How do you market a small business? Regardless of what business you are in, marketing is all about telling a story to lead your customer to a purchase decision. When it comes to small business marketing, the budget is never massive, but you need to start somewhere.
It’s important to maintain contact with your prospective customers and become the leading brand. Here, we’ve combined the five best marketing ideas for small businesses, along with everything you need to know to start marketing your business.
How to Market Small Businesses
Whether your business is a sole tradesperson in construction or the latest gadget to launch into technology, a small business requires a marketing footprint. Marketing in the simplest terms is telling stories to entice your customers to purchase. Your business must communicate a value proposition to get orders.
Digital Marketing
Once, marketing was as simple as putting a business in the phone book or maybe a small advertisement in the local newspaper. With advances in technology, digital marketing has become the preferred option for businesses both large and small. It can be useful to get a scheduling app if you plan on making a lot of social media posts.
Marketing a Local Small Business
Thinking local and acting global means a lot these days. Consumers rely heavily on reviews with platforms such as Google and Facebook. A professionally-made website will help to legitimise a small business, even more than word of mouth once would.
A Facebook page and even Twitter will help to build your digital presence. A small business these days needs a digital presence as well as a physical presence.
Build Business Relationships
Find a way to create a mailing list within your business. Collect email addresses and provide your community of customers with a newsletter or knowledge hub. Authenticity should be the main objective of these communications.
Your readership will respond poorly if your communication goal is to simply sell your product or service. Marketing communication is about informing your customer leading to a purchase decision, not closing a sale.
Integrated Marketing Communications
There are many ways to make an impact both locally and globally. It’s also a wise move to avoid placing all of your eggs in one basket. The practice of Integrated Marketing Communications takes multiple modes of marketing and combines them to have a stronger impact than the sum of the communications individually.
Your customer increases in brand recognition through multiple contacts through many channels. These may include:
- Email marketing, such as a newsletter
- Paid or unpaid social media marketing
- Search engine marketing
- Word of mouth
- Newspaper advertisements
- Radio advertising
By your customer encountering your brand in multiple contact channels using the same cohesive messaging, the message is reinforced.
Be Everywhere
Integrated marketing is about being everywhere your customer looks to ultimately make a purchase decision. For example, Jordan wakes up, opens Facebook first thing in the morning and encounters a boosted post for your brand.
Next, while reading the news there is a sponsored banner ad promoting your business. On the way to work in the car, Jordan hears an ad for your business.
After three touch points, Jordan searches for your product encountering an ad for the brand. Finally, email marketing sends Jordan an email and closes the sale.
Share of Voice
Marketing your brand is not purely about establishing a value proposition to your customer that leads to a purchase decision. Your customer or potential customer is bombarded throughout the day with messages from various brands and entertainment sources.
In order to achieve the best results from your campaign, be engaging, entertaining, and consistent.
Top Five Marketing Ideas for Small Business
There are many things you can do to market a business. The following have been curated as the best low-cost solutions for small businesses. Be sure to track how your marketing campaigns progress, so you can repeat what works well.
- Social Media
Social media is a great starting point for small business marketing. It can definitely be worthwhile to get friends and family on social media to also become brand advocates to spread your message. Create a brand community, encouraging customers to post their great experiences on your business’s Facebook page, for example.
- Charity
A great way to increase exposure is by showing that your brand is a member of the community rather than simply being there to collect sales. Donations can show how your business is a good corporate citizen, or do a charity run or sleepout on behalf of your company to raise money.
You can even volunteer in your spare time to meet new people who may need your service.
- Networking, Networking, and More Networking
Be social. How often do you hear someone recommending a business because they met the owner? Find events to go to that will allow you to meet new people who either become brand advocates or customers for life. Lions and Rotary clubs were mostly established for networking with businesspeople.
- Discount or Referral Programs
You do need to be careful that you don’t cheapen your service, but most customers do love a good deal. Referral programs are a great way to spread the word about your business while creating a special offer.
Some brands also enjoy offering ‘Buy one, get one free’ specials to increase sales volumes. Exercise caution though, your customers may come to expect it all the time.
- Create a Brand
If you’re going to market your business you need to build a brand persona. Think about how your customer should think of your business. If your business was a person, who would they be?
It’s important to remember this, as it will direct how all of your communications happen into the future, as well as the style that your business will conduct itself.
Conclusion – Marketing ideas for small businesses
Starting a business is fun and exciting, and marketing your small business is your time to enjoy becoming a personality of a company. Make sure to use authenticity. Quality business relationships are best if they are not faked.
Whether your small business is in innovation or an established product or service that you can simply do better, marketing is all about giving your customer that warm feeling that you can be trusted with their purchase decision.