It is very important for SMBs to market themselves in this competitive world

Marketing something, be it a product, a service, something tangible or intangible, is always a tricky affair, perhaps the greatest concern of any organization. It relies on two major aspects, creativity and budget allocated. That’s why today more and more start ups are using social media to publicize themselves. But are they getting it right? Is their purpose being served? That is yet to be seen. So, what is the right way to empower a company with strong marketing skills or is there a right way? Marketing is a double edged sword, with the right ingredients you may get it right, but the same can downhill if not handled properly.

There are loads of business tools when it comes to online marketing but who is to tell you which tool to employ? No tool can replace the mind. However effective a tool it still needs a mind, a creative one at that to use it to perfection. I personally believe the greatest tool to any business succeeding in today’s competitive world is creation of short videos on the products and services you offer and posting them on video sharing sites like YouTube. Make the videos catchy, use self composed music and while your business gains popularity you can also earn money through ad sense. It’s a perfectly win-win situation. So long as the contents developed add to your credibility. Besides YouTube you can also share videos on apps like Vine and Vimeo.

A picture speaks a million words and hence photo sharing. Using apps like Instagram and Pinterest you can post and share products, events and campaign photos. What’s key here is the fact that posting and sharing through these platforms is absolutely free! While it creates grounds to publicize, what we also need to bear in mind is the fact that every media outlet is a virtual market in itself. Hence the more people you reach out to, greater the chances of sale.

Even though technology has advanced big time, services like yellow pages still hold an edge in publicity. Today we have operators like Justdial, a form of mobile yellow pages. A company can use their services to reach both B2B and B2C. This is especially beneficial in the case of SMBs where budgets can be a constraint. These services can give one a better insight on their target market segment and also details on competition.

That said the easiest way to reach maximum number people today at the click of a button is Facebook. It’s an online community center as much as it is a social network. A billion users worldwide and no other medium can reach the target audience like Facebook can. But how do you know how to go about it? You could create a dedicated page for your product, or create social plug-in which can be seamlessly integrated into your website. The biggest advantage being these social plug-in can be used to promote your services through multiple social media networks. Search engine optimization and search engine marketing are two powerful tools of marketing in the internet world. They aren’t just powerful, but economical as well.

Another powerful media tool is blogging, perhaps the best marketing strategy for small and medium enterprises. With the right content and furnishing the clients with highly informative, non-patronizing data, you can easily establish yourselves in the targeted market segment. What a lot of companies don’t realize is the fact that blogging can directly impact the SEO. The more you blog, the more the traffic l into your website through Google and other search engines, but this can happen only with fresh content posted at frequent intervals.

Article is written by Manjula Nair – Founder & CEO, Creative Bharat

Manjula Nair

Manjula is the Founder & CEO of Creative Bharat and has an overall 20 years of experience in the field of Marketing and Communications. She is the winner of the ‘Most talented Marketing professional Award’ @ Corporate Excellence Awards 2014. She has also been part of the Corporate Crisis Management holding position of GM Marketing & Communication for Satyam BPO during the Real time Corporate Crisis of Satyam Computers in 2008.