Want to grow your side hustle? You'll need to know how to market your side hustle, which includes a combination of marketing and sales. Here we have all the tips you need to know to keep your side hustle rolling along like a full-fledged business.
If you have a side hustle, you might be trying to grow your business so that it can become your primary source of income. There are many different ways you can market your side gig, with some being more effective than others.
In this post, we’ll explain ways that you can promote your side hustle and some tips in doing so.
Follow these tops ways to market and grow your side hustle into a successful business.
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Table of Contents
Ways to Successfully Market and Grow Your Side Hustle
Create a Website
A website is critical to your business's success in the 21st century. Without one, you could be considered obsolete when compared to your competitors, losing potential clients along the way.
Creating a website is easier than you might think. If you do not have any skills when it comes to web design or development, there are a few options to consider. You could hire someone to develop it for you, or you could use an online website builder to produce your website.
If you’re planning on using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, there are many different themes that you can download to build your site.
Pricing ranges based on the complexity of your needs but you can expect to spend less than $100 on a premium WordPress theme.
Either way, creating a website is salient to your growth potential and can be one of the best investments when it comes to your side gig.
Use Social Media
Social media marketing allows you to reach the masses all through the click of a button. You can start by posting on your personal accounts and then (depending on the size of your side hustle), create a new account for your business itself. You can also cross-reference your business and personal accounts to gain even more awareness.
You should reach out to your friends and family directly and ask them to follow your business account. If you feel comfortable, you could even ask them to share your posts to boost your exposure further.
Using social media can be key to your side hustles success, especially for a side hustle that is primarily online.
When using social media to market your side gig, you should plan to post regularly to keep followers and friends up to date on your services and offerings. You should also try to differentiate your posts so that not every post is the same.
You can use different types of media to help mix things up. Consider posting a mix of videos, pictures, and text posts to keep followers engaged.
Take Advantage of Digital Advertising
Digital advertising can drive huge results. Here are a few methods and how to approach your digital marketing strategy.
Search Results
Whenever you go to search for something on the web, you’ll most likely go to Google, type in your search, and browse the results.
You can reach the top of Google's results by doing one of two things: paying for space when users search a specific keyword, or by creating high-quality content that Google deems relevant to the user's search.
Hint: Number 1 is much easier than number 2, however, it requires a cash investment to get started.
Google allows you to bid on specific keywords for your advertisement in an auction format. The price of your bid is determined by what others are willing to bid. Therefore, a term that doesn’t have many competitors might be extremely cheap when compared to a more sought after service like “tax services near me”.
For example, if your side hustle is graphic design. You could bid on the term “graphic design freelancers” to gain exposure to people looking for your services. These searches will have a healthier conversion rate because they are searching for your services.
The second way to reach the top of Google is by creating high-quality content that is optimized for search engines. You should aim to create content that fulfills the searcher's needs.
Reaching the top of Google through SEO can take months if not years of publishing, optimizing, and promoting your content, so unless you plan to be in it for the long haul, you might be able to better utilize your time elsewhere.
Display Advertising
Google isn’t the only place you’ll find digital advertising. You can find various types of display advertising across many different websites.
Some of these placements are done through Google using your browsing history and cookies to show relevant ads across the web.
By using display advertising, you can reach potential clients that have previously interacted with a website that might bee similar to yours, or maybe it was your site itself.
Some businesses will display advertisements to prior users if they did not complete the intended actions like submitting a form or signing up for their services.
Utilize Email Marketing
If you have an online side hustle, you can use email marketing to expand your business. Success in email marketing relies on a few key elements:
- A way to capture email addresses
- A tool to send marketing emails
- Sending creative and informational emails with a direct call-to-action
By creating automated email campaigns, you can actively communicate with potential customers without the hassle of sending emails on a regular basis.
There are many different marketing automation tools including ConvertKit, Mailchimp, Constant Contact and many others. Each has unique benefits and offerings at various price points.
You can often find a free trial to find which one which best suits your needs. You can try Constant Contact below for a free trial.
Ask Customers to Market for You!
There’s no better way to spread your business than through other people. Those who have used your services and had a positive experience are likely to recommend you to their friends and family.
This can quickly spread to many people.
Referrals and testimonials are a great way to gain exposure and attract new clients for your business. Whenever completing a successful service, you should ask your clients to spread their experience to their connections.
Make Connections – Always Be Networking
By networking with others, you can expand your potential audience increasing your chances of landing a new client or gig.
You should try to go out of your way to meet others whether it’s at a community get together or online through your social media profiles.
Craigslist or Classifieds
Whether you’re flipping furniture or you walk dogs, Craigslist is a great place to promote your side hustle. You can post your services online giving your business exposure to many.
Using classifieds is a great way to market a side hustle that is done locally, as you can select your city to promote your business.
Flyers or Print Advertising
This might be a more traditional strategy but it can still work depending on your business. Service companies like lawn care or car detailing make great candidates for traditional flyers.
Your flyers should include several components:
- The services offered
- Your contact information
- Why they should use your services
- A catchy design
When it comes to the design of your flyers, you should aim to make them catch your attention while maintaining your brand standards.
Poor marketing will often mismatch advertising and the ideal customer.
For example, perhaps your side hustle is creating jewelry for women.
Your marketing should reflect more feminine styling as that will relate to your target audience.
Where to Distribute Print Advertising?
Once you’ve created your flyers, how will you distribute them? Depending on your side hustle, you have several different options. If your side hustle is geared towards businesses such as graphic design, you could hand deliver your flyers giving a more personable approach.
If your business is consumer-facing, you could opt to distribute your flyers into paper boxes to reach many households.
You can also consider distributing your flyers at local churches, gyms, and other community gathering places.
Cold Calling or Emailing
While the days of cold calling are certainly dwindling, there is still merit to using it as a way to prospect potential clients.
For example, if your side hustle is blogging, you could reach out to other potential bloggers via email with the opportunity to guest blog to improve your search rankings.
If your side hustle is web development, you could consider cold calling local businesses to gain clients.
See Related: Get Paid to Read Emails
Tips for Cold Calling or Emailing
Whenever it comes to cold calling or emailing, you should understand that it is likely to be a numbers game. You might become unmotivated if you do not find immediate success, but each additional call you make or email you send will better your chances of success.
Do not give up after the first few attempts!
You should also be prepared to deal with rejection as it comes with cold calling.
There is a good chance that you will experience a negative interaction while cold calling.
To deal with this, ignore the negative feedback, and move on.
Engage in Online Forums or Blogs
Another great way to spread awareness of your business is by engaging in online forums or blogs. There are many communities online to pitch your services like Reddit or a blog about your side hustle.
For example, if you are browsing a photography forum, you could mention your services or promote your work, giving exposure to your services.
Offer Your Services for Free or Highly Discounted
While this one doesn’t sound appealing to many, it can provide extraordinary returns. By offering your services to free or highly discounted while getting started, there’s a good chance your first customers will come back to you when they need your service again.
There is also a chance that your offering might get picked up by local press or media outlets, which can have profound impacts on your business.
Other Tips to Marketing Your Side Hustle
When it comes to marketing just about anything, testing and optimization are key. Not every form of marketing will work for every business or side hustle. Many times you will find that you will find success through trial and error.
Marketing Your Side Hustle Requires an Investment
Whenever you decide to start promoting your side hustle, it will require some sort of investment whether it is your time or your money.
The goal is to have a positive return on your investment. You should do your best to track your spending and advertising methods so that you can decipher which methods are performing better and allocate your time and money accordingly.
Don’t Give Up
Marketing your side hustle most likely is not going to have an overnight impact on your business. You need to give yourself time to grow.
If you are not thrilled with the results at first, give yourself more time before calling it quits.
Ensure Your Marketing Matches Your Audience
The basics of marketing rely on four words: product, price, placement, and promotion.
To understand this, think of this example. If you are marketing a product that is made for senior citizens, should you choose online advertising as your primary marketing channel?
Probably not. Many senior citizens are not actively engaged online, making them hard, if not impossible to reach.
However, if you are marketing a product that is targeted towards millennials, online advertising might be the best channel or you.
This theory plays out for the other three Ps.
For example, if you’re promoting an affordable design service, it’s probably wise not to price your services similar to more high-end options.
Success in marketing your side hustle will come by aligning the 4 P’s mentioned above.
Don’t Take Shortcuts
When attempting to grow your side hustle, ensuring top quality services should be one of your top priorities. This isn’t the time to skip steps or take shortcuts as these can have a negative impact on your business.
See Related: Side Hustles for Single Moms
Conclusion
When it comes to your side hustle, you’re always looking to gain new clients or customers. Marketing your side gig is essential to its growth. From using social media to printing flyers, promoting your side hustle should be a priority to expand your business.
Side hustles can provide a great way to earn some extra cash in addition to a primary source of income. Some are capable of transforming their side hustle into a full-time job.
By using some of the marketing tactics above, you too can become a full-time side hustler.
Have you had success marketing your side hustle? We’d love to know your experiences!