10 Effective Ways to Promote Your Small Business

This post will help you with 10 Effective ways on how to promote your small business in Nigeria. It doesn’t matter if you’re new or old in the biz

10 Simple Methods to Promote Your Small Business Effectively in Nigeria

PREAMBLE

In today’s article, I will be showing you how you can promote your business in Nigeria in 10 easy and effective ways.

It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey or have been in the business for years. This post will help you on how to promote your business.

But first, you need to understand your business and also know who your customers are because all businesses cannot be promoted with the same techniques.

Some methods may work better than others depending on what your business is about, therefore it is up to you to decide which works best then follow it up diligently.

From my own personal research, any advertising idea or technique can work well in Nigeria, as far as the right message is passed to the right audience at the right time.

Have you registered your business name in Nigeria? If not, learn how to register your business name online with CAC in Nigeria.

Before I proceed, I guess you will like to checkout digital marketing beginner's guide to promote your business online.

10 Effective Ways to Promote Your Small Business

1. Promote with Business Cards

Most people don't use business card to promote their business because they believe this marketing method is outdated or out of vogue in the marketing world.

Well, they might have their points to believe that, but this is not true because you will still get to meet your prospective client face to face at business events.

When you to meet serious minded people at any point in life, you will need your business cards to pin them down before they will even think of doing business with you.

Be smart and intentional about distributing your cards so as to maximize it's productivity on your business.

Make sure you always carry a decent number of business cards in your wallet everywhere you go.

You never know how many potential clients or customers you might run into.

Get a good graphic designer to handle your business card for you because you have to get a good quality, decent and attractive card for your business.

Your card will serve as a constant reminder to anyone holding it, that you are available to meet their needs anytime.

Your business card should include the following:

1. Your business name
2. Your contact address
3. Your phone number
4. Your email address and
5. Your business logo

Never leave home without your business card!

2 Promote with Flyers or Hand Bills

We all know that flyers may not promote a business on a global scale, but trust me, it will surely give your business a big voice within your locality.

Just like a business card, your flyer should also carry all your business information and a write-up describing your goods or services.

Distribute your flyers around to the people in your neighboring streets or places like banks, restaurants and bars, you can even place them on cars. 

This is an effective way of registering your business in the mind of your prospective clients. It will give your business a positive impact.

This method has been tried and proved to be effective over the years, you should also give it a try.

3. Promote with Free Giveaways or Gift

This is another great way to promote your business in Nigeria. Use free giveaways, gift or complimentary merchandise such as.

1. Pens
2. Mugs
3. Caps
4. Calendars and
5. Tee shirts

Don't forget you are using the giveaways for promotion, so you have to make sure they are clearly branded with your company's name and logo.

It goes a long way in marketing and it also improve your company’s brand identity to everyone that comes in contact with your customers when there are making use of your gift. 

You can pick a special period or holiday for your giveaways, maybe Christmas, new year or Easter.

Your customers will remember the experience and will tell their friends about it.

4. Add a Sign or Poster in Front of Your Shop or Office

Most of the shops, offices and organizations in Nigeria make use of this method of marketing and promoting their business by default. 

It makes a lot of sense when you have a sign like a billboard placed right in front of your shop or office, this will help you to draw in customers passing by.

If there is a sign or poster in front of your store, shop or office, it will be easier for an already existing customer to direct new customers to your location.

For example, It is easier for me to direct a friend to “Heritage Cyber Café” if the café had a sign in front of it, that's a great way to promote your business.

Get a professional signage authorities to make a strong sign for you, or else you’ll face the risk of having your sign taken down in raining season.

5. Organize Shows or Events

Because Nigerians are fun loving people, big businesses, and small scale businesses are making use of shows to drive long term customers without much hassle.

According to the managing director of "Sky Suite Hotel" he said:

We put together an annual entertainment event where we invite celebrities to participate in music and also engage the fans in quizzes where they stand a chance to win cash and other gift items.

Customers appreciate this and are more inclined to patronize us, they also spread the word about their experiences and nothing beats mouth to mouth advertisements.

You can decide to organize an event (it might be annually) where you can promote your brand.

For instance, events like: new product launch, a fashion show, book workshop, talks show, exhibition, etc.

6. Use Your Car to Advertise Your Business

People pay to place their advert on BRT buses in Lagos why because they believe branding is everywhere.

Vehicle branding is a great source of marketing your business brand.

Do you have a car or any other vehicle? You can have your business name and contact information professionally painted on the side of the vehicle.

Believe me or not, so many people will be attracted to your business just because they came in contact with one of your branded car. 

This method is so effective because you are transporting yourself and advertising at the same time.

As you move around, people will see your advert and become familiar with your business,

It’s another advantage if you have more than one vehicle.

7. Public Advertisement Spaces or Billboard

Billboard or public ad space is very effective for building brand awareness and broadcasting your business to as many people as possible.

Billboards tends to have the highest number of views and impression when compared to other marking methods because they always in busy areas.

This method of advertisement is the best for displaying simple and straight forward messages that most people can decipher.

8. Local Magazines and Newspapers

As I have said at the beginning of this post, it is not all marketing strategies that work for every business.

This method can work perfectly well for lifestyle business like fashion.

If your business is in the fashion world, you can use this effective marketing strategy to boost your products. 

Publish an advertisement in a popular magazine: For example, in a journal that is related to the theme of your product or service.

It is crazy to place an advert about where to buy fish in a sport newspaper or magazine.

You must place your adverts in newspapers and magazines that target your product and services. 

9. Run a Promo or Contest

Just like number 3. promoting your business with free giveaways or gift.

Everybody loves to have that feeling of being a genius and win an attractive prize for it.

So many organizations are making use of this marketing strategy to drive more customers to their business and also to retain the existing ones.

10. List your Business on Online Directories

It is important to list your business in a directory where customer are most likely to fine everything about your business.

I have being in a situation where I needed to confirm a particular business contact address.

And I decided to check some online local directories and search engines for answers.

I went through Google and all other websites but I couldn’t find anything about the business, do you think I will still be able to do business with such organization? The answer is NO!

Not only that I will not be able to do business with the organization but I will also feel bad.

Your clients will also feel bad if they can’t find your business information on relevant business listing platforms.

You will also stand the chance of losing 85% of your clients to a similar business outlet. Set up a listing for your business in search engines & local directories.

By listing your business in an online directory, you will get more exposure, you will be found in online search results and customers can reach you faster.

Vconnect, Yellowpages, Manta, Heyplaces, etc are popular business directories to list your business.

CONCLUSION

I believe this 10 ways will be effective in your business if you give them a try.

Which of the them have you tried out before, how effective is it and which one of you are about to give a try?

Drop your comment below and don't forget to share! Thank you.

Also check out the 50 best inspirational business Quotes to inspire success in your  business