Boost your success through marketing promotion

October is National Women’s Small Business Month! There are countless statistics about how women’s businesses receive less funding and resources than men-founded, or co-founded startups.

As a woman, mother and small business owner for Brass Elephant Digital Marketing, I know how challenging it is to get started.

Yet, small business can be the key to economic empowerment for so many women who are pushing against the odds to make a path for themselves.

If you are a woman entrepreneur who is just starting to get the word out about your venture, here’s three ideas to build traction through simple and free marketing promotion.

1. Confidently create word of mouth

Don’t do this alone. I don’t know any entrepreneur that has built a business without help from someone. Whether that be a formalized co-founder, specialists with expertise you don’t have, or very supportive family and friends.

Tell people in your network what you’re doing. Fear of failure often holds founders back from sharing, but you’ll have to let that go if you want a shot at success. If you fail, people who truly care about you will not hold it against you. If anything, they should respect you for trying.

Once you are ready to share, you might be pleasantly surprised by the support, encouragement and early sales you can drive just by word of mouth from your network.

• Post on your personal social media. Talk about what you are doing and why it’s important to you. As an entrepreneur your personal and business identity may blur, which can be strategic and beneficial.
• Email your friends and family to tell them about your business. Don’t be afraid to ask for their support directly. Whether that be posting about your business online or referring you to potential customers in their network, your supporters will be happy to do these favors to help you succeed.

2. Tap into supportive communities

Expanding your reach beyond your current network will be key to your growth. At some point you will exhaust leads from your connections. You will need to get awareness with new potential customers.

Seek out the groups that will be most likely to support you because of your founder story. People seek community online and those forums are often supportive of new businesses when it aligns with their values, needs and priorities.

If you are a local business, you can seek out:

• Facebook moms groups. Share that you are a new woman-owned or mother-owned (if relevant) business. Local moms love to support other local women and moms. It just feels good.
• Nextdoor. Even if you aren’t a current user, sign up! It’s become an active forum for people to find local businesses and service providers. People like to see business in their area succeed!

If you aren’t a local business, you can find other communities online that gather people across common interests and experiences. Can you share on forums like:

• Alumni groups for schools you attended
• Women in business organizations
• Specialized interest forums for your industry or product
• Reddit threads, though check policies to ensure you follow community guidelines

3. Network with other entrepreneurs to find out what works for them

Keep a balance on doing things outside of the box while learning from others.

Trust your creativity, you have made a business from scratch after all. If you have a wacky promotional idea, try it! As long as it’s not a big financial or time drain throw a little spaghetti and see what sticks.

• At the same time, network with successful people who are in your line of business. As long as you are not in direct competition ask them questions like:
  • What promotional tactics have worked for you?
  • Is there marketing you’ve tried that did not work, why?

I have a network with several other independent marketers and we exchange ideas freely about how we promote our services. I don’t see this as giving away trade secrets, I see this as creating a community and support system. As an added benefit, we have the ability to act as a referral machine for each other because our skill sets and specialities vary and lend themselves better to different clients.

If there are foundational promotional tactics in your industry that have already been proven out by others, don’t recreate the wheel.

Conclusion

Make the most of National Women’s Small Business month and beyond!

• Create word of mouth. Confidently tell others about your business and ask them to help spread the word
• Find your communities, especially oriented toward your local area or women in business, that will extend your network and leads to new customers
• Ask for advice from those who have more experience than you do

We’d love to discuss your marketing needs and explore partnership! If you’d like to meet with us please check out our Contact Us page to get in touch.