When you have a small business you often find yourself wearing so many hats that things start to get overwhelming. Finding the time to actually grow your business can be pushed to the back while you try to just keep up with the day to day tasks. However, if you don’t grow your business you won’t be able to increase your profit enough to justify taking on more staff. Even more importantly, you cease to succeed in this highly competitive industry. Remember that your goal, at the very least, should be to thrive. Even as a small business, you’ll want to grow and also be at par, or on the same level as that of your competitors. The only way to do this is by complying with the strategies set forth by marketing.
So, let’s look at strategies that make marketing for small businesses simple and part of your everyday flow. This would show you that marketing need not always be expensive and complicated. More so in a small business that you’re also trying to cut down on expenses this early. Keep reading to learn more.
Work with what you’ve got
You probably don’t realize how much marketing you already have access to. Whether your customers are virtual or come in to a physical location, you have the chance to reach them.
Take the time to assess whatever marketing asset it is that you have. Work your way from there with creating strategies that work best for your business, the market that you already have, and the market you wish to reach out to.
After making this review on the marketing resources that you have, if you don’t know where and how to begin, you can always seek the help of professional marketing agencies. In doing so, you’ve got a good starting point which can further increase your likelihood of success than it would, failure. Caffeine Marketing is one of the best agencies that you can work with.
Choosing Social Media
Where are you customers? Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or LinkedIn are four of the most popular general social media platforms, but you don’t need to be across all of them. Pick the one that most of your customers are already on. If you don’t know, ask them! Tell your customers that you’re looking at setting up social media so that you can let them know about new products, sales, or promotions, but would like to know which platform is your favourite.
Social Media Promotion
You’ve got your social media account set up, but you need followers. Have you told your customers? Update your email signatures so that every email you send our promotes your social media channel. Every invoice should have links to your website and/or social media accounts. Signs near your cash register should say “find us on Facebook”. Think about the ways in which you interact with your clients, how can you mention your social media presence?
E-Mail Marketing
Do you email out your invoices? Do your clients email you queries? Did you start gathering email addresses but never quite managed to do anything with them? Now is the time to get back to email marketing. Be aware that the rules have changed, particularly if any of your clients are in Europe. If you haven’t emailed your customers in a while or if you have built your email database from correspondence rather than from directly asking customers if they would like to be on your mailing list, your first email should be a polite, “Welcome to our mailing list.” Tell them how often you’ll be sending them email, what the email will be about, and ask if they would like to unsubscribe.
Of course, before you can tell them all of this, you need to work it out yourself. Having a planned schedule for the year makes it much easier to actually maintain momentum. Think about what your clients would want to know. If you’re an accountant, you might warn them about upcoming tax obligation dates; if you’re a real estate agent you could send out newly listed properties or regional property valuation information; if you’re in retail you could send out sale promotions or new product information. The trick is to try to not only make it relevant to your customers, but to also not put additional strain on your already stretched time. Remember, outsourcing is also an option.
Remember, outsourcing is also an option. When you’re still at a loss as to how to go about with email marketing, there are experts that you can hire for this purpose.
Website Updates
Blogs are great, but most small businesses don’t really have the time to update these regularly. When you do already have a blog, you can use this to your advantage also. Henceforth, your marketing strategy here will be centered on content marketing. As a minimum standard, you have to comply with your content being relevant today. This means that your content should answer some of the most common problems experienced by your target viewers. Else, you won’t even have visitors going to your website. You’ve only just wasted your time.
An outdated website is a dreadful advertisement for your business. It’ll only make your business look even less trustworthy and more unprofessional. For the very reason that you didn’t even take the time to update your website, it goes to show that you may not even be serious about this entrepreneurial pursuit.
Make sure that your contact information is up to date, check to see that all the links work, and update any products or services (whether you remove old ones no longer offered or add new products and services). Have your opening hours, and make sure you update these for holidays. Google has a range of free products that can help you promote and manage your website: Google has a range of free products that can help you promote and manage your website: www.google.com/webmasters.
Conclusion
Even as a small business, you also have the need to double time with your marketing strategy. More so as you’re still in the process of growing. Without a sound marketing strategy in place, you won’t excel in the highly competitive business platforms today. In your next marketing meeting, tackle these tips as enumerated above. These can form a good starting point for effective marketing strategies that’ll improve the overall sales and performance of your small business.
