If you want to get your small business off the ground, you know how important it is to attract new customers. Without new customers, your business would not be able to expand and grow. And one of the fastest ways to grow your customer base is by harnessing the power of marketing.
But small business marketing is not something that happens overnight. A successful strategy takes a lot of planning, research and effort – none of which can be done without the right information. To help you get started with your small business marketing plan, we’ve put together this handy 7 tips getting started guide to marketing a small business.
Contents
- 1 1. Email Marketing
- 2 2. Increase Brand Awareness
- 3 3. Develop a Detailed Marketing Plan
- 4 4. Focus on Content Marketing
- 5 5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- 6 6. Video Marketing
- 7 7. Website Design
- 8 Conclusion
- 9 How do I advertise for free?
- 10 What are the 4 growth strategies?
- 11 What are the 5 strategies of marketing?
- 12 What is the difference between sales and marketing?
- 13 What are 6 marketing strategies?
1. Email Marketing
Email is a great way to market your small business. It’s quick, easy and inexpensive to set up a newsletter or email campaign. Plus, you can use it to showcase your products and services and bring people back to your site. Email marketing also lets you target specific groups of customers based on your analytics data, which can help improve your ROI.
Plus, email marketing is a great way to grab customers’ attention and keep them engaged with your brand. Here are some things to consider when using email marketing as part of your small business strategy:
No matter what, make sure your email marketing efforts are aligned with your business goals. If you have no way of measuring the effectiveness of your campaign, it makes no sense to send emails.
2. Increase Brand Awareness
Increasing brand awareness is one of the most essential steps in building a successful small business. You can do this by creating an effective social media strategy and establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Building relationships with influencers will help spread your brand online and offline through word of mouth marketing campaigns.
Having a strong brand can also be attractive to potential customers. Customers are more likely to buy from a brand they trust, so developing a strong reputation is crucial to building your business.
Customer service is another important aspect of building a great brand. You need to provide customers with the best experience possible to win them over. This could mean providing quick responses on social media, answering questions and queries quickly through email support, or even providing phone support for customers who prefer.
3. Develop a Detailed Marketing Plan
If you want to be successful in marketing your business, you must have a detailed plan to help you track and achieve your goals. That plan should include the steps you need to take to achieve your business goals, as well as a timeline for when each step will be completed.
A good marketing strategy would include things like:
These are all important components of a marketing strategy, and you should take the time to create one if you want your business to be successful.
4. Focus on Content Marketing
Content marketing doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. You can write articles for your website or blog, create videos and share them on social media, or take pictures of your products that you can post on Instagram or Pinterest. The more content you create, the greater your chances of attracting new customers through search engines like Google and Bing.
As part of any good inbound marketing campaign, you should focus on creating high-quality content that is relevant to your audience. It’s one of the most effective ways to build trust with potential customers and establish yourself as an expert in your industry.
Always be on the lookout for new and innovative ways to incorporate content marketing into your business marketing strategy. For example, you can try:
The sky is the limit when it comes to content marketing. Don’t be afraid to try new things.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is an incredibly important part of any marketing strategy, but it can be overwhelming for a small business owner who doesn’t have a lot of experience in this area. Consider working with an SEO expert who can help you create an effective plan to improve your search engine rankings over time.
Also, local SEO can help drive more traffic to your store or office by targeting people nearby. You can also leverage your existing customers to generate more business by giving them the tools they need to share your content with their friends. Use tools like Google My Business to quickly and easily build an online presence in your local area.
6. Video Marketing
Video marketing can be done in many ways, from a simple explainer video that describes what your company does to a full production with actors and special effects. It depends on how much you want to spend and where you expect to get traffic.
When creating videos for your business, they should be of high quality so that they look professional and attract viewers. You should also have a consistent tone in each video so viewers know what to expect from each one. You can upload videos on various social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, making it easy for people all over the world to see them.
Some of the best practices for video marketing that you should follow include:
Video marketing is an effective way to reach a large audience and build your brand. It’s also an important part of any digital marketing strategy, especially if you want to reach people who live outside of your area. As long as you follow video marketing best practices, it should be easy to create videos that people love to watch.
7. Website Design
Website design is important because it determines how your business is represented online. Your website should be easy to navigate and the information on it should be easy to find. You should also ensure that your site is mobile-friendly so people can view it on a phone or tablet without having to zoom or scroll.
You can improve your site by ensuring all links work and adding content like blog posts and videos. You should also add a contact form so people can get in touch with you if they want more information about your services or products.
You will also need to incorporate SEO into your website so that it appears higher in search engine results. You can do this by including keywords in your content and using them in your blog post titles. It would also be useful to add social media buttons to your website so that people who like what they see can share it with their friends and online followers.
A strong website is essential for any business, but it’s especially important for sellers of services and products. Even if you don’t have a lot of money to spend on your website, there are many ways to make sure it looks professional and attractive.
Tracking Website Visitors
Using analytics tools like Google Analytics can help you understand who is visiting your site and what they want to see. It can also help you identify areas where you can improve, such as making your site more mobile-friendly or improving the quality of your content.
You can also incorporate tracking into your ad campaigns. For example, if you use Google Ads or Google Adwords to promote your website, you can use Google Analytics to track how many people click on your ad. This can help you determine if the campaign is working and how much money it is costing you.
Conclusion
Marketing a small business is a full-time job and it’s up to you to define your strategy. You won’t get it right on the first try; it takes time to get to know your customers and find out where they spend their time.
But by following these guidelines and incorporating them into your company’s mission statement, you can start defining your own small business marketing strategy from the ground up and stay ahead of the competition. And if you’re struggling, consider contacting a small business marketing agency like Scorpion for help.
Featured Image Credit: Photo by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS; Pexels; Thanks!
Joe Martin
VP of Marketing
Joe Martin is currently the vice president of marketing for Scorpion, a leading provider of technology and marketing to help small businesses grow. Previously, he was GM and CMO at CloudApp and head of marketing at Adobe. With over 15 years of industry experience and the technology that makes it work, he provides strategic guidance on how to build and use the right stack and marketing for businesses to grow. Joe believes marketers need smart training and leadership to scale the company’s growth. Connect with Joe on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @joeDmarti.
52 Types of Marketing Strategies.
How do I advertise for free?
How to get free advertising
- Write guest posts for other blogs.
- Answer Quora questions.
- Post content on LinkedIn.
- Offer to do podcast interviews for other companies.
- Promote your site in your email signature.
- Send newsletters by email.
- Run a free product giveaway or contest.
- Create YouTube videos.
What are the 4 growth strategies?
The four growth strategies These are Product, Placement, Promotion and Price. Where the Four Ps focus on audiences, channels and; For pricing, the Ansoff Matrix is more effective for a broader view of markets and uses the older Four P framework in each of the 4 Ansoff quadrants.
What are the two basic growth strategies? Growth strategies fall into two main categories: concentration strategies and diversification strategies.
What are different growth strategies?
The growth strategy can be adopted in the form of expansion, vertical integration, diversification, merger, acquisition and joint venture.
What are the 4 growth strategies?
The four growth strategies These are Product, Placement, Promotion and Price. Where the Four Ps focus on audiences, channels and prices, the Ansoff Matrix is more effective for a broader view of markets and uses the older Four P framework in each of the 4 Ansoff quadrants.
What are the 4 types of business growth?
4 types of business growth include organic, strategic, internal, and lastly, acquisition, merger or partnership. 4 strategies include product development, market development, diversification and market penetration.
What are the four main growth strategies?
The four growth strategies These are Product, Placement, Promotion and Price. Where the Four Ps focus on audiences, channels and prices, the Ansoff Matrix is more effective for a broader view of markets and uses the older Four P framework in each of the 4 Ansoff quadrants.
What are growth strategies?
A growth strategy is an organization’s plan to overcome current and future challenges to achieve its expansion goals. Examples of growth strategy goals include increasing market share and revenue, acquiring assets, and improving the organization’s products or services.
What are the 4 types of business growth?
4 types of business growth include organic, strategic, internal, and lastly, acquisition, merger or partnership. 4 strategies include product development, market development, diversification and market penetration.
Which growth strategy is best?
A business growth strategy is market penetration. A small business uses a market penetration strategy when it decides to market existing products within the same market it has been using. The only way to grow using existing products and markets is to increase market share, according to small business experts.
Which growth strategy is the easiest?
Market Penetration This is the lowest risk and potentially easiest growth strategy. It involves growing the sales of your existing product in your existing market.
What is a good growth strategy?
A growth strategy allows companies to expand their business. Growth can be achieved through practices such as adding new locations, investing in customer acquisition, or expanding a product line. A company’s industry and target market influence the growth strategies it chooses.
What are the 5 strategies of marketing?
The 5 areas you need to make decisions about are: PRODUCT, PRICE, PROMOTION, PLACE AND PEOPLE. While the 5 Ps are somewhat controllable, they are always subject to your internal and external marketing environments. Read on to learn more about each of the Ps.
What are the top 4 marketing strategies? The four Ps are product, price, place and promotion. They are an example of a “marketing mix”, or the combined tools and methodologies used by marketers to achieve their marketing objectives. The 4 Ps were first formally conceptualized in 1960 by E.
What is the difference between sales and marketing?
Whereas marketing is about raising awareness of a brand and organization, sales turns that audience into profits by converting potential customers into actual customers.
What is the difference between sales and marketing with an example? Marketing focuses on getting the company’s product to market (through product launches and awareness campaigns), while sales focuses on getting the product from market to the customer. Sales focuses on the needs of the company, while marketing focuses on the needs of the market.
What is the difference between marketing and sales person?
The biggest difference is that marketers target customers who might be interested in buying a product or service, while sales professionals make the transaction and sell the product or service.
Is sales and marketing the same as sales?
Sales and marketing are two business functions within an organization – they both impact lead generation and revenue. The term sales refers to all activities that lead to the sale of goods and services. And marketing is the process of getting people interested in the goods and services being sold.
What’s better sales or marketing?
Sales is important because it’s the bottom line. Marketing is making a product known. At the end of the day, it’s about the company’s bottom line—and getting results. You cannot sell a product without marketing.
Whats is the difference between sales and marketing?
Sales and marketing are crucial pillars of any business. They are closely linked and act as a catalyst for revenue (profit) generation. Whereas marketing is about raising awareness of a brand and organization, sales turns that audience into profits by converting potential customers into actual customers.
What’s the difference between marketing and sales?
In the simplest terms, marketing is about raising awareness of your organization and brand to potential customers. Sales are turning that audience into profit by converting those prospects into real customers.
Which one is better marketing or sales?
marketing can help explain the main differences between the two. The biggest difference is that marketers target customers who might be interested in buying a product or service, while sales professionals make the transaction and sell the product or service.
What are 6 marketing strategies?
The building blocks of an effective marketing strategy include the 6 Ps of marketing: product, price, place, promotion, people and presentation. Effective integration of the 6 Ps of marketing can serve as the foundation for an effective growth strategy.
What are the 7 marketing strategies? These seven are: product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning and people.
What are the 6 types of marketing?
That’s all you need to know about the 6 types of market segmentation: demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioral, needs-based, and transactional.
What are the 6 marketing categories?
For any business, whether a global company or a small business, a comprehensive plan that outlines all possible avenues to attract the attention of customers is vital. The building blocks of an effective marketing strategy include the 6 Ps of marketing: product, price, place, promotion, people and presentation.