The entrepreneurial bug strikes a lot of people and the pandemic gave many of them an excuse to give it a try. In 2021 alone, people launched more than 5 million new businesses. Of course, the tricky part isn’t launching the business. You can theoretically launch an online business with an afternoon of hard work. The tricky part is generating exposure for your new business. Are you struggling to get eyes on your new business to draw in paying customers? If so, keep reading for tips to generate the exposure you need.

Social Media

Social media gets a lot of attention as the go-to marketing approach, but it happens for a reason. A lot of your ideal customers are on social media. That makes creating profiles and posting content critical to getting eyes on your business. The catch is that you must choose your social media platforms with care.

Different platforms appeal to different demographics. Facebook and Instagram share a demographic profile that skews to the 25-34 age group with a fairly even distribution of men and women. 

TikTok skews young and female. Twitter attracts 20-something, middle-class, college-educated users that skew male. Find your demographic sweet spot and lean into the social media platform that attracts those users.

Digital Marketing

Social media is a component of digital marketing, but it’s not the full extent of digital marketing. Other areas of digital marketing you should concern yourself with include SEO, content marketing, and even paid advertising.

SEO helps your site rank by either eliminating problems on your website or encouraging things on your website that search engines like. Content marketing focuses on producing high-quality content that you largely post on your website, such as blogs and videos, that can attract visitors.

Paid advertising is usually some form of pay-per-click. This can happen on search engines, but some social media platforms allow on-site advertising as well. Facebook, for example, offers very advanced advertising tools that can let you hone in on your ideal customers.

Direct Mail

Direct mail catches some flack from digital marketing converts, but it still exists and has a place in generating interest. That is particularly true for generating local interest. The steep drop-off in physical mail in recent years also makes it more likely that people will read your direct mail pieces.

Common direct mail approaches include flyers, door hangers, tri-fold brochures, and even menus. These can help you drum up interest for your new business in specific locations, such as the neighborhood around your business. If you don’t depend too much on foot traffic, it can also get fresh eyes on your business website.

An interesting addition to the direct mail arsenal is a merging of digital marketing and direct mail called direct mail retargeting. Assuming your website ticks the right boxes, such as average order value, unique visitors, and acceptable privacy compliance, a third-party service will match the addresses of visitors and send them a postcard you design.

It’s a great way to offer discounts and attract new visitors to your physical location or your website.

Claim Business Listings

There are a lot of business listing opportunities out there. The biggest is probably through Google. You can claim your Google business profile, which will help you show up for location-based searches for businesses like yours.

You can also claim your Google Map listing. This one is particularly important for physical storefronts. Instead of just showing up as a result in the search, your business will appear on the map that Google routinely displays at the top of search results. It’s a great way to attract the attention of people who want the closest possible solution to their problem.

Generating Exposure

Generating exposure for new businesses isn’t an overnight process. It’s also not a single-track process. You must embrace multiple avenues of getting eyes on your website or people in your stores. There are multiple online options, such as social media profiles, content marketing, search engine optimization, and even paid advertising. 

Direct mail options can help you generate interest in specific locations. You should also look at business listing opportunities. These can help you turn up in search results and even get your business on map results. When used together, these strategies can help you generate exposure for your new business.