Recently, we have finished a project that involved cooperating with several small businesses at the same time. It was a very important experience for us as we forged new marketing strategies and techniques that helped these companies to move forward and achieve great success in the market. We hope these strategies will help your company as well.
- Set a Goal and a Budget
The first step to marketing is defining your end-game and strategizing your budget. The first question consultants ask those big, bad corporations going through restructuring is, “What do you want?” This is when you need to decide what is important to you; do you want to extend your reach or maximize local exposure? Are you looking for brand awareness or conversions?
- Use Email Marketing
When you’re a small business, email marketing is a perfect opportunity to establish loyalty. If your customers and prospects are handing over email addresses, it opens the door to send out sale or event notifications. If sales and events aren’t really your speed, think about sending a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter. People are more likely to be loyal and engage with a business that shows its humanity; take the time to announce new employees, an award or even big family events; i.e. “If you are wondering why our fabulous designer Joanne has been MIA, it is because she just became a mom! Look at this beautiful cherub (insert baby picture here). She will be back in action next week, come by to congratulate her!”.
- Choose One Social Network
Having a presence across channels is great, but it is more effective to choose one channel that your customers are most present on to pursue. For example, if your customers are constantly tagging your location or handle in Instagram posts but rarely retweeting you on Twitter, invest more time in Instagram (which is conveniently easy to share on Facebook as well). If you are a creative designer, you may want to look into Pinterest.
- Publish a Blog
Blogging is not only fun, it can be hugely useful for exposure and branding. Your company blog is where you should demonstrate to potential customers and fans that you’re an expert in your field and are dependent upon for guidance and advice. You can also utilize this platform to brag! Anything from award announcements, project completions, hitting big milestones or preaching about your business savvy is fair game here.
- Be Different
Stand out from the crowd. Be a unicorn in a herd of donkeys. Be original and quirky and uniquely represent your business through advertising and marketing. Show everyone not only why your business is awesome, but why it is head-and-shoulders above everyone else. Here’s what you can try:
- Take a controversial stand on an issue or trend that affects your industry
- Don’t just parrot “best practices”; produce original data that other businesses will want to cite
- Take the time to create a striking “About Us” page that showcases your unique mission statement and staff