- Use your business marketing strategy to reach customers who may not be familiar with your products and services. This is very important – most customers won't come across your business without trying to find them.
- To build a small business marketing strategy, define your brand and target customers. So launch a business website and set a marketing budget. Next, implement marketing tools and channels.
- Commonly used marketing channels include email, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, online networks, and your company's website (especially your blog).
- This article is for small business owners who want to market their business as effectively as possible.
Your products and services may be great, but that doesn't mean people will know about them. Marketing can change that. But what can you do if you're a new or small business that doesn't have the funding or other resources for a comprehensive marketing plan? This guide will help you implement a small business marketing strategy within your budget.
What is a business marketing strategy?
Your business marketing strategy is your plan for reaching new and existing customers through multiple channels such as email marketing and direct mail. This includes identifying target customers; assess their needs, wants and concerns; And position your business as the best solution.
“A business marketing strategy is a set of strategies designed to increase your company's awareness, sales, and revenue by attracting new customers,” says Jason Demers, founder and CEO of Email Analytics.
Your audience is out there, but they may not recognize you if you aren't selling effectively. According to Stephen Jenke, founder and CEO of Digimark Australia, people are looking for solutions to problems and a good marketing campaign can be used to communicate how your products or services solve those problems.
“Without marketing, you rely on push sales,” Yenke said. “For the unprepared, they may not know who you are and may not know they have a problem. Marketing helps people find small businesses, the problem they have, and the solution the business offers. You will not feel a solution and pressure, but rather a relief.
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Branding is the first step in any marketing strategy,” Jaenke says. “You first need to decide why you're in business. If people can't identify with you and why you do, then you don't have a brand. Create a product story that shows how you got into the business and why you started it. Tone, typography and logo are important in [defining] a brand, but not as important as the story of the brand. It's the glue that holds everything together.
4. Define your target audience.
Any good business marketing strategy starts with identifying your target audience, groups of people who can become customers. Knowing your target audience, their interests, needs, and behaviors will help you better shape your message and put it where they can see it.
“Many small business owners struggle to find their target audience,” Jenke said. Because they feel they are limiting their options by narrowing their reach. It's important to remember that choosing your target audience doesn't limit your marketing efforts, it just focuses your attention. [Read the related article: Not all your customers are doing well ]
5. Combine buyer personas
Once you understand your target audience, create customer personas to learn more. Setting up fake clients with fake lives and hobbies may seem silly at first, but the more details you provide, the better.
"Your market research should help you with this, but what it really means is identifying a fictional character who represents the market segment," Jenke said. "You want to make it as comprehensive as possible, including over-the-error population."
Yenke gives an example of a company-based buyer persona:
“Accountant Allen Jim. He is a 45-year-old man who runs a moderately successful accounting firm. He has hired three other accountants and a secretary, and his income is $500,000. In his spare time, Jim enjoys watching golf and fixing old cars. He'll be at the car meet on the weekend when possible. Through referrals and networks, he grew his business to $500,000, but was unable to surpass that limit. He's looking for ways to increase that through marketing."
"If you've ever started a business, you probably have some idea of your target audience," said Demers. But it's always a good idea to create a customer persona, a description of the exact demographics of your target customer. This may include age, gender, marital status, occupation, occupation and annual income. Be specific so you can accurately identify the perfect match.
6. Create a website.
Even if you don't intend to sell products online, having a business website is important. When a potential customer finds a new business (whether it's new to them or in general), they look to social media and the website. A business website is a simple and effective way to convey legitimacy to your audience.
“I recommend small businesses build their website with WordPress,” said Demers. “You can use a popular WordPress theme like Divi and hire a webmaster through a site like Upwork to build and maintain the website.”
Janke takes a different approach. He said WordPress or a similar platform should be a last resort.
"A lot of times people fall into the drag trap," Jenke said. “The companies that offer them make them easy to use and available every month, but the price goes up and the end result is often not unique or attractive. Instead, we recommend hiring a professional web designer who focuses on the customer experience. Online. "
But if custom web development isn't in the budget, paying for a WordPress Dev subscription is a good option, he said.
"It gives you a page builder that looks like a scanner, but the code is cleaner, the results are more unique, and it's free once you pay the annual DV hosting fee," Jaenke said. he said. “You also own the website.”
7. Keep your devices online.
There are many tools online that can help you enhance your marketing efforts or connect customers with you. A Yelp page allows customers to leave direct reviews and gives you the ability to respond personally. Your Google business page places you on the search engine results page where customers can find key information such as location, contact details, website and user reviews.
Other helpful tools include software like Semrush or Ahrefs, which can help you understand how people search for products and services like yours online. This information helps you develop marketing content that ranks on search engine results pages and meets the needs of your customers.
Finally, tools like pixels can be integrated into your website to track traffic trends and log data. Knowing who, where, and what is working on your websites can help you optimize your future marketing and advertising efforts.
8. Start blogging.
Once you've identified your audience and created your website and marketing channels, the next step is engagement. You want to engage with your customers and provide value before they spend any money. Your company blog is a great tool for this. This allows you to educate your audience and build connections that foster real relationships with your customers. As your online presence grows, you'll find that your blog can become the backbone of your SEO and engagement efforts.
9. Select the external distribution stations.
Marketing channels are different ways to reach your target audience. Email is just as popular a digital marketing channel as Facebook. Each platform you use to reach each segment of your audience is considered a separate channel.
“Most entrepreneurs use Facebook by default and it's a great channel to focus on,” Jaenke said. "A lot of people are still using it every day, it's not going anywhere and [it's] constantly updating the options available to entrepreneurs."
As for what's best for your business, Jenke says it's best to decide where your customers spend their time, because they may know they're connecting with family and friends on Facebook, but they're not. Looking for answers on Reddit. . They might check email once a week, but check Instagram every hour.
10. Post ads.
There's a reason advertising is one of the largest industries in the world. Ads can be your first contact with customers. So you can continue to build customer relationships and all that, but advertising solidifies your name in people's minds. This is how the doors will open, so make sure you're ready.
Advertising is a great way to increase your reach, but modern marketing offers many more ways to achieve your goals. You can pay for awareness through social media platforms or SMS marketing services. If you have a Facebook business page, Facebook offers you paid options to promote your page to a larger audience.
Key to Getting Started: Define your brand and target audience to develop a small business marketing strategy. So create a business website and marketing budget before setting up all your marketing tools and channels.
Examples of marketing channels
Email address
Email is an important part of digital marketing because it is intended to communicate with those who have signed up to receive communications from you in the form of newsletters, offers or emails. However, people fear being duped by emails, so design your emails so people know you're sending them.
Andy Wood, digital marketing expert and founder of the Evil Marketers Club, says: "The online world can be a wonderful, strange, exciting and scary place - any other word you can think of. It's a world where you can literally find anything what you can imagine, but unfortunately it's a lot There are some scammers, scammers and scammers.When you go online, you have to convince your audience that you are who you say you are, that you have what you have, and that you can do what you say you can.
Jahnke says email converts better than other forms of marketing. "A lot of times because you [already have] their email address, you're in a warm relationship. We use traditional marketing and digital marketing to create a two-pronged approach."
social media
With so many social media platforms available and growing every day, it's important to know which ones are right for your business.
“The key is to focus your efforts, so you should only choose one or two social media platforms,” Jenke said. "If you choose too much, if you don't have someone to delegate to, you will be too fragmented and your message will get lost in the noise or seem inauthentic."
On the other hand, Call Out founder Lori Wilkins advocates accessing as many social platforms as possible. He says a Facebook page, Instagram page, Twitter profile, and YouTube channel are key to growing your audience. Let's take a closer look at some of these platforms.
- Facebook: A Facebook page is a great way to connect with your customers in real time. When you post something, people can leave comments, raise concerns, and start conversations. As a business owner, you can address these topics and talk about topics that matter to your customers. Share ideas, photos and news about your business to create a more personal connection with your audience.
- Instagram: If you use an Instagram page to promote your business, it's important to be consistent with your posting habits, consider the layout and look of your network, and organize your photos so you don't compete for content. If you are prepared, you will know that your customers will be thinking about how to present your business and this will lead to a better Instagram page. All of this increases the number of people who want to follow you and interact with your content. Instagram supports influencer marketing which can benefit the right industry.
- YouTube – If video creation is right for your business, YouTube is the place to be. Videos of activities like carpet cleaning, car detailing, and soap making have gone viral because they're fun to watch and the end result is worth watching. Look at the channels of other companies in your industry to help you evaluate their performance on the platform and decide if it's worth continuing.
- Twitter : What's cool about Twitter for business is that unlike Instagram, the focus isn't on photos, and unlike Facebook, it's not always about starting a conversation. But many businesses have found success on Twitter because of the amazing testimonials from their customers and competitors; They believe that fast food chains compete for the quality of burgers. Twitter is more casual than Facebook and is great for making quick notes about your activity. You may include a link to your website or other resource in these notes.
- TikTok: TikTok offers businesses a way to create and share short video content in a more casual setting. Tik Tok is better for building a brand and engaging audiences than direct sales. Just like on Instagram, consistency in tone and style of content is key to keeping your audience engaged.
Pay Per Click (PPC)
Pay per click is a marketing method that allows you to place targeted ads on pages your customers are likely to visit. By clicking on this ad, the customer is redirected to your website and you only have to pay a small commission per click. If you're looking to reach a new target audience or expand your customer base, this could be a good channel to explore. This is the opposite of organic traffic, but PPC can grow your business significantly with the amount of traffic you get from search engines.
website
You may be wondering why we kept this for last when it seems like such an obvious example. The reason is that some companies are abusing their websites. A website is often the first thing a business owner creates for marketing and the first branding element customers see. But often a website is not optimized to drive traffic and attract new customers. Pay attention to search engine optimization (SEO), including keywords and product descriptions, to help your website rank higher in search results.
Marketing is important to any business.
Marketing is a niche area where many well-known companies devote an entire department to it, but it doesn't have to be. Even small businesses can and should engage in marketing to attract new customers and keep existing customers interested in their brands. Use the tips in this small business marketing guide to get started in the right direction.
