Small businesses don’t have the same marketing budgets as their big business counterparts. That doesn’t mean they don’t have the same opportunity to succeed. It just means they need to be creative with their resources and take unconventional approaches to getting their message out there. In an increasingly digital world, that might involve using social media, developing an online presence, or using a word-of-mouth strategy. It all depends on your company, your target audience and your goals for growth.
If you own a small business, you almost certainly have limited resources for marketing activities. To succeed in spite of those limitations requires a shift from thinking like a producer (of goods) to thinking like a marketer (who creates demand for those goods).
Here are 5 tips that will help you do just that...
Leverage your current customers
Marketing to your existing customers is one of the best ways to build your business and quickly expand your customer base. It’s also one of the best ways to save money on marketing efforts.
How? Simply by leveraging your current customers to alert their friends, family members and colleagues about your company, products and/or services. Customers who have had a positive experience with your company are more likely to recommend your business than someone who has never purchased from you. So, how do you go about leveraging your customers?
Ask them to leave a review on your Google Business page. You can then use these reviews on a testimonial page on your website. Also, ask them to refer their friends and family members to your business. You can go a step further by offering incentives to your customers to refer their friends. This can lead to exponential growth in your customer base at a fraction of the cost of other marketing activities.
Be creative with your content
Social media, videos, blogs, e-newsletters and other forms of content marketing are another way to save on marketing costs while bringing in new leads and sales.
The good news is that you don’t have to create fancy, over-the-top content that costs a fortune to produce. Instead, you can create simple, yet effective and engaging content that speaks to your target audience about their problems, challenges and aspirations.
Make sure your content is relevant to your target audience and that it addresses their specific pain points. Readers want solutions to their problems, not problems.
Use free tools
There are a variety of free tools available to help you market your business online. They can help you create content, run social media ads, track your website visitors and more. Before you commit to one of these paid services, do a quick search to see if there’s a free version of the tool you’re interested in using. You may find that the free version meets your needs without breaking the bank.
Examples of free marketing tools include Hootsuite and Sprout Social, which allow you to track and manage all your social media channels in one place. You can also use Grammarly to proofread your website copy or create compelling blog posts for free.
Another free tool you can use is Google Trends to see what topics are trending, and which ones have the highest search volume. You can then create content around those topics and publish it on your website and other online channels.
You can even create a free website using Wix, Weebly and others!
Make sure you claim your Google Business listing, be found on Apple Maps and Bing.
Make use of social media
Social media is another effective way to market your business and expand your customer base. It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to post on your social channels. You can even hire someone to do it for you (hint)!
If you choose to manage your social channels yourself, set up a posting schedule so you don’t have to spend all day posting. Simply posting a couple of times per week on each channel will have a big impact on your business.
You can post links to your blog posts, videos, product and service offerings, photos, other types of content and more.
The content you post on social media is important. Make sure it’s relevant to your target audience and resonates with them. If it doesn’t, it won’t bring results for you.
Try paid marketing tactics
While most other marketing tactics are free or low-cost, paid marketing often comes with a price tag. Don’t be afraid to invest in paid marketing if it can help you achieve your marketing goals.
You can invest in paid advertising on social media channels, such as Facebook and Instagram, and Google search ads. You can also try paid search marketing tactics, such as sponsored advertisements on Google, Bing and Yahoo! These come at a fraction of a cost of more traditional advertising like TV, radio and print.
You can also hire a marketing consultant (again, hint) to help you create and implement a marketing strategy that includes a variety of paid marketing tactics. Remember, though, that you’ll need to carefully track the return on investment (ROI) of each paid marketing tactic so you can see which ones are bringing you the best results. Then, make adjustments as needed to improve the effectiveness of your paid marketing efforts.
Conclusion
Marketing is all about creating demand for your products and services.
The best way to do that is to make sure your target audience understands who you are and what you have to offer. That means you need to be strategic about the way you market your business. It’s important to be selective about the marketing activities you undertake and make sure they’re relevant to your business.
You can also leverage your current customers to create new leads and sales. And you can do this by being creative with your content, making use of free tools, and investing in paid marketing tactics that bring in new leads.
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