6 Creative Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

No business can survive without marketing. It is the backbone that ensures that everyone can see the business to buy the products and services. Every business needs a well-devised marketing strategy that can include the usual website, social media, having a smart business card, and more. But to survive in this competitive world, you have to do get more creative, especially as things are moving towards digitizing due to the pandemic.

In this blog, we will see some marketing strategies that can help you grow your business well.

Have a digital business card

You also need a business card as it is a powerful marketing tool. When you share a business card with a recipient, they readily have all the details to contact you anytime they want. With the advancement of technology, people are shifting to digital business cards, and you should too. It has more advantages than a paper business card and shows people your readiness to jump into trends for the upliftment of your business.

                                                                                          

Use video messages

Video messages come in handy as they appeal more to the audience. It is a great promotional tool, and you can share video messages through multiple social media platforms. If you are trying to appeal to a demographic of audience between 14 to 25 years of age, you should try Snapchat videos. 

Email newsletter

Growing your small business requires new customers. However, retaining your old customers is also imperative. One creative way to do this is by sending email newsletters to your old customers. They have subscribed to your newsletter, so they expect emails from you with offers and giveaways. Do not disappoint them and use this marketing strategy now.

Webinars and conferences

Webinars and conferences give you a chance to meet many people from your industry. You can either host one or be part of one.

You can also sponsor some local events in your community which can help you give much-needed visibility.

Use infographics in your blog

Every small business needs a website and a blog. When you have one, you can share infographics because they can rightly convey what your business is all about. Also, if your infographic is appealing enough, people will share it, and more people will get exposed to your brand.

Moreover, you can share infographics on social media or your website. The thing to remember here is to create them intelligently. You can use free infographic design tools on the internet or even hire a freelancer to do the job for you.

Freebies for new users

When you launch a business, giveaways are the best way to grab the attention of your users. For instance, a new coffee owner can have a giveaway of 50% off for the first ten customers of the day. It does encourage people to check out your business.

A small business needs to be creative to get business and flourish. These are some of the ideas that they can use without spending tons of budget to get visibility in front of their customers.  

Why Mundan is Done

 In Hindu tradition, many ceremonies and practices are still being followed, which hails from the age-old tradition; when anyone initiates any new milestone, they start by doing a ceremony on an auspicious day. In Hinduism, there are ceremonies held to celebrate many occasions and new beginnings, such as entering a new house, new business, new vehicle, new harvest, etc. 

A baby's birth brings lots of happiness, and the baby's laughter brims the household with immense joy. And very soon celebrations begin with the baby, and then customs step up into a new beginning along with a new life. One of such traditions is the Mundan ceremony which refers to a child's first ever haircut. Mundan is an abiding ritual of Hindu Tradition for which the priest considers auspicious days. They provide the day for performing the ceremony based on nakshatras and the zodiac signs under which the baby is born.

Mundan ceremony is one of 16 purification rituals known as Shodasha Samskara in Hindu tradition. According to Hindu mythology, after experiencing 84 lakh yonis, a soul gets a human body. It is believed that every yoni in the past life has its impact on human birth. 

Hence, shaving off the hair is considered a gesture of purification from the previous yonis and freedom from the past.

Mundan has been performed for ages for several reasons, as some reasons are religious, while others are scientific.

So, the religious reason and importance of mundan relate it to the belief to rid the baby of past life negativity while promoting mental and spiritual development. After the mundan ceremony, the head of the baby is cleaned with holy water, and then the paste of turmeric and sandalwood is applied to heal the cuts caused during the process.

Some also believe that shaving off the head helps stimulate proper growth of the nerves and brain. Mundan also helps keep the baby's head cool during hot weather.

The scientific reason is that Vitamin D is absorbed faster and more quickly in the baby's body when bare skin is in sunlight without clothes and hair. Other than that, doctors even recommend keeping newborn babies in sunlight without clothes in the early morning.

Another reason for mundan being done is that the baby's hair is uneven; shaving the head helps even growth of hair later.

To perform mundan or not altogether depends totally upon individual perspectives as slowly many traditions have been dropped either because of deeper inquisition and seeing no such utility or wearing off of fashion. Moreover, if a practice has been followed for ages and related to auspiciousness for ages, there has to be some reason behind it.

5 Creative ideas to promote your jewelry business on Instagram

Do you have an online jewelry store? And your goal is to set up a brick-and-mortar shop pretty soon? If yes, then the first call of order is to gain much visibility for your online store to have enough credibility. To do that, you need to be on Instagram. It is a pretty basic social media promotion tip. Yet, many people are still ignoring it.

Instagram has millions of customers and if you want to increase your sales or reach global customers, being on IG is imperative. It has impressive filters, unique features and is visually appealing, making it the perfect place to launch and promote your jewelry business. If you are too thinking about this, but do not know how to successfully promote your business, here are some ideas.

Idea 1: Create a snazzy profile

Your jewelry business’s page on Instagram needs a name. Ideally, using the name of your business for your profile is perfect. But if the brand name is too big, switch to a short version that still represents your brand. Also, make sure that on every social media platform, you have the same name.

Next, you have to set up a profile picture. It can be the logo of your business as that is the basic thing with which people associate you.

After the profile picture, it is the turn of bio. Write a short description of your business, telling people what you do and what makes you unique.

Idea 2: Buy IG likes

Instagram is a highly competitive social media. So, if you are starting just now, you may not get enough likes and followers. And these two are essential to engage the audience, make a sale, and drive traffic to your website.

Thus, you can buy automatic Instagram likes and followers initially from a reputable company. Someone who connects you with real people and not bots. It will help IG notice you and make your posts more visible amongst the target audience.

Idea 3: Show yourself

Showing yourself in your IG post is critical for increasing engagement and getting more followers. It will surprise you, but people like seeing the brain behind the brand. If you are the designer and owner of your jewelry, posting photos of yourself can work wonders for your account.

Idea 4: Be consistent

By asking you to be consistent, we do not only mean that you should post every day. Consistency has many layers, like using the same filters or color, or theme. It is about giving your feed a feel which can make anyone recognize the brand just with one look.

Idea 5: Captions matter

Captions are critical to driving traffic or sales as here you can write CTAs. So, use it wisely and also include hashtags.

The tips are pretty straightforward as these are the same for all brands, irrespective of their business. The thing to remember is to curate the profile and content according to your work. It helps showcase unique features and appeal to your target audience. As the jewelry business is creative, you have to be creative with your approach to get new customers too.

5 Ways to be more environmentally-conscious business

 Running a business is a huge responsibility. As an entrepreneur, you started the business to be successful and earn good money. However, you also have to be responsible for society and the environment. If your business is not protecting the environment, it could mean less business and sales for you.

Even your customers are becoming conscious and want products/services from an eco-friendly business. Taking advantage of this, many people are launching startups that focus on eco-friendly products/services.

Talking about making your existing business more eco-friendly, here are a few things you can do or change.

1. Switch to a digital business card

Having a business card is essential for every business. It is a great marketing tool and a brand’s identity tool too. It has all the information that every client will need to contact you and know more about your business.

However, paper business cards require paper, and that requires cutting down trees. That affects our ecosystem. As a conscious business owner, you should instead invest in e-visiting cards. They do not require paper and are easy to design & send. They also are cheaper, saving tons of money that you can use to grow your business.

2. Change to digital documents

Following up on the above point, try to switch to digital documents. Saving paper files is a waste of paper and space. Also, they need maintenance. Otherwise, you will lose all critical records. The best thing to do here is to digitize all your files and start making digital documents. It also includes any invoices, receipts, and bills you have. 

If there are documents that require a signature, go with e-signature. Some documents require a paper trail. But all others can go digital, helping you save storage money and helping the ecosystem.

3. Let remote working be an option

Remote working offers multiple benefits to all parties involved. For instance, after the pandemic, people find that working from home is productive and also gives them more time for family. For a business, it can mean saving money on light, maintenance, and more.

When it comes to the environment, the remote option is favorable too. Why? Because fewer people are commuting to and from the office. That helps relieve vehicle pollution.

4. Offer public commute option

Encourage your employees to pool together to work. Or start a bus service that picks and drops employees. It will help cut vehicle pollution and also give a chance to your employees to gel.

5. Use sustainable manufacturing and packaging products

Sometimes we go for shortcuts as they are cheap. But think about the consequences. Thus, always go for packaging and manufacturing products that are sustainable or recyclable.

Running a successful business comes with many perks. Therefore, it is your responsibility to give back to your society. And one of the best ways to do so is by making your business eco-friendly. Try these tips, and you will be surprised how much positive feedback comes towards you.

5 Efficient tips for becoming a TikTok influencer

 TikTok is an incredible social media platform, slowly becoming popular amongst the millenniums. This app, which lets you make a short video and share your content with the world is also great for becoming famous and earning money. Yes, like Instagram, you can become an influencer on Tiktok too. To do that, you need to work hard and share original and creative content.

If you would like to tap this incredible app, the first thing you need to do is increase your followers and likes. Then, work on engagement and ensuring that your content ranks high so that people and brands can notice you alike. How? By remembering these tips, we are sharing them below.

1. Have a niche

 The first thing to do in order to be a TikTok influencer is to select a niche. You can choose any domain from beauty, travel, memes, humor, and more. However, these domains are too massive and you need to choose from them a subject which you are most comfortable in. Something that you have knowledge about and you know you can make smashing videos about the same.

You eventually want to monetize your TikTok account, but that will take time. So, ask yourself that whatever domain you are choosing, are you happy with it even without getting any payment?

2. Be unique with your profile

 The next step is to create a unique profile. When you buy real TikTok likes, people see your profile and not just the content to keep liking your posts. Thus, the profile must be not only appropriate but appealing too.

• The bio should be short but descriptive of what you are doing and sharing on TikTok.
• Profile photos should be fun yet professional. Let it resemble the work you do.
• Make a catchy profile video to appeal to people.

 3. Know and understand thy audience

 You do not want to start making and sharing videos without knowing your audience. If you do so, you will not grow your account or be able to monetize it. Thus, conduct research and know who your audience is and what type of content they are looking for? Once you start making and sharing videos, you also need to analyze the videos. It will help you know whether your audience like the content or not.

Pro tip: Any video you share should entertain or educate people. If it is not valuable for them, don't share it.

 4. Be unique with your content

 You only get up to a minute to make videos on TikTok. Thus, you must use it to your advantage by coming up with a video that is original and unique. Even if you follow some trending music or audio to gain more likes and comments, add a twist. Make it relatable to your genre.

 5. Know thy competitors

 It is also imperative that you know who your competitors are. It will alert you of the strategies that you should follow or avoid.

Try these five tips and become a TikTok influencer now.

3 Books to read now for better your networking skills

 Networking is essential for pushing your professional career. Also, it helps you make personal connections which are necessary for many things. However, we understand that networking is a daunting and challenging task. It is more than showing up at a networking event and sharing the e-visiting cards. It requires many things, like-

• Finding the right person to network with
• Introducing yourself right to the other person
• Breaking the ice
• Following up, and more.

There is so much to learn, and if you are ready, these books will help you out. In this blog, we are discussing the best networking books written by experts that can help you network. Every book discusses a tip that will change how you view networking. Let’s check these books out.

Book 1: How to win friends and influence people?

 Dale Carnegie, in this book, is empathetic, practical, and funny in his attempts to make people fall in love with the art of networking. It not only helps you network better but also make other relationship in your life better. The bits of advice in this book is simple. For instance, don’t talk about yourself only when you meet someone is something we all know. But when you imply them in real after reading the book, you can feel yourself becoming a better version of yourself.

Try this book, it is one of the best, and you can never go wrong with this one.

 Book 2: The charisma myth

 This book by Olivia Fox Cabane talks about using your charisma to make yourself stand out in a networking event. She believes that at any networking event like a PR conference, your charisma can set the tone for your success. Also, she agrees that people saying that you can either be born with charisma or without it is a myth. There is no such thing, and if you want to make your personality charismatic, it is high time you read this book. It will not change who you are, make you better, which is good for a networker.

 Book 3: Never eat alone

 A masterpiece by Keith Ferrazzi talks about the importance of leaving your desk and mingling with people during lunchtime. We often sit at our desks and have our lunch. However, doing this makes you miss an opportunity to meet new people or mingle with people you know and make better connections.

To be a better networker, you have to stay relevant, and this is an excellent opportunity to do so. In this book, Keith also helps you understand the process of breaking into challenging social groups to become a part of the group. He also provides insights into foregoing rejections and moving on to becoming and staying a leader in your industry. Do try this book now.

 Networking is essential, we all know that, and you cannot grow professionally without networking. Thus, keep learning and improving your networking skills. Through these books, you will have numerous ways to network professionally. Also, the results will be better for your personal relationships too.

5 Reasons for declining engagement level on Instagram

 Every business on Instagram faces the issue of dwindling engagement. They see their followers, likes, and comments going down. Sometimes the issues can be clear, like not posting consistently. However, sometimes the reason for the declining engagement level is not clear. Thus, you lose followers. In this blog, we will learn the reasons why your engagement level is going down. Also, we discuss how to solve this issue.

Reason 1: The audience quality is poor

The most important reason for the dwindling engagement level is the low quality of followers. Sometimes brands have tons of followers. However, they do not interact with the content, do not like or comment on the content. All this lowers your engagement level.

The solution: Evaluate your followers. Get rid of any follower who is fake or inactive. Also, if you buy 5000 Instagram followers, make sure you work with a company that connects you with real people and not bots.

Reason 2: Using restricted hashtags

How many times have you seen people like #follow4follow in their IG caption? People think that using this hashtag will give them more followers and likes. However, using this is illegal, getting your engagement down or shadowbanned.

The solution: Use only relevant hashtags related to your field. The popular ones can help you get more likes, followers, comments and increase the engagement level of your account.

Reason 3: Cheating

The algorithms of Instagram keep changing. People try to use this to their advantage and cheat using comment pods. What is a comment pod? An illegal way to increase the engagement level of your IG account. Also, there are many shortcuts brands try to take on IG and all of this leads to shadow band, declining engagement, and more.

The solution: Try organic ways to increase engagement and likes. For instance, share reels or interactive content/video for more engagement.

Reason 4: Posting too often

It may sound like a contradicting post, as the notion is to post consistently. However, posting valuable content five times a day is fine. But if you are posting twelve posts a day, it can be too much. Why? Because then people will only see your posts wondering why they are not seeing posts of other brands they are following. It can work against you.

Also, it will give you an initial engagement jolt. But soon, you will find that your engagement level will go down drastically.

The solution: Post only a few times a day or post alternative. Also, make sure that the post is valuable, informative, and doesn't come across as a sales pitch.

Reason 5: Your ads have stopped

Sometimes when your engagement drops suddenly, you panic, which is normal. You check to see what is wrong, but you do not find a cause. But did you check your ads? If you were running advertisements on your account, and they suddenly stop,  engagement will go down.

The solution: Always be in contact with your marketing team. They will come up with a solution to this problem.

Be on top of these reasons and your engagement will increase.