Whether business to business marketing or business to consumer, you need a marketing plan that fits your goals and brand. Marketing services come in all shapes and sizes. No industry is the same and neither are the individual companies within that industry. All small business marketing needs to be unique to your brand culture.
Small business marketing is about playing to people’s emotions; giving them a reason to click, share, like, etc.
Silly errors can be costly, and you want your marketing campaigns to run smoothly. Why risk losing a potential sale because of a spelling mistake?
Customers don’t want to see the same advertisement over and over; it gets stale and diminishes return on investment.
Not everyone is a potential customer, make sure you know your audiences demographics, likes and dislikes, job titles, etc.
Whatever your message or brand, use a unified strategy across all medias.
When someone believes there is a limited time to act on an offer it can grab their attention and provoke them to make the purchase now. Eg) …this week only!
Don’t try to copy the corporate identity of a competitor. Stand out and find your own unique target audience to market to.
Your company/organization should have a clear, consistent theme and message for all of your marketing efforts.
Calling yourself #1 or the best is a strategy that is overplayed. With today’s global communication most prospective clients aren’t going to believe you, at least not without a quick Google search.
Whether it’s a sign, vehicle wrap, commercial, radio ad, etc. you don’t need to tell them to call, click, email, and visit. One contact is more than enough; you don’t want your advertising to be overloaded with information.
Make sure your website is constantly being updated with new content and innovations like responsive web design for a mobile friendly site.
Keep your copy simple and to the point. You want your audience to understand and remember your message.
Your marketing plan may have been to target Males aged 30-40, but females aged 20-30 seem to have the most interest in your services, roll with it.
If you find yourself annoyed by certain marketing/advertising strategies, like door knockers or flyers on car windows you have to assume your audience will find them annoying as well.
Have a plan; know how much you want to spend, where you want to spend it and what you want to spend it on.
Use something that is a declaration of the customer. Eg) McDonalds – I’m Lovin’ It
Grab your audience’s attention in the first 5 seconds. Viewers want fast, short information, don’t get too wordy.
Don’t try looking for customers; it’s easier to convince a friend to become a customer than a total stranger.
Have your marketing strategies and advertisements reviewed by an outsider.
We shouldn’t have to say it but with small business marketing, content is king. If you can create it yourself, even better!
Video is a valuable marketing tool and there’s nothing wrong with doing it yourself to keep costs down with your small business marketing strategies.
You don’t need to be everywhere, use the platforms that you do the best on and get even better at them. Eg) Facebook, Instagram, and E-mail Marketing
These are very powerful marketing tools, easy to digest, visually pleasing, and people love to share them.
You might not always have the budget or ideas for something new find something that already exists and breathe new life into it.
LinkedIn is a major social media tool for business networking but you can also join groups, enter conversations and share industry related content. So you can promote and build your brand while also sharing ideas and learning new things.
Marketing strategies for any small business should be unique to that company’s brand. Since every business is different, some might
benefit from Social Media Management. However, other industries might favor Automated Marketing or need a marketing
agency to help build or re-build their website.
As you learned in the first 25 Marketing Strategies for Small Business, you need marketing solutions that fit your goals. No industry
marketing strategies are the same. All business marketing needs to be unique to your individual brand. Now, let's take a look at the
next 25 marketing strategies for small business.
There are a lot of people that have probably never seen your old content; to them, it will be new. You can also mash up old stuff to create eBooks or new videos.
Word of Mouth is the number 1 marketing tool. Offer customers some kind of reward for referring new customers your way.
You don’t need a super expensive prize to get participants and the number of entrants could land you some new potential leads.
Team up with another business for a joint partnership means twice as much notice; create an event, seminar, webinar, or have a promotional giveaway.
Every handshake delivered should come with a business card, the more people who know about your business the better.
Marketing doesn’t need to be expensive, you can use sidewalk chalk, dress in a goofy costume, walk a cow around town, as long as it’s legal and relates to your business.
Plan a seminar or event that relates to your business and host it at your location to bring in new people.
Have a bowl or jar at your business for people to leave business cards in for a chance to win a reward from your business.
You can create personalized and automated messaging to get visitors to engage with your business more and make them feel like you’re talking directly to them.
Build brand awareness while you’re driving around town or parked outside a busy location.
Donating one of your products or services as a prize for a local contest or event creates local engagement.
The networking and marketing benefits are huge, once you’re well known by other business leaders in the community it should drive your referrals way up.
A business can get huge amounts of press of charitable events, whether it’s on a local or global stage.
Use it to build an audience of people that would be interested in your products/services. Write regularly about topics related to your business and what your business is doing.
Word of mouth advertising is the easiest, least expensive and least time consuming of all marketing strategies.
The more accurate information you have about your target audience the more effective your marketing campaigns will be.
You want your product or service to be tailored to your customers from the way it’s promoted to the packaging it’s wrapped in.
A good first impression generates trust, motivates employees and allows customers to be comfortable with their decision to come to you.
A complaint that is dealt with properly will often result in a loyal customer.
Get your local business on all relevant directories; yelp, foursquare, yellow pages, etc.
Postcards and mail-outs are cheap to design, print and mail and are already open when received versus e-mail.
Have t-shirts and other apparel items made. Deck your employees in them; give them out as promotional items, or both.
These are great ways to drum up interest but be careful, the key isn’t to sell or give a pitch; it’s to discuss the topic at hand to create trust.
Creating loyalty and trust generates word of mouth advertising which results in referrals.
When you attend trade shows and conventions with free giveaways in the form of a product or service you provide, it can create buzz and get people to line up at your store to buy it.
Marketing strategies for any business should be custom tailored to that individual company's brand. Every business is different, but every organization needs strong brand management for their corporate identity across all their channels. Whether that need is digital marketing services, like website design, or more traditional marketing products like business cards and posters. Contact Strand360 today to receive your FREE Marketing Consultation.
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