Author: Courtney Rosenfeld

If you are a senior considering a business startup, you’re in good company. According to the Small Business Administration, business owners 55 and older account for 51% of employers and 35% of businesses without employees. Senior entrepreneurs are statistically more likely to thrive. According to a study co-authored by professionals from Wharton, Northwestern, MIT and the SBA, 50-plus-year-old founders are 1.8 times more likely to succeed than those in their 30s.

Naturally, as you start your company, you’ll need to think about marketing. Advertising, the most obvious component of a marketing plan, lets others know about your products or services. Today’s advertising strategies, though, are more complex than even a decade ago. To give you an idea of what to expect, here are some tips and resources, courtesy of Rock Capital and Associates.

Understand How Technology Shapes Advertising

Technology and social media have changed the way consumers shop. Online shopping is now one of the most prevalent internet activities around the globe. Social media affects product awareness in several ways:

• More companies offer product information and incentives through their social media channels.
• Consumers are swayed by their peers’ shopping decisions.
• Influencers bring attention to products by endorsing them or partnering with companies to offer discounts.

Harnessing the power of technology is not only a smart move for today’s business owner, but it also could mean the difference between struggling and thriving. Fortunately, using technology to advertise may be easier than you think.

If you’re new to most concepts related to IT and technology, it may be worthwhile to take online courses to boost your knowledge. While running a business and going back to school may seem incompatible, online learning opportunities allow students to work at their own pace.

Use Cross-Promotion
With this advertising method, you pair with a non-competing business to promote services or products. If you open a coffee shop downtown, for example, and there’s a candy store next door, your businesses can partner. Your products do not compete with each other, and they could work well together in an advertising campaign.

What would a cross-promotional ad campaign look like? You can link to each other’s businesses on your websites. Say, for example, you add a link that says, “Are you looking for something delicious to enjoy with our coffee? Visit XYZ’s candy shop and try the new chocolate truffles.” You can also post coupons or discount codes for each other’s products on social media.

Cross-promotion works best when you know the shopping habits and characteristics of your most profitable customers, and both companies can efficiently promote each other’s products. Sharing similar customer segments with your partner results in the most effective marketing campaigns.

Maximize Inexpensive Resources
Traditional advertising channels, such as radio, television, and newspaper ads, are still effective. The downside is their costs. If your advertising budget doesn’t allow for them, consider free or inexpensive ways to advertise online.

Search engine optimization helps you get noticed in an online search. Easy ways to increase SEO can yield good results:

• Put your contact information on each page of your website.
• Use phrases in your page titles that people commonly use for searches.
• Give each website page a unique title.

Setting up a business profile on social media accounts increases your visibility, answers customer questions, and attracts attention. Your business social media accounts should be separate from your personal ones. You can also pay to boost your most popular posts. This is a relatively inexpensive and powerful way to target your audience and get your posts in front of consumers most likely to buy your product. Last but not least, you can use this invoice maker free of charge to maintain a professional connection with your customers while maintaining precise records.

Whether you’ve retired or just want a career change, starting a business as a senior entrepreneur can be a rewarding and lucrative move. Harnessing the power of technology helps potential customers find your company at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising and lets you pour more resources into your business.

Rock Capital and Associates will help you determine the best financial route for your company’s growth. Additionally, once a lender is pre-determined per your financial requirements, your RCA will help you package the transaction in accordance with the Lender’s requirements, so your loan is funded in the fastest and the most efficient manner possible. Call 877-670-1590.