As a small and medium business owner in Nigeria, you’re navigating a very competitive market. The benefits you get from establishing a robust online presence cannot be overstated, especially when faced with budget constraints. That’s why this article was created to guide you on how to move your businesses towards platforms that not only provide cost-effective solutions but also gives long-term visibility.
One of the things that will determine if your business will be successful, is your leverage of free advertising platforms. While paid advertising certainly do give instant and more faster results ,the long-term sustainability of your business’s online presence can be significantly enhanced by taking complete opportunities presented by free platforms.
Let’s look at them now.
Google My Business
Google My Business is a free tool that helps businesses make a free listing on Google Search and Maps. The listing shows the business’s name, address, phone number, website, and hours of operation.
As a business owner, Google My Business (GMB) will expose your business to people closer to you. Making your GMB listing better will ensure that people can easily find the business on Google Maps and in local search results. This not only makes your business more visible online but also helps customers trust it more by showing reviews and accurate information.
Nairaland Forum
Nairaland is a Nigerian forum with over 30 Million monthly page views that allows users post on a wide range of topics, ranging from political, entertainment to agriculture and arts, there’s a section for what ever topic you can think of.
As a business owner, you can take advantage of this large traffic and advertise your business for free, I mean absolutely free. Many businesses already use Nairaland to draw customer’s to their businesses.
How to use Nairaland:
- Firstly, you have to register on Nairaland, using your email, after registration, login and continue.
- On the homepage, click on any section you want to post and click on “create new topic”. See below screenshot.
- On the page that opens, you’ll see where you can enter the title of your post, the contents or text and post you can also attach images if need be
Website & SEO-optimized Blog
As a business, whether operating online or offline, having a website that displays all the products and services you offer is a necessity. Blogging on the other hand is like a foundation for becoming a respected figure in a particular business.
When you regularly create helpful content, it helps bring in targeted visitors or more specifically potential customers and this will in turn show that your business really knows its stuff. Add content marketing, which includes sharing your know-how in different ways like articles, infographics, videos and you’ll be on your way to conquering the online marketing space.
X ( Fka Twitter)
When it comes to social media platforms, X stands out as a free way to promote your business. With many users, you can use tweets and hashtags to connect with local customers.
You do this by tweeting about products, deals, industry tips, educating contents, memes and not only will you get attention, you’ll also encourages direct conversations.
Joining trending topics and using popular hashtags helps reach even more people. Using X features like retweets and replies helps build a community. The good thing about twitter is that, anyone can get exposure with the right kind of post and the right usage of tags and mentions.
In Nigeria, Facebook is a powerful and free way to promote your business. Creating a business page lets you connect with your audience by sharing posts about your products, services, and behind-the-scenes moments. You should also Join industry-related Facebook groups to expands your reach and build your brand in specific communities.
Some other ways to boost your visibility using Facebook includes, posting educating contents and taking advantage of fun contents like memes, on facebook this kind of contents gets a lot of traction, if you can focus on them, you’ll start seeing the benefits earlier then expected.
Online Directories
A business directory is a website or printed listing of information which lists businesses within niche based categories. Businesses can be categorized by niche, location, activity, or size. Business may be compiled either manually or through an automated online search software.
Putting your business on these online lists, especially ones focused on your local area or industry, is a good and easy plan. It makes more people see your business and trust it more. When people are looking for certain services, they often check these lists, so it’s like getting free advertising.
Some online Directories for businesses in Nigeria include:
Trustpilot Review Website
Platforms like Trustpilot let you, as a business, benefit when customers who have patronize your services share their thoughts . Good reviews are like free promotion, they help in bringing in new customers. When your business has a positive reputation on these platforms, it builds trust and makes people more likely to choose your products.
Make sure you respond to reviews, showing you care about customer satisfaction. This helps strengthen your business’s reputation even more, and once this happens you should guess what will follow.
To get started with Trustpilot please follow this help guide.
Guest posting on blogs
Guest posting is a good way that you can drive traffic to your business, whether your business is online or offline it will benefit from guest posting on blogs related to your business.
How guest posting works is that you look for blogs that are related to your business, once you have spot these blogs, you message them privately asking them if they accept guest post, if they say yes you will send a well written article that will in a way promote your business and will also give a backlink to your business website & blog.
if accepted and your article is published, your business will benefit a lot from the mention, when it comes to businesses, google values citation a lot, so the more your business is mentioned on the internet, the more it helps you rank for local searches and also the free backlink you will get will help your website and blog rank higher on Google so this is an indirect advantage that you have by guest posting.
Remember while guest posting, any opportunity for your brand mention should include your “brand name, address and phone number”.
Upload products on Online Classifieds and Marketplaces like Jiji and OLX
Online classifieds and marketplaces provide a no-cost platform for businesses to list their products or services for free.
In Nigeria, you can use online classifieds and marketplaces as a powerful way to boost your business. Websites like JIJI and OLX provide a digital market where you can display your products or services to a large audience who are ready to buy, sell and connect, without any cost.
As a business these platforms let you reach the growing online community and help connect with potential customers throughout the country.
The good thing is that these websites are easy-to-use and makes it simple to upload your offerings, while the various categories help ensure that you’re product is in the right spot.
Join the local Chamber of Commerce in your residence
According to investopedia:
A chamber of commerce is an association or network of businesspeople designed to promote and protect the interests of its members. A chamber of commerce is often made up of a group of business owners that share a locale or interests, but can also be international in scope. They will choose leadership, name representatives, and debate which policies to espouse and promote.
Investopedia
Joining your local Chamber of Commerce can be incredibly helpful for promoting your business in Nigeria, although a membership fee maybe charged, what you gain will be more than that given your ability to communicate and connect well.
When you become a member, you connect with other business owners, build credibility in the community, and access valuable resources. Do try and attend the Chamber events to display your products or services and make direct connections with potential customers.
Being part of the Chamber also boosts your online presence, making your business more visible through their digital platforms. With a membership your business can be listed on their directories, making it easier for people to discover.
Rounding Up
After reading this article, you should at least have 3 good platforms on your mind, and this is excatly how it should be.
Start by getting your focus on getting a Google my business listing, then a social media platform (facebook preferably), then use Nairaland and the two classifieds websites mentioned above to see how you can move your business forward.
It’s not really hard, just take it one step at a time and it will only be better given that you do the proper thing.
Good luck.
