Small Business Marketing
The goal of good marketing is to raise awareness of your business and brand, increase qualified leads and then convert those leads to customers. As a small business owner there can be challenges (ex. resources like money and time), however there are key tactics and steps to take that can boost your business and marketing efforts.
Below you’ll find guidelines, foundational elements, strategies, tactics, tips and some fresh ideas for marketing your small business.
Marketing Tactics
- Get customer input – early
This will help you learn what your audience needs and wants, which will help you adjust your marketing plan or product offerings accordingly.
- Have a (good/impactful) website!
The first thing a potential customer or employee does is research your business online. A website signifies that you’re real and allows you to offer information about your business to leads, consumers, potential employees, and possible partners.
Your website isn’t just a simple brochure. You have the ability to turn it into a 24/7 salesperson by understanding how to convert traffic and turn them into leads.
Your website needs to be mobile-friendly and incorporate search engine optimization best practices.
Incorporating tools, such as Google Analytics, allows you to track the traffic to your website and learn what information is the most popular and which pages could use improvement.
A lot of marketing agencies and specialists promise to get your business’ site to page 1 and to the top of the rankings, however, remember that you get what you pay for. While there are a ton of do-it-yourself website services, some things are better left to the experts.
- Leverage social media
Social media is a powerful business tool. Social media can help you increase your domain authority, improve your search engine rankings, and engage with potential customers.
If you are not using Facebook or LinkedIn for your business, create a page today. You are leaving opportunities on the table if you don’t.
- Set up and claim your business online
Information about your business is and will be on the internet, so wouldn’t you prefer to proactively control what people read or see about your business when they search for it? See this blog on the great (FREE) tool – Google Business Profile.
- Offer coupons or free products/services
“Create loyalty early on. A happy customer will come back and will tell their friends about you. Create a buzz with brand ambassadors. These can be family and friends who help promote your products or services.” – Forbes.com
- The importance of branding
Focus on consistent and repetitive branding. Many marketing professionals believe in the “rule of seven,” which means people need to hear or see your message at least seven times before taking any action. The most common reason that people do not buy your product is that they do not know about it yet. – Forbes.com
Marketing Guidelines
- Know your audience
Not everyone is your potential buyer. As they say, “the riches are in the niches.” When you find your niche, you’ll have the most leverage as a small business. To do this you must understand your potential buyers’ pains, problems, triggering events, and priorities.
- Emphasize your value proposition
If there’s no difference between you and your competition, there’s no reason why a buyer would be compelled to work with you. Your value proposition is what will differentiate you from others in your space and make up your prospects’ minds that you’re the provider to go with. What do you do better than anyone in the industry? Conveying this makes a compelling argument.
- Stay focused on singular goals and objectives
“Set a performance goal around that one key area and focus your resources on the activities and tactics that will achieve that one performance goal. You can expand your efforts or pivot to other initiatives when you’ve made more progress toward that singular goal.” – HubSpot.com
- Capitalize on short-term plays
- Double-down on what works
- Understand the power of existing customers
- Use free promotional tools
- Make sure you’re capturing web prospects’ information
- Use email marketing to nurture leads
It’s important to stay top of mind and move leads closer to a purchasing decision, which can be achieved with email marketing.
Email marketing is a critical part of your marketing toolkit. In fact, 73 percent of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email.
This technique is a scalable way to communicate with both new and existing customers.
Try emailing your database newsletters (with your latest blog posts), and other promotions. Consider utilizing marketing automation to make this process even easier for yourself.
- Manage relationships with a CRM
“Email marketing works best when you’re sending personalized, targeted emails. This begins with a customer database or customer relationship management (CRM) system.
Your CRM stores information about your leads, prospects, and customers so that you can keep track of customer interactions and identify sales opportunities more effectively.” – HubSpot.com
- Determine your brand’s identity
“Having a consistent brand identity to promote your business will make you look more professional and help you attract new customers. According to a 2020 study, nearly 9 out of 10 people are brand loyal with nearly 25% of them climbing to be more brand loyal in 2020 compared to 2019.” – HubSpot.com
- Identify your buyer persona
When you imagine a customer searching for your product or service, what are they like? What are their pain points? What is their job? Creating a buyer persona that tells a story of your ideal customer can help you make a website that’s optimized for them.
By learning more about your target customer through creating a buyer persona, you can better figure out what types of things they may be searching for so you can include those terms on your website.
- Consult agencies or freelancers for web design help
If you aren’t on the technical side and want a website built for your small business, you can use a freelancer or a marketing agency that specializes in web design. This is a great option for businesses that already have a website but need it to be updated and revamped for search engine optimization to help improve your Google ranking.
- Hire a freelancer to help you scale your content
If you need some help creating regular blogs or promotional content, consider hiring a freelancer or specialist – not necessarily a new full-time employee.
- Draw up a go-to-market strategy
You need to create a promotional plan that aligns with the customer journey. Consider which content will attract, engage, and delight your prospects and how you will convert them into a customer.
Conclusion
Whether you’re struggling with a limited budget, the time restraints caused by having a smaller team, or even a lack of direction, a marketing plan that fits your business will provide guidance and success as you scale.
