Seven is a lucky number, and to show my appreciation for the small business owners out there, here are 7 Marketing Strategies that every small business must know. Whether you own a small food stall, a startup, or a fashion boutique – this advice will give you some direction if you’re struggling with your marketing or just get inspired to try something new.
What is the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word “marketing”? You probably have a mental image of some fast-talking salesman with a cheesy smile on his face. Now, I’m not saying you need to be a fast-talking salesman, but there is one thing that’s for certain:
You can’t get far without knowing how to market your own business.
Whether you want to reach out to new customers, provide an excellent service, or just boost your online reputation – marketing is what makes it happen. Understanding these strategies will help you improve your sales, attract better clients and create a successful brand for yourself.
Understand The Anatomy Of An Ad Campaign
When you’re creating ads, it’s tempting to just make them for the sake of making them. After all, you want as many eyes on your product as possible, right? To ensure that your ads are reaching the right people, you have to understand the anatomy of an ad campaign. By dissecting what makes a good ad campaign, you can learn how to create effective online advertising.
Research is key when creating any type of advertisement. Whether it be for a book you’re promoting or for a new necktie shop down the street, research is one of the most important aspects. You need to know exactly who you’re trying to reach with your ad campaign in order to create an efficient one. When you know who you’re trying to reach and why they would be interested in your product or services, you can then begin researching what kind of things they like and what their biggest concerns are. This will help you determine if your ad campaign is reaching the right target audience and which mediums are best suited for reaching them.
Grow In Organic Reach
What’s the best marketing strategy for a small business? There are several to choose from. Advertising, of course, is one of the most obvious ones. However, in the world of social media, there are a number of strategic ways you can grow your business’ organic reach.
Tapping into your audience’s emotions is a vital element that will help you increase your business’ organic reach. Emotions are strong drivers when it comes to customers and their purchasing decisions. If you can find a way to reach into their psyche, you will be able to boost your conversion rate exponentially.
One way to do this is by using storytelling in your marketing campaigns. A story is something that everyone can connect with on an emotional level. When you use stories and emotionally charged words in your content, it creates a stronger pull on the customer’s mind and they feel like they know you better than just a faceless brand.
Storytelling also helps drive home the point of why someone should buy from you and not from another company or person doing business online. People always relate to people over companies because humans have an innate connection with other humans.
Leverage The Power Of Lists
As a small business owner, you have to make money where you can. And it’s likely that the majority of your sales will be made online. Tapping into the power of email lists is one of the best ways to make sure people are hearing about your business and what you have to offer.
Collecting email addresses from people that come to your site can be a challenge, but there are a couple different ideas for getting them.
1. Make it easy for people to give you their email address
Your website should have a prominent way for people to sign up for your list. On every page, people should see how they can get more information from you by agreeing to receive emails from your business. Make it simple for them by giving them only one or two options for signing up for your list.
2. Create an email address on your domain
You might think it’s too much trouble to create an email address like “info@yourcompany.com” when you could use Gmail or Outlook, but using your own domain helps with brand recognition and staying top-of-mind with customers who may not visit your site regularly. It also lets you update the look and feel of your email messages as the company evolves. For example, if you’re a freelance copywriter who specializes in high-end luxury goods, you could create a simple message like “info@luxurycopywriter.com” that highlights the services you offer, rather than clutter up your message with all the features and benefits.
Play With Fun Contests And Giveaways
There are many ways to get the attention of potential customers. One of the most effective ways is by having fun contests and giveaways. You can organize a contest on your website or blog in which you can run a vote for your customers. They will be able to vote either by voting online or by physically visiting the store.
You can add more excitement to your business website by offering some prizes to the winners. You can offer free t-shirts, bags, hats, mugs, etc. as prizes for the contest winners. To make it more exciting, you can also offer discounts on certain products to all those who participate in the contest and win at least one prize each.
A fun contest is an effective marketing strategy that helps you build brand awareness through your website and social media channels. More importantly, it helps you generate traffic to your website and builds trust among customers about your business.
Consider Using Pinterest To Advertise Your Products Or Services
One of the most effective ways for small business owners to advertise their products or services is through social media marketing. A tool such as Pinterest can be particularly effective, as it allows users to create boards that are dedicated to specific products and services. If you have a small business, it makes sense to create a few boards about your products and services, and then pin images that relate to them.
There are several reasons why Pinterest can be helpful for small businesses. For one thing, the site is an excellent way to reach potential customers. In fact, many people use Pinterest to plan purchases at local stores or online sites. This means that if you have a business that sells products or offers services online, you may find it useful to collect images of your products on your Pinterest boards. The more relevant images you have, the better your chances of attracting new customers through Pinterest.
A second reason why Pinterest can be helpful is that the site is highly visual in nature, meaning that it’s easy for potential customers to browse through the images on your boards without worrying about reading long descriptions or looking at written content. This means that if you want to market a particular product or service on Pinterest, and don’t want to bog down your main website with lots of text and information about how your product works, you can simply create a board with photos of your product in action. You might even consider using product photos with your logo and slogan on them, which will catch the eye of potential customers browsing the site.
When you’re just starting out, it might be difficult to think of interesting and creative ways to market your company using Pinterest. However, all it really takes is some thought, creativity, and time to come up with new ways to use the site. Before long, you’ll have a large following of people who like what they see and are ready to purchase whatever you’re selling.
Incentivize Referrals Or Create Rewards For Repeated Business
It’s no secret that the best way to get new customers is through referrals. The current trend with small businesses is to incentivize customers to refer new customers to them. It can be in the form of a discount on their next purchase, a free item, or another reward. This strategy is highly effective as it’s easy and inexpensive to implement. All you need to do is print a referral card and give it to your customer when they make a purchase. The customer keeps the referral card and gives it out whenever they’re asked where they got their product from.
Attract Business With Content Marketing
One of the most effective marketing strategies for a small business is to establish an online presence. You may have heard that content marketing is the new SEO. While it’s true that content marketing does have some elements in common with SEO (both are ways to generate traffic and leads), there are also significant differences.
Content marketing is the creation and sharing of targeted and relevant content (blog posts, infographics, videos, etc.) with the goal of attracting more targeted prospects to your website who you can then convert into customers.
The truth is, content marketing has always been good for small businesses. What makes it different today is that consumers are actively seeking out information about products and services they want — they’re not relying on us to find them and market to them. Small businesses must learn how to leverage this shift in consumer behavior by creating and promoting valuable content that attracts audiences who are interested in using our products or services.
You Must First Understand Where They Look And What They’re Searching For
You want your audience to find you. You want them to seek out your business, and come in for a visit. But how do you accomplish this? You must first understand where they look, what they’re searching for, and why they’re doing it. Secondly, be sure to choose the right platforms that will reach them best. These strategies will help you successfully market your small business while creating a valuable brand that people are willing to support and follow.