Running a business from home often has many advantages and disadvantages. On one side, your commute to work is measured in seconds instead of minutes. You can wear comfortable clothes, often set your own deadlines and listen to whatever music you want without having to worry any coworkers.
On the other side, it can be lonely and difficult to concentrate at times. You also might run into the problem of never really feeling like you’re off the clock in a sense. It might also be hard to judge your success or business’ outreach when you’re not, well, out.
When it comes to marketing and expanding your business, there are plenty of steps you can undertake from home without putting the hurt on your wallet.
Start a Website
One of the best ways to market yourself and have a constant presence is to have your own website. From here, you can sell products, set up appointments, keep clients in the loop and make it easy to contact you as well.
It’s also a way for you to have your public portfolio, in a sense. You can give a brief overview of what you do, how you do it while sharing past testimonials. Overall, it lets people out there know that you exist.
When people search for “Rummikub tutor”, you want them to find you easily. Having a website is the first step to driving in some organic traffic.
Social Media
The big gun in the room, social media is the way most people are getting their news, communicating and sharing with one another. It’s hard to find someone with a social media page as it seems everyone, from your grandmother to the kid down the road, has some kind of account.
That means you need to be promoting your business through social media. Just like your website, it’s a way to have your business in front of the eyes of many. Setting up a social media page is completely free and promoting it through the respective platform is quite inexpensive.
In addition, you can run promotions for people that follow you. Similar to the “100th customer receives a free item” idea, encourage people to like, comment and share to enter a drawing. The more people you have sharing, the better. Word of mouth (even through social media) is still a powerful thing!
Fresh Content
Combining the website and social media together, putting out fresh content is the easiest way to keep your website and social media pages relevant.
No one is going to pay much heed to an Instagram page that was last updated four months ago. Be sure you’re updating your pages, interacting with clients and letting everyone out there know you’re still around.
Having people wonder “is this still open?” is an easy way to lose business fast.
Making Videos
It’s time to release your inner James Cameron, George Lucas or Stephen Spielberg. Don’t worry about budgeting out a ton of money for special effects though.
Video content is a great way to interact with people and grow your business. It’s also an easy way to draw more viewers to your social media pages or website.
Less and less people are reading and short videos are an easy way to promote and market yourself. You will need to invest in a solid camera and maybe some sound equipment, but the payout will tremendously help you growth.
You can make videos about changes in your market, a new product or how-to videos if that applies to you.
Free Deals
No one has ever complained about receiving something free, have they? An easy way to market and promote your business is by offering something free, whether that be a product or service.
In exchange for offering them something for free, you should simply ask them to write a lovely review online. Google and Yelp ratings are quite helpful for any business, especially one that is just starting.
Just like a teaser trailer, you can offer just part of your service as well so people will be more likely to come back and pay full for whatever it is you’re selling. You can run the promotion through your website or even set up at a convention or trade show.
