When you’re starting a new business, people need to know you exist if you dream of making money once you launch. You can leverage social media platforms and build a buzz in the local area through word-of-mouth. If you’re holding a special launch event, invite people involved in your project to your event as a VIP – this will strengthen your rapport going forward. If you’ve tackled pre-launch marketing correctly, you will have a steady stream of customers to get started with.
Tease Services and Products
No matter what business you operate, people need to know what service you’re delivering, and what gap in the market you’re filling. For example, if you’re opening a restaurant, you need to tease the different seating areas and what services are provided there. If you’ve got exciting menus to boast about, show off with HD photos of your products. You can even use this sticker maker online to create branded digital art. People eat with their eyes online before they spend money on a product or service.
Understand Audience
Knowing your audience is important when creating a buzz about a new business because you need to be targeting the right people. When you wrote up your initial business plan, you should have included information on the audience you want to sell to. When you start posting on social media platforms, investigate the reach and interaction with each post, and alter your strategy accordingly. Once you have over 100 likes on Facebook, you will be able to access demographic information – checking in on this metric will tell you if you’re hitting the right clientele.
Product Testing
You need to know that your product carries out the service it set out to do – launching a defective product is a one-way ticket to failure. Going back to the restaurant analogy, you need to taste the products you’re providing on the menu to make sure they taste great – invite guests in ahead of the launch to trial your product and gain feedback. The best time to receive negative feedback about a product is in private, and before it launches. The same goes for other businesses, invite potential customers in for a testing event to find out what needs improving.
Find an Influencer
Niche influence can help to launch your business into the public eye before your opening date. Start a conversation with social media influencers and see how they can help you; invite them to your test event so they can exclusively review your product. If your business is launching a store or venue, get in touch with the local press so you can reach more potential customers.
Build a Website
Having a website is essential in the digital age, and it will help you to drive more leads to your business. Social media is great, but a website can be reached by almost everyone, and will hold all of the necessary information in one place. When you’re designing your website, make sure that the branding is consistent with your social media platforms. You can use your website to dive deeper into the products you have on offer.
Start a Contest
People like to win content, and they get shared online like wildfire. Contests have an extremely low cost and show people that you’re all about having fun. If you’re using social media and you already have a small base of followers, create a “like and share” contest, and select a random person to win a giveaway prize.
Building buzz around a brand is important for early success, so make sure you do it right – follow the steps above to get started and get people talking about your new venture.
