The Ultimate Guide to Small Business Marketing

Creating a small business marketing strategy is a crucial first step in starting a business. But for many business owners, this is also one of the more difficult, or at least intimidating, benchmarks to hit. That’s especially true if you’re a sole proprietorship or otherwise very small venture, in which case you’re fulfilling every C-suite role yourself—CFO, CEO, COO, and CMO.

In truth, understanding small business marketing in one fell swoop is a tall order, and new marketing tactics emerge every day. It’s a highly subjective practice, too. Depending on your goals, customer base, market niche, branding, and simple preference, a marketing tactic that works for one small business may not work at all for yours.

That said, there are a few marketing tactics that are pretty universally effective. And even if they end up not being a fit for your business right now, you can always circle back to these strategies once your small business marketing campaign is fully launched, as the best marketing strategy evolves as your business does, too.

If you’re brand-new to the marketing game, here’s what you need to know to draw the most possible customers to your business.  

First, Plan Your Small Business Marketing Strategy

While you can certainly implement any of the following marketing tactics on impulse, making informed decisions about which to use will always be more effective than throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Yes, planning your small business marketing strategy requires a good amount of preliminary research. But that work will pay off when you start to see the dividends (we promise). Here’s where to start.

Define Your Marketing Goals

First, get clear on what you’re hoping to accomplish with your marketing campaign, and also how your marketing efforts will help you reach your overall business goals. Start by pinpointing your unique selling proposition (USP). You should be highlighting what makes you stand out from your competitors in all of your marketing materials.   

And the more specific you are in defining your marketing goals, the better. Use numbers (like the number of visitors, leads, customers, or revenue generated you want to boost) whenever possible. Highly specific goals allow you to tailor your small business marketing strategy in service of those goals, which protects your time, effort, and resources from dead-end initiatives. It’s also much easier to track and measure your strategies, and ultimately evaluate their success, when you have hard numbers to compare your results against.

Of course, every business will define their marketing objectives differently, but here are a few numbers you may want to focus on bumping in your marketing campaign:

• Lead generation
• Website traffic
• Engagement rates on your social media profiles and other digital content
• Conversions from browsers to sales

These are all worthy goals from a qualitative perspective, but remember that an ongoing marketing campaign should aim to achieve less measurable objectives, too. Effective marketing materials are crucial for establishing a cohesive and identifiable brand (and making people aware of your brand at all). And over time, your marketing initiatives contribute to establishing brand loyalty among customers and a positive reputation, which is truly how businesses survive and thrive over the long term.   

Understand Your Market

After you define your marketing goals, define the audience to whom you’re actually marketing. Because you can’t truly achieve those goals, like converting more leads into paying customers, if your message simply isn’t resonating with the consumers whom your product or service caters to.

The best way to conduct this research is simply to reach out to your existing customers—call them, email them, ask them to fill out an online survey, or just talk to them when they come into your place of business—and get a pulse on why they like your company. Ask questions like: What are their pain points, and how do your offerings alleviate those issues? Why do they choose your business over your competitors? How would they describe your brand?

Importantly, gather data on your target audience’s demographics, like their average age, gender, spending capabilities and habits, profession, and geographical location. Bonus points if you can find out which platforms they use most to discover and engage with brands, whether that’s a certain social media channel, email, Google search, word of mouth, or something else.   

Online Marketing for Small Business

Most of your marketing efforts should go toward your online marketing strategy, as your digital presence is a low-cost and highly effective method of drawing in customers. Think about your own buying habits: More likely than not, you do a Google search on a brand before purchasing their goods or services. But even before that, it’s likely that the company in question came to your attention through an internet search, or else your social media platforms.

There’s a lot to learn about online marketing, and the field is only growing as the power (and omnipresence) of the digital space continues to grow, too. But if you’re just launching your marketing plan, make sure to hit the following goalposts to get the online aspect up and running.    

Build Your Content Marketing Materials—and Optimize Them for SEO

Content marketing is a powerful and low-cost way to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your business, and convert high-intent leads into paying customers. Essentially, content marketing refers to creating and sharing material digitally, like YouTube videos, social media posts, whitepapers, podcasts, and ebooks.

But the heart of your content marketing strategy will be your business website and your blog, if you choose to create one (which you should!).

Why You Need a Business Website and Blog

Creating a website for your small business is non-negotiable, whether you’re an ecommerce business or not.

Not only does your business website act as the digital hub for your business, but it’s also one of the best ways for potential customers to find your business in the first place, at least when they’re browsing online. After all, almost 93% of all web traffic comes through search engines. That’s a massive contingent of leads just waiting to be converted into paying customers—after they visit your professional, streamlined website, of course, which you can create cheaply with any number of business website builders. Make sure your website is easily navigable on mobile, too.

And while launching a blog that lives on your website isn’t necessarily as crucial as the website proper, blog posts are an excellent way to communicate with your customers, announce developments (like sales, updated inventory, or price changes), and establish yourself as an authority in your field. Blogs are critical tools for boosting SEO, too, which drives traffic to your site and business.

A Quick Rundown on SEO Strategy

So—how can you ensure that those potential customers actually find the link to your website, without having to wade through pages and pages of their Google search results? As we mentioned, that’s the job of SEO.

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” Put simply, SEO is a set of strategies that improve a website’s ranking on search engines. By nailing down your SEO strategy, you increase your website’s chances of reaching the coveted first page of a Google or other search-engine search.

While you can pay for services that boost your SEO, there are plenty of free SEO strategies you can implement right off the bat.

Georgia McIntyre, SEO manager at Fundera, offers just a few tips that you can apply to every piece of online content you create, including your website and blog articles:

• Choose a website builder that prioritizes SEO optimization.
• Use free keyword research tools to find the keywords your audience could be searching for. If you have a blog, make sure your blog topics are centered around those keywords, and optimize those posts for SEO on your CMS (content management system, like WordPress):
  • Include the keyword in the title, URL, meta description, and meta title of your posts.
  • Use the keyword at least once in the first paragraph of your posts.
• Try to get placements on other websites relevant to your niche to build up a profile of backlinks. An easy and free way to do this is by responding to relevant HARO queries as a source, providing a quote, and requesting that the author includes a link to your website.
• Ask your customers to write positive reviews on Yelp, Trustpilot, and other trusted review sites.
• Focus on writing the best content possible!

SEO is a complicated and ever-changing landscape, but you can consult any number of guides for small business SEO that offer simple tips for getting started. You always have the option of hiring an SEO expert, too, if your budget allows.

And keep in mind that it’ll take some time to see your traffic increase after optimizing your content for SEO. But if you stick with it, you won’t find a more effective strategy for attracting potential customers.    

      

Use Web Analytics Tools to Measure Your Results  

Launching your website and merely letting it live online isn’t quite enough to capture customers, even if it’s SEO-optimized. To get the most out of your website and other online content marketing materials—and to fully optimize your online marketing strategy—you’ll need to use some kind of web analytic tool.

These tools track your website’s overall performance. Depending on which tool you use, they can also measure a ton of your website visitors’ behaviors—like how they navigate your website, how quickly they leave, which devices they’re using to find your link, their geographical locations and demographics, and more. Considered holistically, these metrics provide valuable insight into how you can alter your website, and any other digital content you create, to better suit your customers’ preferences and browsing habits.

Google’s suite of analytic tools, including Google Search Console and Google Analytics, are by far the most widely used web analytics tool out there. Google Search Console tracks how your website is performing via search, so you can understand how to better optimize your content to drive more traffic. Google Analytics tracks your website’s performance, too, but it can also measure your advertising ROI if you’re using Google Ads for your paid advertising initiatives (which makes GA a single hub for measuring the bulk of your online marketing efforts).

Create Social Media Profiles, and Update Them Regularly

Much like a website, having some kind of social media presence is crucial for your brand.

Notice that we said “some kind” of presence—you don’t necessarily need to sign up for an account on all the major social media platforms (by which we really mean Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, and LinkedIn). Much like a stagnant business website or rarely updated blog, static social media accounts can get buried beneath its millions of competitors—and the more you engage on these platforms, the better you’ll perform. If you’re stretching yourself so thin across all these platforms that you can’t properly manage any of them, none will deliver a proper return on your energetic investment.

Instead, choose a few social media platforms that you know you can manage—and, better yet, which you know your customer base actually uses. Social media statistics can help you match your customers’ demographics with platform demographics, and understand how to tailor your content to suit what users engage with on any particular platform (whether that’s videos, informational updates, or just beautiful product photography).

Social media is also a built-in way to interact with your customers via the comments section or direct messaging system. These platforms enable your customers to interact and connect with each other, too.  

Need some tips on how to best plan and manage your social media strategy? Here are a few of our favorites from Katie Campbell, content marketing associate at Fundera:

• Post pictures of your staff! Your customers want to get to know you, and social media is the best way to break down that barrier.
• Other content to share: beautiful images of your products, behind-the-scenes moments of your staff engaging in their work, and video stories and live chats to talk about your business and conduct Q&As.
• Use social to share exclusive and special discounts. That way, you can encourage customers to follow your profiles and also bring them closer as an audience.
• Use Hootsuite or a similar content management platform to manage all your social media accounts from one place.
• If you’re just getting started, don’t worry about sharing every day or getting into the weeds—social should be your chance for your customers to get to know you and your business more easily, so it should feel natural!

Launch an Email Marketing Campaign

Even with the rise of social media, email has remained a mainstay of a well-rounded marketing technique. And the stats are there to back it up: 64% of businesses say that email marketing is their most effective marketing technique. A well-executed email campaign is incredibly cost-effective, too, as every $1 invested in email marketing generates an average return of $38.

However, you probably won’t get that stellar ROI by sending random, sporadic emails. To get the most out of this marketing channel, create and implement a comprehensive email marketing plan. Start by addressing the following details:

• How frequently do you want to send emails? Weekly, biweekly, monthly?
• What kind of content will you include in your emails? Newsletters, email drip campaigns, dedicated sends, product updates?
• Decide which email service provider you’ll use. (MailChimp is one of the most popular options.)
• Build your email list. Start by including a prominent sign-up box on your website or simply placing a sign-up sheet next to the till at your brick-and-mortar store.

When writing your emails proper, be sure to follow a few best practices of email marketing. But if you’ve ever signed up for an email list—and have been happy or unhappy with the content you’ve received—you can essentially use your common sense when drafting your own email content.

First, craft a subject line that’s compelling enough for your recipient to open the message. Keep your email copy concise, relevant, easily parsed, and shoot for conversational language. Don’t miss out on email’s natural opportunity to include links to your social media profiles, and be sure to include a call to action (CTA) encouraging recipients to visit your website or store (with a relevant link).

Consider Paid Advertising

You can find success with any of the above marketing techniques without spending a dime. But if you want to up your marketing game even more, consider paying for online ad space.

Paid online advertising can take many forms. You can buy ad space on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn; sponsor a podcast; partner with an influencer to share your products or services on their own platforms; or use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, among other methods.

A good place to dip your toe into the paid advertising space is with Google Ads. With Google Ads, you’ll pay to bump your business website to the top of the Google search page so that potential customers can more easily find you, and also to advertise your business on YouTube and across other websites when people search for related keywords online. Choose a goal you’d like to accomplish with your ad, the type of campaign you want to launch (whether that’s text, image, or video), and set your monthly budget. With this PPC model, you’ll only pay when people engage with your ad.

Although the average small business owner who uses Google Ads pays between $9,000 and $10,000 per month, employing paid advertising strategies doesn’t have to mean blowing your business budget. In fact, you can implement effective marketing tactics for just $50 or less.

Other Small Business Marketing Strategies

Online marketing will likely make up the bulk of your small business marketing strategy, but analog marketing is still alive and well. Both digital and physical businesses can benefit from these forms of marketing, but especially if you own a brick-and-mortar location, on-the-ground marketing campaigns are crucial for drawing in your local community.

Experiential Marketing   

This small business marketing tactic requires a good amount of planning and resources to pull off, but when executed well, it’s one of the most effective and impressive strategies for attracting, engaging, and converting leads.

The goal of experiential marketing isn’t to sell a product per se, but to raise brand awareness and ultimately establish brand loyalty, by providing the consumer with an immersive experience that activates their emotional connection with your brand. If they truly enjoyed that experience, they’ll become “brand ambassadors” and tell their friends, family, coworkers, and social media followers about you, too.  

Some of the world’s biggest brands have launched memorable (and expensive) experiential marketing campaigns, but your campaign certainly doesn’t need to match the scale and budget of these major players. One-time events that facilitate consumer interaction with your brand can all fall under the “experiential marketing” umbrella. Think workshops, tutorials, tours of your facilities, competitions, concerts, pop-up shops, and giveaways.     

Network, Network, Network

Don’t underestimate the power of networking to get your message out there. Join local business communities to connect with other entrepreneurs in your area, partner with a complementary business to host an event sharing your products or services, and sell your goods at local craft fairs or farmers markets.

Also, take every opportunity possible to connect with your target audience IRL. Frequent events and locations where you know they’ll be hanging out, get to know them, but don’t push your product on them too hard. If they like and trust you as a person, they’ll naturally like and trust you as a business owner, as well.     

Offer Sales Incentives

What better way to attract customers than to slash your prices (for a limited time)? Giveaways, referral codes, discounts for customers who provide testimonials or positive reviews, free trial periods, BOGO deals, and flash sales are all low-lift marketing tactics that can work wonders to convert visitors into paying customers.

What to Keep in Mind When Creating Your Small Business Marketing Plan

Ultimately, the most effective and sustainable small business marketing tactics are those that develop and maintain relationships with their customers. To do that, appeal to your customers’ emotional connection with your business. In your messaging, keep the focus on the customer, not the product. Highlight how your products or services relieve their pain points, how you can provide unique value, and why they can trust your brand over your competitors.

All told, your marketing materials are a method of forging relationships with your customers, as the most successful businesses are those with the strongest customer loyalty. So, whether you’re responding to their comment on your Instagram page, sending them a personalized email, or offering them a free sample at a farmers’ market, make sure that every interaction with your customers (whether they fall under the “small business marketing” umbrella or not) is authentic, thoughtful, and aligned with your business’s mission—which, safe to say, is to help your customers in the way only you know how.

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from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/small-business-marketing/