Marketing for Small Business in Easy Way

Small Business Marketing Strategies

      Whether you're in the process of launching a new business or already own one, a strong online presence for your brand is essential.

In fact, consumers are learning more about local businesses online than they are anywhere else. In 2019, 70% of shoppers surveyed said that the in-store or in-store shopping experience is important when deciding which brand or product to buy.

Marketing research, branding, promotions, services, products, pricing, blogs, advertising, and social media -- all of this is marketing. With all of the marketing options out there, it can be hard for a small business to know what to do. Marketing is a concentrated effort to drive your brand across multiple platforms, and hope to reach your customers. Customers need to hear your message multiple times, so the bottom line is brand, brand, brand!

Small Business Marketing Advice

Marketing is intended to increase brand awareness, and build a channel of quality leads that turn into sales. With a small business, spreading the word can be a challenge, due to the lack of visibility and lack of resources. However, there are a number of key strategies that can help you scale up your small business marketing efforts.

Whether you're struggling with a tight budget, time constraints caused by a smaller team, or even a lack of direction, a marketing plan that's right for your business can provide guidance as you grow. Below are some simple steps to help you with small business marketing activities.

Set your goals and budget

The purpose of marketing is to help you determine what you want to achieve through your marketing activities. The goals you set need to be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based.

You will need to allocate a budget for your marketing activities. Your marketing budget should include such elements as:

- Search engine optimization strategies, website development, and maintenance

- advertisement

- brand design

- Create promotional materials (brochures, business cards, signboards, etc.)

- Hiring staff to perform marketing activities.

- donations and sponsorships

Identify The Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The USP is the unique reason your customers buy from you and not your competitors – it is what makes your business stand out from the rest. It's good to define what you do differently and be able to convey it to potential customers. Usually, this reflects your particular knowledge or skill.

Your USP may have a new or unique offering or provide an exceptional service. Begin to develop your USP by answering these questions:

- What special skills do you have?

- What do you like most about your products and services?

- What makes your customers come to you rather than your competitors?

- Which aspects do you usually highlight when you explain your business to foreigners?

- How do your customers benefit by purchasing your product or service?

Create a website to mark the presence of your business.

Having a professional-looking website is one of the most important assets that you will create for your small business activities. This is where you'll show who you are, what you have to offer, where you are, and how potential customers can reach you. (forbes.com)

It's a channel you'll always have, and has the ability to generate organic traffic as well as being a place to send traffic from advertising and other marketing initiatives.

Your website is more than just a simple brochure. You have the ability to turn them into a 24-7 salesperson by understanding how to convert traffic and turn them into leads (more on that later).

Generate local awareness and build networks.

Join a room, business association, community group, etc. Find a way to be involved. Networking is a great way to capture business leads as long as you're not too strong. This will allow you to meet new contacts, and create more brand awareness and new leads. Sponsor a sporting event, not-for-profit event, or anything else for good. Get your name out there while also being a good community servant. Provide SWAG (promotional items with your business name, logo, and contact info). T-shirts are a great example of free walking ads for your business.

Invest in ads.

Organic traffic takes time to build, and as a small business, you need to invest in the short-term game. Pay-to-play tactics that target high-intentioned buyers are great for short-term wins, or to kickstart other goals.

Google Ads is perfect when you know your target audience is surfing the web for your product or solution. Otherwise, you can consider social media advertising instead. Individuals on social media have less purchase intent, but with highly targeted ads and sufficient impressions, you will get your audience's interest.

Positioning Strategy

A positioning strategy, or market positioning, describes how you can differentiate your brand or product image from those of competitors. It affects the perception of your buyers in very specific, strategic, and artistic ways, to create a brand or product identity

Network

I am a huge fan of networking. I don't think there's a better way to build a business than to get out of there, shake hands, and get to know people.

Networking takes a time commitment and doesn't provide instant gratification, but a strong network is one of the greatest assets any business person can have

Make an elevator pitch

You have to do marketing all the time wherever you are. That's why you need a compelling elevator pitch.

Research shows that the average adult's attention span is usually about six to eight seconds. It's all the time you have to grab someone's attention.

If you manage to engage them, then you have little more than a minute to actually sell them on your product or service. Invest the time to create a killer lift tone. Your return on investment will pay huge dividends when it comes to creating business opportunities.

You should know that marketing is much more than advertising.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that advertisements and websites are the only way to attract more business. You can market your small business in hundreds of ways, so it's important to know what it is and then eliminate methods that won't work, or that you can't afford, upfront.

Summary

You do not need to be a rocket scientist to be a good marketer. But there's also no silver bullet or one size fits all solution. Every small business is different, the marketing plans and tactics for a mortgage broker are totally different from that of a computer reseller. However, the process of building a plan, sticking to it, and applying the time and resources required is an open secret to success in marketing.