Small businesses have a handful of easily accessible marketing tools to increase sales and customer engagement.
Small businesses can’t rely on word of mouth alone in today’s market. Using online resources, SMB marketing can be made simple, affordable and effective. The difference between a successful marketing campaign and one that’s set for failure comes down to discipline, resourcefulness and consistency.
We created a guide below to help small businesses market better in 2021:
Define Your Brand
When your company is a startup or not, businesses can market effectively when they understand their brand.
Your brand leaves a lasting impression on customers, eliciting emotions when they hear your name or see your business’s logo. When marketing for your small business, you need to make sure your brand is clear, attractive and recognizable to customers.
This means they need to understand what problem your business solves and what your brand represents. Do you make something that will make their lives easier? Do you offer a service that’s cheaper or better than competitors? You want your customers to easily recognize your brand.
Marketing materials should communicate your services and products clearly. In fact, all marketing materials should communicate a consistent message that resonates with your company’s brand. This reinforces your business’s professionalism and leaves a good impression on your customers.
Your logo and company name are often the first interaction customers have with your business. The colors and text should reflect the feel of the company. You’ll want to pay attention to every detail, product labels and packaging included.
With this in mind, business owners might want to revisit ways they can improve their branding. While a good marketing company can provide design and advice, not all small businesses can afford their services. Luckily, there are plenty of free and affordable tools that exist online to help businesses brand their businesses with more forethought.
Build an Excellent Website
Websites are the best foundation for all marketing strategies in 2021.
Here’s what a website allows you to do:
- Showcase your unified brand
- Sell Products and Services
- Collect Customer Data
- Engage Customers with Content
- Connect Your Company to Other Platforms
You’re likely wondering, “What makes a website excellent?”
This goes beyond taste and style, beyond color schemes and logos. The success of a website depends on clarity and efficiency.
Customers need to know within a few seconds what’s being offered on the site and how they can get it. They need to be able to buy a product quickly and efficiently.
This means websites have to load fast and have easy navigation. Users decide within seconds whether a website is worth their time. A website that takes too long to load, or does not guide customers to what they need fast will be abandoned fast.
In 2020, business owners have multiple options for creating websites. Squaresapce, Shopify, WordPress and several other companies offer affordable and easy-to-customize sites. They often have services to help design websites, too.
Create Quality Content
Content is king, as the saying goes. Content is one of the best low-cost tools for expanding a SMB’s marketing campaign.
Content means the words, images and videos you will use to connect with customers. Newsletters, social media and blogs are considered part of your content marketing campaign. You’ll want to ensure these areas provide value to your customers and entice them to learn more about your company.
In other words, develop content that makes sense to your business. You’ll likely want to create content in the field that you’re an expert in and build your authority on the subject. This will develop credibility with customers and get customers to trust your company for related products or services..
For example, a dentist may write a blog on proper teeth brushing and a mechanic may take a video on how to check tire tread.
You’ll want to focus on creating easy-to-read articles, how-to videos and unique images that offer a variety of ways for customers to engage.
Start with a content plan and stay consistent with your production. You may not see results at first, but over time you’ll build a library of content that customers can refer to and associate with your business.
Use Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the best ways of generating increased conversions using modern marketing tactics.
You’ll first want to collect emails either through your website or through product purchases. Once you have a list of email subscribers, you can use email to communicate your marketing message to customers who have proven they’re interested in your product. On your emails, you can offer a discount to first-time visitors or offer promotions to entice customers to take an action, like signing up for your service or purchasing your product.
You’ll likely want to provide information that will continue to build trust with your customers, like generating usage reports, providing news updates or offering value in creative ways.
As with creating a website, many companies offer online tools to set up an email-marketing campaign. Many website companies have email-management tools built into their software.
Email is a proven SMB marketing tool, one that many people prefer.
Develop Social Media Accounts and Post Regularly
Social media marketing for small business can help attract customers from anywhere in the world.
Marketing campaigns using social media can reach people using their phones or computers, expanding the market incredibly. Since each social media platform is a bit different, you’ll want to generate unique content for each platform you use.
Instagram, for example, entertains users through high-quality photos and videos. If you want to advertise on instagram, creating content using high-quality photos and videos may be a good idea to enhance your brand image.
On the other hand, people often use Facebook to find related information, like business hours and offered services. Creating content directed towards how the users engage with the platform can quickly boost your presence online.
Almost all social media tools provide direct messaging and paid advertisements. Direct messaging is key to engaging on an individual basis. Paid advertisements give business owners precise advertising options.
Here’s a list of popular social media platforms:
- Youtube
- Snapchat
Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click Marketing
SEO is a necessary part of any small business marketing strategy in 2020.
Good SEO helps customers discover your business online. Many people use Google and other search engines to find products and services to solve their pain points. This is where SEO comes into play.
Businesses can use SEO to position themselves on the top of the search results pages to attract customers to their website and turn more leads into conversions.
Every small business needs a Google account in 2020. At the bare minimum, this account needs a current address, hours of operation, website and phone number.
Search engines look at an array of data to determine how relevant your business is to any given search. Some data points search engines will consider include:
- Yelp and Google Reviews
- Recent Blog Posts
- Website Content and Keywords
- Social Media Posts
- Linking and Navigation Structure
Any long-term marketing strategy should incorporate SEO into the plan.
Once your business sets up a strong foundation in SEO, you’ll likely look to expand your marketing efforts into Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertisements. These advertisements sit above the organic results on search engines and are highly targeted at related users.
With PPC marketing, your business is competing with other bidders online to capture an ad position. When you win the bid, your ad will show up on the top of the search engine results page of key terms related to your advertisement. You’ll only be responsible for paying for your advertisements when a user clicks on the ad, making PPC marketing one of the best methods of marketing online in 2020.
Consistency and Discipline Create Success
Long-term profitability, growth, or customer engagement are goals that can only be achieved through SMB marketing.
Whether that’s social media marketing for small business, email marketing or content marketing, business owners have a lot to consider. Take the time to develop your brand and strategy, and you will find what’s best for the business.
Find More Tips and Tools On Our Site
Be sure to browse our articles for advice and tips. We cover everything from social media marketing for small businesses to common mistakes that small businesses make.
