How to promote an advertising agency without money. Promotion of a real estate agency - effective marketing techniques. How to open an advertising agency: calendar perspectives

For a business to be successful, an entrepreneur must take care of advertising his product or service. To do this, there are many methods that allow you not to think about how to promote a business from scratch without having a large start-up capital. But not every newbie will be able to independently promote their business using these tools, since advertising in any form has its own nuances and must comply with certain rules.

How to promote your business - promotion methods and tools

The first step that an entrepreneur must take is to determine the boundaries of their financial investments. A businessman must clearly know the amount that he can spend on business promotion and advertising without going beyond the established limits.

A large business, as a rule, requires significant investments and expensive advertising. If there is sufficient start-up capital, a novice entrepreneur can contact advertising agencies that will help to place information about the client's product on all available platforms - in the media, on stands and banners, on transport and in it, and so on.

Small businesses most often do not have money for expensive advertising, since the start-up capital is limited. Businessmen have to look for alternative ways to promote their project on your own. There are a lot of such budget methods of promotion, and most of them bear fruit, you just need to use them wisely.

Website/blog creation

Today, not a single profitable project can do without the Internet, since it is there that a large audience of potential customers gathers. Business development on the Internet begins with the creation of a company website. Every entrepreneur who wants to succeed in business must understand that an attractive website is the same as business card, the face of the firm.

You can make such a website or blog on your own, having previously studied a mountain of information on design and SEO promotion, or order it from professionals, because competently optimizing a website is a difficult task.

It is in the interests of a businessman to ensure that the site attracts the attention of new customers and looks solid, inspiring confidence.

Advertising in the media, on TV and radio, marketplaces

Advertising on TV and in print media is the main means of attracting potential customers who rarely use the Internet, or do not go to it at all and cannot see your site. However, when buying such advertising, the entrepreneur spends a lot of money in vain, as he pays for impressions to all viewers, who are not always his target audience. The same goes for advertisements in the media and on the radio.

Reputation management. More than half of consumers trust advertising on TV more than similar advertising on the Internet or other sources.
Maximum audience coverage. It is difficult to find a person who never turns on the TV. According to TNS Russia, 70% of Russians watch TV every day, and 99% turn it on at least once a month.
The video ad format allows you to show consumers a product from all sides and tell a mini story about it, lasting a few seconds.

Marketplaces are places where people come to choose goods and purchase them. That is, it is here that the target audience gathers, which must be attracted to your product or service. There is usually very high competition, but the flow of visitors is strong enough for every business to get its own client.

Social media promotion

The easiest and least expensive way to promote a business on the Internet is to create a page or community of the company in popular in social networks. All investments in such advertising will only be paid to the administrator - a person who will update information daily and communicate with subscribers. Communication is the main moment for the promotion of a group in social networks, because it is for him that they were created. The first comments under the posts should indicate the right path and promotion tactics.

She won't start working on the first day. It can take months and years to create an image, and everything can be ruined in one moment. This is one of the pitfalls of such advertising that await aspiring entrepreneurs. In order not to make an irreparable mistake in developing a business in social networks, you need to find a real professional who has successful experience in running such communities.

Promotion on the Internet

IN internet advertising costs much less than in the media or on TV. This is especially noticeable for start-up entrepreneurs who have only recently entered the open market with your product. It is easy to customize it for a specific target audience, and it is just as easy to analyze and calculate the effectiveness after its release. There are several types of advertising on the Internet, with which you can promote your business and find the first and regular customers without having a website:

contextual advertising - appears to the user when a specific request is entered into the browser's search engine;
banner advertising - an ad and an image displayed on specific sites;
teaser advertising - also placed on narrowly targeted sites in the form of an advertising block designed to intrigue and direct the visitor to the advertiser's website;
targeted advertising - displayed for users of social networks related to a certain target audience.

Obviously, advertising on the Internet has many advantages, but, nevertheless, there are also disadvantages. In order not to waste money on promotion on the Internet, you should be aware of the following points in order to take timely measures to eliminate possible errors:

Before launching advertising on the Internet, it is necessary to find out in advance from which sources the target audience takes information about the purchased products.
The Internet is highly competitive, so before advertising, you need to make sure that your business is unique in order to convince customers to buy your product.

Banners and billboards

This type of advertising is used both online and offline. A banner is a rubberized fabric with advertising that is placed on the walls of residential buildings or shopping centers to attract customers. A billboard is a stand-alone structure on which large advertisements are placed. Most often, such advertising can be found on roadsides in large cities or along highways with a stream of cars. Such advertising can be seen from afar, so it easily attracts the attention of not only the target audience, but other potential customers.

Internet banner is a static and animated advertisement with a slogan and a picture, which is placed on popular sites with high traffic. When you click on such a banner, the user instantly goes to the advertiser's website. To get more attention. New types are constantly being developed:

streamers are placed at the top of the site page;
rich media containing interactive and multimedia elements;
pop-unders that partially cover the site page when developing;
expandable banners that are placed anywhere on the page and increase when you hover over the mouse;
imitation banners that pop up at the bottom of the page and imitate messages in instant messengers.

PR company - articles and press releases

You need to properly promote your business, as this can attract new customers and help promote the company. This is done by special PR agencies, whose activities are aimed at improving the image of the client company.

You can do PR on your own. To do this, you will have to take care of issuing press releases about the activities of your company. You need to do this regularly, in accordance with the schedule, for example, every Tuesday or Thursday. Releases should not be large in order to focus the attention of customers on the company's key offerings.

News articles in major media and online publications will also improve the company's image.

To do this, you can use other communication channels - the company's website, corporate newspaper, newsletter or announcements in trading floor or receptionist.

How to promote from scratch, develop a business and make it profitable - Internet solutions for promotion and development

The advice to advance among competitors on your own can be disastrous for newcomers to business. It is difficult to successfully unwind if there is a complete “zero” behind you, and only an idea sits in your head. IN modern society with advanced technology, it is much easier to do this than even 20 years ago. To spread information about your business among a large number of potential customers, it is enough to turn to the Internet. Modern man can no longer imagine his life without the World Wide Web and spends a lot of time in it. This is what successful entrepreneurs use by using various tools to promote their business on the Internet.

SEO optimization for website promotion

Promoting a new site with the help of SEO optimization is a long-term business, as a tangible return on investment appears after several months, and sometimes even years. It's all about the high competition that operates in the Internet space and does not allow beginners to quickly take top positions in search engines. Nevertheless, the desire to get into the top ten rankings is not always justified. Not a single optimizer can guarantee a place in the TOP-3, since it can only indirectly influence the position of the site.

The search engine plays an important role in the ranking of sites for certain queries. It is she who changes the document ranking algorithm at her own discretion, and it is not always clear how this algorithm will be built. This means that despite the efforts of optimizers, promotion principles can change every minute and it is impossible to predict them.

SEO promotion is influenced by many parameters:

website;
technical settings;
page content;
mention of the company name;
business age;
conversion;
availability of goods on the site;
terms of delivery and prices;
presence of the company in the directories;
audience persistence.

The ability to understand the target audience and customize the resource for it is the main quality of a competent SEO specialist. He must not only have the knowledge of a marketer in order to be able to develop a website and stimulate repeat orders from regular customers, but also be technically savvy, since the profession is entirely related to programming, layout, linguistics, analytics and data processing.

To increase website traffic with SEO optimization, you need to take into account several points at once:

page relevance;
content uniqueness;
quality design;
registration in search engines and free directories;
social bookmarking and so on.

The main task is to make it clear to a potential client that the product you offer is better than that of competitors, and also to convince search engines of this. Besides, important role plays search engine optimization pages. It is necessary to adhere to the established rules and observe a certain structure of the material:

Title, i.e. page title;
H1-H6 - headings 1-6 levels;
the presence of keywords in the text;
use of highlight tags in text;
availability of informative content.

It is necessary to take care of the external optimization of the site, but only after the above points are brought to the ideal. The more often a link to your site appears in various Internet resources, the better for promotion. Links can be distributed independently or use special exchanges, register in free directories that are suitable for the subject of your site.

The most convenient and effective way of promotion on the Internet is the placement of contextual advertising, which is shown only to people belonging to the target audience. It starts working when the user enters a question of interest into the search bar, and the browser, along with suitable sites, displays contextual search ads.

Context not only helps search engines make ads look like natural search results, but also solves a number of other problems:

The advertiser has the ability to independently control their costs and determine the cost of clicks.
With the help of the contextual advertising system, an entrepreneur has the opportunity to choose the regions of impressions, determine the demographic and behavioral interests of users.
Contextual advertising allows you to draw the attention of the audience to the site, a specific product and promotions.

The most popular contextual advertising services are Yandex.Direct, Begun and Google AdWords. To use their services, it is enough to register with them and, following the prompts, create your first business promotion campaign.

Greater return on target audience with minimal cost can be achieved by sending promotional emails. The distribution is made in as soon as possible, does not require a large budget, but at the same time allows you to win the attention of customers. The entrepreneur will only need a database with email addresses of potential customers, which can be developed different ways. These can be contests that require online registration, or an offer to subscribe to site news if you post interesting and high-quality content. The subscription form should not contain many items so as not to scare off users. Enough name and address Email. If you regularly carry out mailing, then in the future it can become a real marketing tool for creating the company's image and promoting the product on the market.

Promotion in social networks

Even if your company still does not have its own page or community in popular social networks, you should not ignore the possibility of such advertising. It is here that most of the target audience is gathered, which is easy to track. A popular way to advertise your business on social networks is to buy posts or reposts in popular communities. This allows you not only to increase traffic to the company's website, but also to attract users to the newly created group of your company. The more subscribers the community in which you are going to buy advertising has, the higher its cost will be, but also the greater the reach of the audience.

How to advertise and promote your business - additional ways

A properly built marketing policy should turn even a loss-making business into a profitable one. If, for some reason, the main methods of advertising do not give the desired flow of customers, you can always find additional ways to advertise your business.

Creating your own brand, logo and business cards

Corporate identity makes the company memorable for customers and distinguishes it from competitors. It includes a logo, slogan or slogan of the company, a certain color scheme, business cards. Everyone will understand which chain of restaurants fast food in question if they see the characteristic yellow letter "M". Or three oblique stripes on clothing and sporting goods will immediately give out a well-known brand. Such seemingly trifles, but they work for the company's image and increase customer confidence in the product.

Corporate identity should be traced everywhere - from corporate clothing to official letterheads of the company.

A distinctive sign should also be on the business card, since every businessman should be able to leave contact information to a potential partner or client. The business card should not be overloaded. On it you can put the company logo, its slogan and contact details:

company address and telephone numbers;
description of the type of activity;
advantages over competitors.

If on initial stage For business development, developing your own brand is not so important, then for an already established company, the absence of distinctive features can cause suspicion and distrust of customers.

Promotions and bonus programs

Every year it becomes more and more difficult for stores to compete and fight for the attention of customers. The same applies to any other business that wants not only to stay afloat, but also to develop further. The easiest way to attract and retain customers is through promotions and bonus programs, which are cumulative. Consumers always pay attention to sales, and they are more willing to buy a product with a “yellow price tag”, even if the price on it remains unchanged.

Promotions allow you to stimulate sales and promote business, focusing on short-term demand.

With this tool, you can solve the following tasks:

short-term increase in sales volumes;
capturing market share for the long term;
attracting new consumers;
poaching customers from competitors;
encouraging consumers to buy more;
retention of loyal customers.

Bonus programs, in turn, also increase the number of repeat orders and purchases, as they are cumulative.

Partnerships with established companies

IN Western countries The concept of "B2B", that is, "business for business", is quite common. It is common when one company decides to develop another, providing it with accompanying services, additional equipment, goods intended for the production of other goods or for professional use. Is it beneficial or not Russian market? Of course, everywhere there are nuances and pitfalls, but in general, when planning to cooperate with established companies, an entrepreneur makes the right decision. The main thing is that this transaction benefits all participants and leads to the desired profit.

An example of such cooperation could be a simple situation where you are a small supplier who finds it difficult to break through the competition on his own in the market. But your services may be of interest to a large company that sells the same product or produces something based on it. In this case, cooperation benefits both parties to the transaction.

Congratulations and gifts for significant dates to partners and regular consumers / suppliers

Advertising your business and warming up interest in it can be achieved in such an unusual way. Significant dates are a great way to increase the trust of partners and customers. Not every company or manufacturer knows personal information about customers, and therefore will not wish them a happy birthday, and in this way you can stand out and increase sympathy for yourself and your business. You can find out significant dates by means of a questionnaire at the time of issuing a client's discount card or when drawing up a contract for the provision of services, add this item to the number required for completion.

Loyalty with customers

A good relationship with consumers plays a huge role in promoting a business. Grateful customers are the best advertisement for your business and are more likely to come to you again and bring friends and acquaintances with them. It is on this principle that word of mouth works, which helped many at the initial stage of business development. Large companies develop reward systems for regular customers - loyalty programs. They help to cope with competitors by attracting consumers to their side.

Entrepreneurship is often considered a profitable business by ordinary people who see only the “tip of the iceberg” and do not think about how much work has been invested in this “brainchild”. Business promotion through advertising makes it possible not only not to slow down the pace of the company's development, but also to increase it, attracting new customers and partners. Knowing all the existing ways to develop your business, you can begin to implement the most daring plans and conduct successful advertising campaigns.

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Low-budget marketing… Every business owner's dream. And even “dreamer” - if, at the same time, the recognition of the company (product) would grow exponentially ... and the sales curve would bend more and more upward from day to day ..

But the reality is that marketing budgets ( advertising, PR - underline what is necessary) are made up according to known only to the "layout" himself ( read - marketer, advertiser ...) laws... And, with rare exceptions, they are a weak reflection of reality and the company's need for contacts with the target audience.

They say that the true professionalism of a marketer is to bring a company (product) to the market without a budget ... Well, or with the minimum necessary cash injections.

I don’t know how true or controversial this statement is - I can hardly imagine Coca-Cola, Mars and Adidas on the market without budgets ... but still. The fact remains, and the reality of the market is that not everyone has the budget to pay for "multi-layered" advertising campaigns. In addition, due to the still prevailing mentality of Russian business owners, who are skeptical and distrustful of their own marketing services, small and medium-sized businesses are not yet ready to part with money for advertising and other Marketing communications (because there is no clear understanding, “how can we get all this back…”).

So, what low-budget ways do you use to market your company or product?

I can offer you tools that I have used quite often in my practice, which have been tested by the market and have shown their effectiveness, and which have helped me more than once.

1. Barter. A lot of people don't like this word. Especially in accounting. I don't like it very much myself. But I must admit that such a scheme of cooperation is quite common in the Russian business segment, even among large and respected players (for example, such as Rosinter). Of course, if you have something to offer your potential partner. And, obviously, the value of your proposal for a partner should be no less than what you expect (ask) from him.

2. Exhibitions. Yes, your trade shows are good reason promote yourself in your own market among your partners and target audience. And no - it is not necessary to buy an expensive place and mount a stand. Be creative - push the boundaries of your imagination. There are many other ways to make yourself known at the exhibition, give away your contacts and collect the ones you need.

Carefully study the proposal of the exhibition organizer, the site where the exhibition will be held - look for opportunities for a low-budget "performance".

It can be just placement in the exhibition catalog, placement on the website, renting 2-3 square meters at the entrance to the exhibition, putting a girl / boy with the distribution of samples (or just some “goodies” - usefulness with your contacts), investing in a package participant, organizing a photographer with instant printing photos on the background of the press-wall with your logos, and so on - come up with! (by the way, such participation can also be closed by barter)

3. Events are internal. Meaning - your personal events for your target audience, for your potential customers. Create some kind of useful event for your customers - what is their most pressing problem? What critical question do they have that they usually pay money to answer?

Give them this answer for free! Perhaps in the form of a mini-seminar or micro-training for 4 hours, maybe together with a representative of an authoritative opinion for them (for example, if this is medicine, then this can be the head physician of a serious clinic, if trade is a manager large network, head of tax, top manager of a bank, etc.).

You can arrange such a seminar with the owner of the premises, who is also interested in an audience that intersects with you, but is not a competitor to you in terms of services. For example, it can be a cafe, club or restaurant that is simply interested in visitors and sales of the kitchen and bar. In addition, in your pre-PR campaign to recruit attendees for your event, you will promote them, as well as in post-releases and reports after the workshop. Do not forget to mention this in negotiations with the site owner.

4. Events external. Many people forget about the most useful semi-informal hangouts or, on the contrary, professional “meetings” of their decision makers (persons making decisions about cooperation) in the form of various chambers, clubs, communities, and so on.

Look - there is probably a Chamber of Commerce and Industry in your city, which periodically arranges parties for general or financial directors. Look for different trendy features, such as a mafia game club for HR directors. For accountants, these may be seminars conducted by the local IFTS. Find out where CMOs hang out in your area (if you offer printing, design, or advertising services, for example...). Find out where the logistics directors live (if you are Courier service or shipping company).

If it’s completely boring in your city and poor decision makers stupidly go home after work - see the paragraph above: think of it yourself! Your events. Finally create your club of mafia players for ____ ( insert the position you want)! Your costs are buying or ordering printing of special cards, blindfolds and beautiful rules on A4 sheets!

Any restaurant in the city will be happy to lend you space on Wednesday evenings with this theme. In addition, it is not necessary to make such evenings free. Freebie relaxes. And the mafia club requires discipline ( read the rules online). Therefore, take 100-500 rubles from the players. per evening (the amount should be such that it is dealt with painlessly, and the value received in return at times blocked such a “loss” from the wallet).

5. Press releases. Get in the habit of issuing press releases about your company every Tuesday. Releases should not be large and voluminous - make text on 1/2 printed sheet plus a couple of key sentences about the company.

Look for information breaks within the company all week long! Establish a system for collecting and processing news and, in general, everything that happens in the company. Any sneeze should flock to your department. And you yourself decide whether to air it or not ( together with the business owner, of course).

And distribute your press releases regularly across the network and through all communication channels available to you: a website, a corporate newspaper for clients, a newsletter, a bulletin board in a trading floor or a reception area… Register your press releases in free press release directories ( they are easily found anywhere search engine ). Send your news to interested publications in your region - both print newspapers and magazines, and online media.

6. Publications. The same goes for larger press releases - provide free content to journalists and the media. These can be interviews on your market, on some problem of your consumers, analytical reports and sections, statistical data ( many media outlets love different statistical compilations), just interesting publications “in the subject”. Invite the leading publication in your region to organize and maintain some special interesting column - and supply your column with relevant and fresh information weekly.

Everyone needs interesting and useful content! Finally, ask your buyers or potential clients - what is THEM interested in your topic, what do they want to know about?

7. Cases. Or case studies. Or success-story. The nature is slightly different, but the point, in principle, is one - to show your target segments by example the solution to THEIR problems. Write stories according to the formula "Problem - Solution - Result", "how bad it was before - and how wonderful it became after", the principle, I think, is clear. Stories in this vein are very attractive and have.

8. Reviews. Customer feedback is something you should collect from when your company was still a baby business. Especially if your client is a more or less well-known company in your region. On corporate color forms, with a beautiful seal, signed by the first person or a key top manager of your client.

Collect and store your reviews in a separate folder, each in a separate file, treat them carefully and with respect -) Well, without fanaticism, of course. You just have to understand that these are the results of your work. These are your "thank you, you helped us a lot" from your customers. And don't forget to digitize all your customer testimonials. Only evenly, in color, with high resolution and readable text.

9. "Word of mouth". Involve local people in promoting your company, products, trademarks. It has long been no secret to anyone that the “dress” works best in the service market. But in order for your “dress” to work, you need to work on it! What did you think? They just launched a rumor to the people - and he picked it up and carried it to the masses? Of course, it would be great if everything was so simple - no one would spend money on expensive TV and radio advertising, but only would be engaged in “injecting” rumors into the masses.

The simplest and most effective thing is to remember yourself. What information have you personally ever transmitted by word of mouth? It was probably something shocking, out of the ordinary, or terribly funny, or curious, or disgusting, or improving some aspect of your life ... Feel what I mean? Yes, that's right - it should be something that will hook.

But here, be careful - your legend should support and enhance your company/product image, not destroy it.

10. Free consultations, demos, samples. The name speaks for itself. Don't be afraid to give! Nobody likes to buy a pig in a poke. Everyone wants to try first, and then make a buying decision.

Here your marketing should work in close connection with sales as never before. Because it’s not enough just to give a try - after that you need to constantly ask at a given frequency - “Well, how did you like it? Let's buy the full version. Did not like? Why? etc...". Keep in touch, monitor your potential client. Offer him special offers, inform about new products, promotions, discounts.

But at the same time, do not be afraid to calculate and cut off “eternal tryers” - these are those who initially know that they will never buy, but they will never refuse a freebie ... You should not waste your precious time on such “non-customers” ...

11. Atmosphere and design of the client office/service hall, reception, meeting room/. In these rooms, EVERYTHING should speak about your professionalism, the quality of your services and the specialists who, in fact, provide these services, inspire confidence in you, your company, your product - every little thing and every element.

Remove already, finally, all these antediluvian letters and thanks of 2003-2007, issued to you by someone for something! Leave one - but a normal, fresh, up-to-date solid professional license, or a certificate, or a diploma, or whatever you need according to the specifics ...

No wobbly chairs, tattered tables, scorched sofas, cracked glass surfaces… Well, you remove this piece of furniture if you don’t have money yet to reupholster, repair, buy a replacement. It’s better to throw a couple of frameless “pears” for one and a half thousand rubles, if you need to somehow take up space - well, let no one sit on them, but they will give some kind of “their dude” - freshness and dynamism to your office.

12. Gift certificates, loyalty programs. That is, make sure that the client wants to not only come to you again, but bring someone else with him next time. By the way, this also works with corporate clients. You just need to think a little longer ... And ask around / observe clients, what can stimulate them to such an action.

A perfect example is large cosmetic chains, fitness clubs, mobile operators (least). Copy this ready-made and perfectly working model and apply it to your business - what exactly is stopping you? ( first Gift certificates you can also print on a color printer, if it’s really tight ... get rich - print plastic, it’s okay!)

In addition, if you have a representative office of some federal discount coupon network in your city ( like Groupon, but there are a lot of them now), or perhaps there is a local company with this kind of working principle, contact them, let them plan an advertising campaign for you. They won’t take money from you for this, but on the other hand, you will clearly see how much you can earn in one day of such a promotion with zero investment in reach and attraction. The decision is yours.

13. Cross marketing promotions with partners. Organize joint promotions with your colleagues, with whom your products can complement each other for the same target audience ( “blah blah printing house and blah blah furniture salon — only from May 1 to May 20 they are holding a joint promotion: buy office furniture and get 80% discount on any advertising printing!”). Promote them well in the region ( You can also partner with the media), share contacts with each other, and work with the resulting client base, each in its own format.

14. Contests, quizzes. This is about the same as cross-marketing, only a more entertaining format. Each partner performs its own function, makes its contribution - provides prizes of various formats and nature, covers the event, prints banners, programs the web, deals with logistics, photographs, shoots videos, feeds, clothes, etc. But someone has to take on the role of organizer and coordinator. For example, you are the initiator and creator of the concept ( which you pre-send to the partners you need for your contribution).

15. Cultivate feedback from your customers. Build relationships with them. And develop them. Invite them to express their opinion on any occasion - about your services, about the same services on the market in general, conduct surveys, call to action in your communications, provoke them to respond to your messages, conduct surveys on the website or together with partners, give them free advice and ask them to evaluate them, get their consent to receive your marketing materials (only useful to them and not often!).

Final word

Of course, all these methods of low-cost marketing do not require big money, but require the investment of other resources - these are time, strength, patience, energy, imagination and your knowledge.

Yes, and you should not be scattered on all of the methods of promotion described - try each of them in turn, see - which one works best for you, brings the most customers? Focus on the few that are most optimal for you in terms of time and labor costs / number of deals closed.

And one more piece of advice that I would like to mention, but which everyone often forgets about ... Due to blurryness and immersion in routine, probably ...

Promote and sell not your company and your products, but the "emotion" and "result" from using your services and contacting your company!

The services of a beauty salon are few people need, but a beautiful haircut and a perfect manicure - yes! I'm not at all interested in the services of an advertising agency, but here's a 20% increase in sales in 6 weeks - let's discuss this soon! There are plenty of tours to Egypt and Greece for cheap, but a complete disconnection from current worries and immersion in absolute relaxation for two weeks - there are few such offers! (if they exist at all...)

So stop, colleagues, disconnect from the hustle and bustle, take a time out for the day, go to the park, turn off your mobile phone, sit on a bench, relax, look at the fountains, people watch - there are low-budget ways to attract customers on the market, you can think of them. Just in pursuit of frenetic sales and abstract results, we don't always see them.

P.S. And don't forget that acquiring a new customer costs FIVE times as much as keeping an old one. Therefore, do not forget about your client after the first sale (obtained by one of the methods discussed in this report), in fact, work with him is just beginning here!

I would like to know from people whose experience is greater than ours in terms of promoting services in social networks:

We have created a page - what content to publish there?
What audience should be targeted advertising agency on such sites?
Is it even possible to attract clients to such an agency through social networks?

We looked at about 50 groups and pages, but did not come to a consensus on the policy of publications.

Elnara Petrova, director of the NextMedia communication agency, author of the SMM without cats podcast, curator of the SMM Specialist School online course, answers

Perhaps you will become one of the few agencies that are well represented in social networks, for example, we throw all our efforts into client sites and conduct our own rather haphazardly. So, from the request, we do not know what exactly the agency does, we do not understand the average check, we are not familiar with clients and examples of work performed, so we will reason logically.

To launch high-quality brand platforms in social networks, first you need to determine:

Target audience - write down at least 3 target groups for each site. There can be several audiences on one site, and for each you need to prepare your own interesting type of content.
Communication tasks at selected sites. For example, you have a page on VKontakte for small and medium-sized businesses, selling consulting, searching for interns and potential employees
Goals and deadlines for each site - what do you want to receive in each social network in 3 months, six months, a year, and with what resources you will achieve these goals. Example: in six months you want to get 1000 targeted subscribers on the page on VKontakte with engagement - 0.03 (according to the JagaJam system), the number of visits to the site - 200 per month, the number of requests for consulting - 5 per month. This requires unique content, advertising campaign once a month (the budget may be limited to five thousand rubles), building a personal brand of the head of the company and leading employees, launching a useful mailing list, podcast or channel in Telegram, analyzing comments under publications on sites like Cossa and sending targeted letters to potential clients in order to get to know each other. As you understand, there can be many channels and your task is to choose the right ones. For some, launching a blog on Habrahabr will be the most effective; for others, being a permanent author in profile groups on Facebook will do.
Communication strategy - what messages will you use to stand out from the competition and attract the attention of the right audience. If your forte is visual content, launch a community on VKontakte built on this. Here

Organizations and firms involved in the creation of promotional products also need to be promoted. Every year, competition in this business is growing, which means that before opening own company, you need to carefully consider how exactly you will promote the advertising agency.

To do this, it is necessary to select the most effective methods promotion and identify deliberately losing options, which are better to refuse.

This article is designed to help entrepreneurs create their own, correct and thoughtful strategy that can advertise an advertiser.

Point decoration

Facade

Despite the fact that the management of an advertising agency does not have the task of attracting the attention of all passers-by without exception, you still have to take care of the exterior design of the facade. Of course, you are not obliged to use extremely bright, catchy colors or try to “catch” the eye at any cost - it is unlikely that your potential client, the owner of a large manufacturing enterprise or the head of a serious organization will walk along the streets of the city and, noticing your agency, decides to come in and find out exactly how you work. However, your building or space must be visually appealing, because if you manage to get a client, you will need to good impression, which definitely will not contribute to peeling walls or tasteless design.

Signboard

Your agency's sign must be prominent and include your company's name. These are perhaps the most important requirements for this advertising tool. Again, you don't have to order huge, luminous signs at all, because attracting passers-by at night is not your task at all. However, some agencies prefer to make or order really bright LED designs. The motive of the leadership of such organizations is quite simple - a good, high-quality sign is a kind of indicator of how the company will work with the client, and what product it can give to the advertiser. But if at the start of a business you cannot afford such advertising medium, a simpler version will suffice.

Entry group

Outdoor advertising

Billboards

Billboards will be good advertising tools for the agency. However, if you are only looking to enter the market, try to assess your strengths sensibly. You can design the poster yourself, but you still have to pay for billboard rental, which can be too much of an expense for a start-up company. But if you can afford to install or rent billboards, try to place them in the business center of the city, on the main highways, in other words, wherever your potential clients can regularly visit - heads of organizations, owners outlets etc.

Pointers

Pointers are necessary if your agency is not located on the first line of houses, but, for example, in the yard or around the corner. By setting up a pointer, you guarantee that your client will be able to find your company easily and without difficulty.

Internet advertising

Website

Having your own website is a must for any advertising agency. You should not save time and money on this resource, because it is the "face" of your company.

So, develop a really high-quality design, create a user-friendly interface, try to make sure that when visiting the site, a potential client understands that you will provide services at the highest level.

If your resource is done in a hurry, and its design is tasteless, you can hardly count on getting a client.

If you decide to create a website on your own, be sure to read our articles:

Here we have laid out our experience and opinions on the use of various tools that you will simply need in your work. This will allow you to reduce the time to select the necessary resources to create it and get profit from the site as quickly as possible.

Direct + Adwords

Yandex.Direct and Google AdWords are the best advertising platforms in Russia. If your site meets all the requirements of these resources, you will be able to place contextual advertising, obvious advantage which is that it is not aimed at all users, but at people who are interested in the services provided by your company. Moreover, such advertising also takes into account the territorial feature, which also makes its impact even more narrowly targeted.

Groups in social networks

your target audience. Only by doing this will you be able to develop content that will be of interest to your subscribers. You can focus not on one, but on several of these groups at once, publishing information that will resonate with representatives of each of them.
your main tasks. Try to clearly decide for what purpose this or that page on the social network will serve. For example, a Facebook group can be used to find creative employees, attract SMEs, and sell consulting.
Specific deadlines and goals for each group. You can really use the resource effectively only if you answer yourself the question of what you want to get from each network. For example, you can set yourself the following task: get a thousand active subscribers on a page on Vkontakte, 10 active requests, and 300 clicks to your official website. Be prepared for the fact that in order to achieve this goal you will have to regularly advertise the group on larger thematic sites of the city, however, the cost of promotion in social networks rarely causes a serious blow to the budget, unlike, for example, such funds. outdoor advertising like billboards.
strategy. Your content should be not only interesting, but also unique, so that it can set your community apart from the competition. Define your forte(this could be visual content, for example) and actively use this advantage.

Ads on ad sites

Sending emails

Direct mailing to all potential customers is one of the most effective ways promotions for such organizations. However, you will have to work hard to get the right database, but this effort is guaranteed to pay off. In such letters, try to emphasize your main advantages, those advantages that will make a potential client give the order to you.

Printable advertisement

Leaflets

Handing out flyers of your agency near the subway does not make any sense. However, it is still worth making a batch of such materials, because they can clearly demonstrate what your agency is capable of. You can leave them in your office as mock-ups, you can try to distribute them in places of business activity.

business cards

Business cards - required attribute any advertising agency. First, they will also show customers what level of service they can expect from your company. Secondly, they will serve as a material reminder of you. Business cards are multifunctional - entrepreneurs can not only use them themselves, but also distribute them to their business partners (of course, you can count on such a course of events only if the client is satisfied with the services provided).

Booklets

Essentially, booklets have the same characteristics and the same functions as flyers, with the difference that they allow more information to be included.

Advertising in newspapers and magazines

If you can afford to advertise in thematic publications, order advertising modules, or write an informative article mentioning your agency. Such publications will definitely benefit the business, significantly increasing the company's awareness.

Other

Discounts and price promotions

To attract and retain customers, arrange special promotions, possibly with a drawing of prizes, make nice bonuses, distribute souvenirs with your company logo.

Master classes

Master classes and seminars can be non-standard and creative ways to promote your agency. Promote your seminar, for example, "How to attract a hundred clients using outdoor advertising" on all platforms available to you. If the seminar is successful, there will certainly be entrepreneurs among its attendees who will want to work with you.

word of mouth

Remember, the best advertisement is the quality of your services. Do the work efficiently and on time, try to make sure that your customers really promote their brand with your help. Your crystal clear reputation and their success will be the best recommendation for new partners.

"Barter"

If you want to increase the visibility of your company, you can negotiate with a large organization, offering them your services in exchange for the distribution of your branded products and good recommendations to partners.

Electronic directories

Use resources such as 2Gis and 2Geo. The publication of data about the enterprise in these directories is free, but it is better to refuse paid advertising on these sites due to its inefficiency.

Calls to clients

Cold calling is one of better ways promotion of an advertising agency. Until you develop a solid client base, they will become your main source of orders. Remember, passivity is definitely not for this business.

What Ads Don't Work for Advertising Agencies

Radio and television. Such media are too massive. In this case, this is more of a disadvantage than an advantage. Advertising companies should focus on a narrow, specific segment. That is why broadcasting audio and video will not bring the agency anything but additional costs.
Standers, banners. These outdoor advertising tools are also not effective for advertising agencies. In fact, this is also due to the fact that such designs and posters are aimed at people in the mass, and not at a specific target group.

Examples of slogans for advertising agencies

Ease of advertising solutions.
We work like clockwork
Team of professionals!
The result is OBVIOUS!
Shelter of unborn ideas
We are advertising!
The team that helps you win
Creative strategic purpose.
We will help you become famous!
Help to get out of the herd
We think better than you think!
We inspire!
We make money for you!
New clients for your business!
New height for your business!
Do you want us to increase something for you?
We want you to be recognized, both in heaven and on earth!
International quality at local prices.
New horizons for successful business.
The future is ours.

How to quickly promote a business from scratch? What are effective non-standard marketing techniques to attract the attention of buyers?

Every entrepreneur, whether beginner or experienced, is concerned with how to promote their business and attract as many targeted paying customers as possible.

Earlier we already wrote about traditional methods and his.

In this article, we would like to offer you other, non-standard methods of promotion of your company.

#1 Door hangers and doorknobs. Type promotional materials in a form convenient for hanging them on the doorknobs of apartments or houses of your potential customers. It looks prettier and more attractive than the sheets sticking out of the doorway, which also fall out when a person leaves his home. As a result, he has to bend over, at which point he already begins to get annoyed.

To promote a start-up business in this way, you need to correctly compose an advertising text - it will determine whether a person will be interested in your offer.

#2 Leaflets under car wipers. If your target audience is car owners, then placing advertising leaflets under the wipers is great idea. Of course, there may be problems with parking guards or shopping centers but it's worth it.

In addition, if you offer motorists goods and services that are really aimed at solving their "automobile" problems, then the degree of irritation on the part of the target audience in this case is small.

#3 Paid advertising by word of mouth. To spin new business You want as many people as possible (ideally target customers) to know about your company. One of the most effective advertisements in marketing is that which is passed on by itself - by word of mouth by satisfied customers. If your firm doesn't have enough enthusiastic clients yet, you can hire people to strike up a conversation in in public places and how to unobtrusively praise your business.

#4 Create a virtual showroom. Everyone is used to the traditional design of the company's website. To impress customers and promote your operating business, You can go the other way. Make your company's website in the form of a virtual office, salon, store, exactly reproducing in reality. Let the Internet user "walk" through your store and get acquainted with the goods that you sell. This will encourage them to visit your store and make a purchase.

#5 Night silhouettes. To promote a business without investments and money, you must show maximum ingenuity and creative imagination. One of the creative methods of promotion is advertising using the silhouette-logo of your company.

Find areas in your city with heavy night traffic (for example, next to a nightclub). Find a wall without windows - the larger its area, the better. Next, you need to agree with the owner of this building that a projector will illuminate it at night, and the logo of your business will be used as an image. Very creative!

#6 T-shirts. Not only billboards, banners and posters on poles, but also ... T-shirts can act as outdoor advertising. Order a batch of T-shirts with a catchy design and an advertising slogan and hire a group of people who will walk around the city and advertise your business. The larger the scale, the greater the effect of this form of promotion.

#7 Write a book. may be independent entrepreneurial activity, but in this case it is about writing a book, printing it, and then giving it to the people of your city in order to attract attention and create, if not a buzz about your business, then at least sustainable awareness.

#8 Arrange your business cards in relevant books. If you want to promote a business where there are many competitors, then you need to be ahead of them by a few steps in strategic plan. And apply all sorts of "guerrilla methods" of advertising. One such tricky tactic is to leave business cards in the books your potential buyers read. This can be quietly done in bookstores, libraries.

#9 The paying crowd. Have you ever seen a thirsty crowd at the opening of a new Apple store, at the entrance to Disneyland or at the premiere of " star wars"? Artificially creating buzz around your business with a crowd of people who are actually advertising you for money is a very powerful means of attracting the attention of both buyers and, if you're lucky, the local press.

#10 Bright event. How else can you promote a business without contacting an advertising agency? Create a bright, non-standard event that will serve as a starting point for promoting your business. For example, if you run a food establishment, run a donut-eating contest. If you have a fitness room, hold a competition among jocks.

Thus, in order to promote your business, you need to spend some effort and money. If you want to do it for free, then creativity, imagination and fantasy will come to the rescue.

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