Answer Queries

Dedicate some time to respond to questions on platforms such as Quora. Also, stay active on different online forums associated with your industry. Being active on Quora and online forums enables you to establish yourself as an authority figure. Moreover, your business also gets discovered by new audiences.

9. Leverage Pinterest and Instagram

Pinterest and Instagram are amazing platforms to tell your brand's story in a visual manner. As per the latest social media statistics, there are over 1 billion active users on Instagram.

The best thing is - it's free. You just need your phone's camera to click photos and know how to make tiny edits to them.

Here are some suggestions on the kinds of photos you can publish on both Pinterest and Instagram:

• Image testimonials
• Behind-the-scenes of your business
• Asking your customers to share images of how they use your service or products

10. Make It Personal

Dedicate some time to appreciate and acknowledge the support of your existing customers. For instance, you can give a shoutout to them in a video or write a personalized handwritten “thank you” note and send it to them. These kinds of gestures will make your customers feel wanted, and they might even do some free marketing for you by recommending your business to others.

11. Give It Away

Don't hesitate to give a free sample of your product or a free trial of your service to people. If they like your product or service, they will definitely consider purchasing more of your offerings.

12. Host Informative Webinars

You can always consider organizing webinars to promote your business and offer useful information to interested customers. If the latest statistics are to be believed, one webinar can get you over 500 leads.

Use webinar platforms such as GoToMeeting and WebEx to broadcast your webinar in seconds! Ensure you promote your webinar via an email newsletter or on social media platforms one to two weeks before the start of the event.

13. Create and Post Helpful Videos

According to the latest video marketing statistics, 66% of people said they prefer watching a short video to know about a service or product.

Videos have the ultimate power to engage people. It may come as a surprise, but 1/3 of online activity is spent viewing videos. Now, you may think you need to hire a professional to create and post videos on YouTube. But this isn't the case. With social media apps like Facebook and Instagram and a personal device, DIY video marketing has become pretty effortless. Try it, and you will know for yourself!

Tip: Here are some videos ideas that help create a connection with your audience:

• Product demos
• Instructional videos
• Interview with industry experts and your staff

Note: In your videos, add a personal message or branding message accordingly. Also, end with a strong CTA (e.g., Place your order today!). Once done, distribute the video in emails, on your website, on YouTube, and on other social media channels.

14. Make Use of Employee's Email Signatures

This is one of the most simple and cost-effective promotion ideas for small and big businesses alike. Inform your team to add a brief sentence with a CTA in their email signatures. Now, whenever they send an email, your potential customers will see a marketing message. Pretty cool, isn't it?

15. Utilize LinkedIn

LinkedIn is often overlooked while searching for marketing ideas for a business. You must utilize LinkedIn in different ways in order to market your business. For instance, enter into dialogue with your connections, contribute to forums, share your offers and blog posts, and share quality content posted by others.

Tip: Encourage your employees to stay active on the platform as well.

16. Create Infographics

One of the best small business promotion ideas, infographics can get you free organic traffic and help increase your search rankings.

If you have engaging data handy, share it in the form of an infographic. An infographic showcases important information visually and attracts a lot of interest and even “backlinks.”

Tip: To translate data into infographics, you can always use tools such as Canva and Infogram.

17. Create a Free Google My Business Account

Particularly for local businesses, a Google Business Profile is a free yet effective marketing strategy. The listing makes your business appear in Google Maps, the Knowledge Panel for branded searches, and the local section of Google Search.

Listen Up: You need to optimize your Google My Business profile for it to appear higher on local results and Google Maps (this means, you need to have verified ownership of it, which can be done via your Google My Business account.)

18. Tag People on Social Media

Tag your loyal customers on social media and reach a new potential audience, increase your following, and get more clients. Also, make it a point to encourage your followers to tag your business in their posts.

19. Use Hashtags

Want to know how to advertise without money? A free marketing idea to expand your reach is to use relevant hashtags in your social media posts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram.

Image Source

Tip: Apart from using trending or broad hashtags, also incorporate more specific hashtags (similar to long-tail keywords). Additionally, make sure to incorporate location-based hashtags if you are a local business.

20. Get Some Snazzy Business Cards

Get some awesome business cards, then give them to everyone you meet. The more individuals know about your business, the better.

21. Attend Networking/Industry Events

Industry conferences and trade shows bring together business minds from every industry. Make it a point to attend these events, as it will help you develop new contacts and learn new marketing strategies for your business. Moreover, these events also have seminars that teach you how to enhance your skills in social media, sales, advertising, etc.

22. Start Small

When it comes to marketing, the thought of a large-scale national campaign comes to mind. However, you can always start small. What we mean to say is - you can take steps to get involved with your community to market your business.

Think about things like - Is there a non-profit or charity where you can volunteer? Can you create bookmarks that promote your business and leave them at your nearest library?

23. Offer to Speak

Look for opportunities to speak in front of an audience to promote your business. Local business groups, libraries, industry conferences, community colleges, and volunteer organizations frequently require speakers.

24. Craft an Impactful Elevator Pitch

For those new to the term, an elevator pitch summarizes what you do in one or two sentences. Create and hone your elevator pitch in a way that you can easily explain what you do to anyone you meet for the first time or when you are networking.

Image Source

Tip: A good elevator pitch should talk about solving a problem and intrigue the listener. Also, when you are at a networking event, make it a point to use your elevator pitch as an icebreaker.

25. Look for Guest Blog Opportunities

You can always think of blogging on other websites to reach new audiences. The best part about doing this is, it is completely free! All you need to do is dedicate some time to research guest blog opportunities and then, eventually write a quality article for the guest blog.

Conclusion

From creating an impactful elevator pitch to repurposing your content, these marketing ideas go a long way in marketing your business. Armed with these ideas, you get to make a considerable amount of impact when it comes to promoting your business to your potential customers.

The bottom line? You don't need a huge budget to get results with your marketing. You can always think outside the box and put in a little creativity to make the most of your limited marketing budget.

Now, it is our turn to ask questions. Do you know some other low-budget marketing ideas? We would love to know your suggestions!

SEO is indeed an excellent strategy to grow your web traffic. However, you must not rely completely on it.

Let us explain this in more detail - think about a scenario where you only depend on SEO for your website traffic and Google introduces a change in its algorithm. As a result of this change, you risk losing potential customers.

To ensure that a change in the Google Algorithm doesn't halt your business, we recommend diversifying your methods of growing website traffic.

A word of caution here! We are in no way saying that you don't have to pay attention to SEO. Every website, regardless of niche, must follow the best SEO practices to make sure it gets indexed and does not get penalized by Google.

In this blog, we are going to discuss the strategies that work as fruitful additions to an already existing SEO plan.

All said and done, let's begin our list of the top strategies to increase website traffic without SEO:

1. Content Marketing

Content Marketing lets you organically advertise your business via high-quality content. Content marketing strategies include infographics, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, downloadable PDFs, blog posts, etc.

For example, Toggl is a time tracking software company that frequently produces insightful blog posts and research data related to work-life, career, and productivity.

This attracts users interested in productivity, time management, and well-being in the workspace. When they check out Toggl's blog, they discover the time tracking app, a productivity tool by the brand. Some of the users convert, increasing web traffic as well as the ROI of the company.

Tip: To know in detail about creating a content marketing strategy, read our start-to-finish guide.

2. Writing Guest Posts

For those who aren't familiar with the term, a guest post is a post you write and publish on another person's website or blog. When you do this, you benefit from their audience and traffic.

This strategy demands only one thing - your time. Dedicate a certain amount of your time in finding the correct website for guest posting, pitching the website-blog owner, thinking about guest post ideas, and then curating the blog. Alternatively, you can look for guest posting services to make things easier for you.

Image Source

After your guest post gets published, you get the chance to drive traffic back to your own website via your website URL. The link is added within the byline, which is posted after the end of the article.

3. Email Marketing

In 2020, 78% of marketers stated that email holds importance in overall company success.

Email marketing is a direct way of reaching your potential customers. Regarded as the perfect means for creating long-term relationships, it allows you to ask for feedback, post questions, and introduce soft sales in an easy manner.

Considered one of the best ways to increase web traffic, email marketing is a strategy you must surely try. A few tips for effective email marketing to grow website traffic includes:

• Post-behind-the-scenes content and share stories
• Make it convenient to read and share your post. Include links to your social media channels, recent blog posts, and sales page in all your emails.

4. Using Reddit

Reddit is another way to increase your website traffic without SEO, and that, too, for free!

In case you don't know, Reddit is more like a discussion forum. To grow web traffic via Reddit, you first need to take out time to engage with SubReddits. We say this because you may feel the urge to simply head to Reddit and post your links to a few SubReddits. But we recommend against it.

Redditors do not like self-promotions that much. Therefore we suggest that you engage with SubReddits and offer value in the form of comments and upvotes. Then, after you create some engagement, you can go ahead and promote some of your brand's stuff (without being pushy, ofcourse!).

Image Source

5. Social Media Marketing

According to the latest social media statistics, there are 4.59 billion social media users, meaning one thing - you should promote your business on social media.

An effective social media campaign can increase traffic to your website and raise brand awareness. Before executing the campaign, make sure you plan well. Remember to use the right channels for your business. Also, keep these key points in mind:

• To quickly broadcast an update, use Twitter. To gain more followers for your brand on Twitter, follow some tweeters from the same industry.
• If you want to get traffic by sharing images, use Instagram and Pinterest. Remember to keep your posts interesting so that users are prompted to click your link and share it.
• If you think posting on professional networks like LinkedIn will benefit you, ensure you regularly post on them. This will help drive traffic to your website and help establish your credibility in the industry. One way to amplify your reach on LinkedIn is to use an intuitive social employee advocacy platform. This powerful tool allows your employees to discover, filter, recommend, and share pre-approved company content to their personal social profiles.

6. Providing Amazing Customer Service & Asking For Review

Even when you ramp up your social media marketing efforts to grow web traffic, it can all go to waste due to one thing - poor customer service.

How to Provide Excellent Customer Service?

When users complain on social media platforms, ensure you offer a polite and prompt response. It will help build respect for your brand. If users send a complaint through email, offer the best possible service so that they purchase more products/services in the future.

Image Source

All in all, a few basic tips to keep in mind include:

• Reply in a prompt manner
• Provide as many suggestions for customer issues as you can
• Apologize if you make a mistake and provide refunds/coupons

If you consistently offer great customer service, you can also approach users to review your business.

Platforms such as Yelp and Trustpilot are well-suited for building positive reviews. A lot of users visit these websites before they decide to make a purchase. Hence having a good profile can increase your reputation.

7. Getting Interviewed

To try out this strategy, you first need to search for a podcast interview website as per your niche. Once you find one, pitch them for an interview. When you get interviewed, you grow traffic to your website and get recognized in your industry. It is also a great way to establish authority.

8. Influencer Marketing

Influencers are mainly social media users with a huge number of active followers, who trust and care about what the influencer endorses, shares, and recommends.

With influencer marketing, you promote your business via word of mouth with an influencer's help. With the support of an influencer, your brand gains exposure to their audience and their audience's network at the same time. As a result of this, more referral traffic comes your way.

Listen Up: As per the latest stats, 80% of consumers have bought something because an influencer recommended it. Hence, you can always get in touch with an influencer to promote your website.

9. Video Marketing

We all can agree on one point - videos are both visual and auditory. This makes video content more memorable than text. According to the latest stats, video content is 1200% more successful than other types of content.

Consider video marketing to increase traffic to your website. Upload videos on Vimeo and Youtube. You can also think about adding videos to your web content. 66% of people state they'd choose to see a short video to know about a service or product. These videos can help website visitors make a purchase decision. You can increase your website's conversion if you add videos to your product pages.

Image Source

10. Try Paid Ads

Content marketing is advantageous, but you may have to spend a lot on it, particularly if you have to pay established writers to produce well-researched, original posts. Most of these projects can even take months to deliver results - a timeline that a lot of brands may not find practical.

If you want quick results with a budget you can control, we recommend you consider paid ads.

Paid ads can instantly lead to hundreds of clicks to your website.

Today, getting your ads noticed by the right people has become so much easier. For instance, Facebook gives multiple targeting options and customer personas to help your business get noticed by your target customers without spending a lot on mass advertising.

Image Source

You can even advertise on lesser-known platforms such as Reddit if you know that your potential customers hang out there.

Conclusion

From writing guest posts to using reddit, we have discussed a range of options you can try to increase your website traffic without SEO. If you want a point to begin, we recommend that you work on improving your social media strategies. It creates brand awareness, helps connect with more users, and drives organic traffic at a relatively faster rate.

All in all, with these practical tips, you will have multiple traffic sources, and you will no longer be left stranded by changes in the Google algorithm. Make sure you track and scale the traffic sources you are using to bring individuals to your site.

These tips hold the power to transform the way you attract customers. Which ones are you thinking of using first?