10 Best Online Channels to Advertise Your Business

If you’ve started a new business and are looking for creative ways to promote it online, you’re in the right place. Below, we’ll tell you about the ten most popular online channels for business advertising and how to approach each of them for successful marketing campaigns.

Social media marketing

Having a social media presence is no longer optional for most businesses in this day and age. And considering the benefits social media can have for your reach and profits, it doesn’t make sense to avoid it.

Regardless of the line of business, you’re in, build a social media presence at least on the most important platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you’d like, throw in Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok in the mix as well.

Facebook

Facebook is a veteran of social media and one of the most profitable platforms to advertise your business. Thanks to their call to action buttons, you can enable your followers to sign up to your website, shop, watch a video, book a table, and even place a food order.

If you are a restaurant owner, all you need to do is add a link to your online ordering system onto the button. This will enable users to order from your Facebook page.

Twitter

Twitter is an excellent platform to engage with your customers and reply to their concerns. Many people tweet at their favorite businesses with questions, feedback, or issues.

Show everyone who visits your Twitter profile that you care about your customers by replying and doing your best to solve any issue that may arise.

Instagram

Instagram is the perfect place to attract customers with photos of your products. You can also display prices and streamline their shopping experience by redirecting them from Instagram to your website.

Pinterest

Pinterest is another image-based social media platform where you can share photos of your products and links to your website. Additionally, create inspiration boards sharing tips and secrets from your industry to get more traffic and followers.

Snapchat

You can use Snapchat to connect with your customers on a more personal level. Send them private snaps with special offers, and they’ll feel like they’re part of an exclusive club.

TikTok

TikTok is taking social media by storm, and you should get in on the fun. Create challenges that connect to your business and use unique hashtags to encourage people to recreate them.

Video marketing

More and more people prefer to consume interactive video content nowadays, which is evident by the popularity of video-based platforms like TikTok. If you haven’t explored this avenue yet, it’s time to give it a shot.

Start with short clips on TikTok and Instagram stories, and if those are received well, take it to the next level and post a longer Instagram reel.

You can share behind-the-scenes clips of life at your company or sneak peeks of your upcoming products. Ask your employees if they wouldn’t mind sharing their expertise in a series of videos, or film yourself talking about your business’ history.

The next step in video marketing would be to implement a YouTube marketing strategy for your business which would include posting long-form videos there. If that scares you, don’t worry. Video editing tools will help you to compress mp4 video easily and fast.

Nowadays, there are countless online video creation tools and programs you can use to create YouTube videos without much expertise. For example, you can use a YouTube outro maker to make a lasting impact on your viewers.

Search engine optimization

If done correctly, search engine optimization (SEO) is a surefire way of boosting your business to the first page of Google.

When creating content for your website and every other online channel you’re using to promote your business, you have to optimize it for search engines. This strategy will boost traffic and make your business relevant to the industry you’re in.

Let's look at an example from the restaurant industry. To rank your restaurant on the first page of Google, you have to identify and use restaurant keywords relevant to your cuisine and location. SEO will add up value to your restaurant management tactics.

An Italian restaurant located in Queens, New York, might want to consider targeting keywords like:

• Italian restaurant in Queens
• Italian restaurant in Queens, New York
• Italian restaurant in Queens NY
• Italian food in Queens/Queens New York/Queens NY
• Best pizza in Queens/Queens New York/Queens NY
• Best pasta in Queens/Queens New York/Queens NY

Content marketing

Speaking of content on your website, strive to put out multiple types of content, from written blog posts to videos and infographics. The content on your website should be a mix of informative (announcements, releases) and valuable (tips, secrets).

Releasing content that people are craving is the perfect way to bring more people to your website and have them engage with the material. Don’t forget to add social media share buttons so they can share the content with their friends.

Whenever you release something new, you also have to promote it on your social media channels to get more people to see it. This will help you increase organic traffic and even lead generation.

You can write blog articles that address a specific pain point that your product or service can solve. Then, at the end of the post, suggest it as a way of solving the problem.

However, that doesn’t mean that the article itself shouldn’t be informative. The main reason for writing should remain to provide people with relevant, high-quality information. Promoting your product should come second as a bonus.

Email marketing

No matter how much social media has taken over the online world, email marketing remains a reliable and valuable channel to advertise your business.

Sending regular newsletters to your customers’ inboxes can boost conversion rates and brand awareness. The sense of belonging to a special club that a newsletter gives them can help you build and nurture a long-term relationship with your clients.

The key to successful email marketing is personalization. From the subject line to the use of the customer’s first name and specific information about them, they all contribute to the sense of exclusivity.

Your subjects should create urgency and encourage people to take action before the special deal or offer expires.

If you gather enough information about your customers, take the personalization to the next level by sending them a gift or a special offer on their birthday.

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)

If you feel like SEO isn’t enough to get your business noticed, or you want to try something new, there’s always pay-per-click advertising.

With PPC, you don't just rely on organic traffic led by your search engine optimization efforts. You also bring in paid traffic that will position your website at the top of Google searches.

The result will be marked as an ad and placed above the organic search results. The good news is that you will be charged only when users click on it.

The benefits of PPC are obvious. You get more brand visibility and exposure. However, make sure you choose the page you want to promote wisely.

To boost conversions, go for a landing page where people can sign up for your newsletter, take advantage of a promotion, or purchase your product.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is perfect for reaching more people that you wouldn't otherwise have access to.

Consider contacting affiliate marketers who might be interested in selling or promoting your product or service in exchange for a percentage in commissions each time they sell something.

This is most often seen with companies offering a unique code or link. The marketer then uses that link when promoting the product on social media, their website, blog, or other platforms.

Influencer marketing

Like affiliate marketing, but with a broader understanding, influencer marketing is becoming increasingly popular for brands.

If affiliate marketers work on commission, influencers can strike up all sorts of deals with the brands or companies they want to collaborate with. You can use Virtual PA services to manage all the logistic processes for growing businesses.

For example, a restaurant owner might contact food influencers in their area and propose that they come in for an exclusive taste test of the latest item on their restaurant menu. This will create a massive buzz around the release once they post all about it on social media.

Podcast marketing

You probably listen to at least one podcast yourself, and so do your customers. That makes this emerging medium perfect for promoting a business.

Podcasts create an excellent environment for you to have casual chats with your listeners. You can talk about burning topics in the industry, share your expertise, or interview guests on Zoom and record a podcast based on their expertise in the field.

To create a more interactive experience, allow listeners to send audio clips with their questions and answer at least one per episode.

Mobile marketing

An increasingly larger number of people use their mobile devices for everything these days, including browsing the internet and ordering their favorite products.

That means you have to optimize your website for mobile devices to cater to a broader audience. For instance, if you want to build a restaurant website dedicated to food ordering, you should find a website builder that offers responsive website design.

Remember that Google has a mobile-first indexing policy, so it ranks mobile websites first. And it’s not just Google that likes mobile marketing. Customers do too.

You can streamline their ordering experience with mobile shopping either on your website or on your own app.

Final Words

Business owners nowadays have a wide variety of online channels to advertise their business and promote their products. Explore the channels above to raise engagement and boost your sales through targeted marketing campaigns.