When seeking a marketing strategy for small business, bear in mind that it has to be unique and consistent in order to stay ahead of your competitors.
However, there are a lot of new strategies that are relevant and can be used along with the conventional ways of marketing.
Marketing is used to win over the customers that are needed to keep a business running and viable. It also helps businesses achieve sales goals through a variety of strategies.
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1. Establish your brand’s Identity
For your potential customers to know what your company is about, what it does and stands for, they need to be clear about your brand identity.
Your brand identity should be very consistent in order to promote your business because it will make you look more professional and help you win new customers over.
According to the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, “branding is what other people say about you when you are not in the room”. That is to say, your brand can be best described as the way people feel when they hear your company name.
Once you have determined your business identity, an appropriate name, logo, color, and imagery that portrays your brand to customers should be matched with it.
Once your business logo is ready, it should be put on everything and everywhere; business cards, websites, envelopes, and email signatures.
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2. Get a website
When potential customers Google your company name, the first thing they see is your website and that is your first chance as a company to make a great impression.
The foundation of your marketing strategy should be your website because it is like the modern-day business card.
Your website should be used to provide your potential customers with more information and at the same time get free traffic via search engines and drive people to your social media. This would help you establish your brand as an authority in your industry.
If your company doesn’t already have a website, you can use a CMS (content management system) to build one.
A lot of CMS offers ready-made templates for your website that you can get for free or purchase at an affordable fee and from there, customize your brand.
Once your website has been created, most CMS platforms would offer SEO plugins that will help you optimize your content search and rank better in Google.
3. Use Google my Business
Google my business is a useful tool for local businesses. It is arguably the most powerful strategy available to local businesses that are targeting local clients.
It serves as the center of all your Google profiles such as Google Maps, Google reviews, Google insights, etc.
Your company appears at the top searches of Google when people within the same area as your company search for a product or service that you provide.
When prospective customers see your company accompanied with good reviews, it makes them trust in your business.
Google my business helps to give your brand visibility and credibility. All you have to do to rank your Google my business listing is to optimize your profile and then collect reviews and citations. It’s really not that hard.
4. Buy Ad Space on YAIOA
Buying ad space on websites and blogs whose niche and target audience are relevant to yours is another great way to advertise your business locally.
YAIOA is a platform that has made it easier to buy ad space. This is because they have various website owners and bloggers with ad spaces for sale, who are registered as VENDORS on the platform.
YAIOA avails you the opportunity to search for specific websites or blogs that fit within your budget and target location. What this simply means is that there is something for everyone.
It doesn’t matter the type of website you seek, or the amount you already have budgeted for purchasing ad space. You rest assured that you will definitely get something that suits your needs. One great thing about YAIOA is that registration is free.
To get started, all that you need to do is to log on to the YAIOA website and sign up as a CLIENT. Once that is done, you fund your wallet and go-ahead to search for ad space subscription plans that fit within your budget.
When you subscribe to a plan that suits you, you will be contacted by the vendor for the necessary information needed to run your business ad on their website.
This is a very easy, reliable, and cost-effective platform to advertise your business locally without hassles.
5. Facebook Ads
Another effective strategy that can be of great benefit to your small business is Facebook advertising.
It is an inexpensive platform to reach out to any kind of audience. Statistics show that over two million small to medium-sized businesses use Facebook Advertising.
Facebook advertising allows for targeted advertising. That is, they allow you to target your specific consumers based on their location, interests, sex, online behavior, age, and so many other factors.
This should definitely be at the top of your small business marketing strategy.
You do not require experienced people to use this platform for marketing because creating Facebook ads is very easy.
All that s required is a catchy headline, a brief description, an image, and a link. These are enough to catch the attention of your audience to your ad.
The Facebook Ads Manager makes it a lot easier to test and run multiple ads so that you can find out the formula that works best and gets you the desired results without needing any advanced expertise.
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6. Google AdWords
Google AdWords has been around for a long time and has also proven to be the best marketing channel.
It could be expensive and highly competitive but can definitely work excellently well for you if you know what you are doing.
Don’t forget that the key is for people to find you when they search Google so if your on-page SEO is done correctly, it will result in the relevant search results to drive traffic.
Google AdWords increases the chances of people seeing your name when they search on Google.
Your CTR (Click Through Rate), relevance, and the amount of traffic your landing page gets from your ad are what Google uses to assign you a Quality scorecard.
Your bid score reduces if your ad score is higher. That is the higher your ad scores, the lower your bid rate.
It is better to maximize your output by pairing this marketing channel with a lot of other marketing strategies. Google AdWords is great because you get immediate results and you can also scale as far as your budget allows.
7. Email marketing strategy
Email marketing is a tested way to persuade consumers about the importance of your product or service.
You should provide your potential customers with valuable and informative content because people want to have more information about your product or service before making a purchase or patronizing your business.
You can try offering your potential customers something enticing like a free service trial, a coupon, etc in order to gather email addresses. When someone subscribes to your free offer, you can add their email address to your email list.
Email marketing is a very easy, cheap and efficient strategy that can be used to boost the global reach for your business. Sending of email can be automated so you do not really have to waste your time sending emails.
They are really easy to set up and operate and it also provides instant communication with your customers.
Try not to bombard those that sign up for your email list with too many emails. The essence of your emails should be to keep them informed and engaged and not to scare them away. You can also use email tools to track open and click rates.
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8. Social media
It is very important that you use social media for your business. Statistics show that 67% of consumers prefer to use social media for customer support, while 33% prefer to use social media instead of using the telephone.
If consumers cannot find your business on social media, they will opt for your competitors that are present on various social media channels. So, you should see to it that your business is present on all the major social media platforms.
It is not just about having social media accounts. It’s about being active and investing time and resources in growing your social media audiences.
You should be available to answer questions when they are asked through comments or direct messages.
If possible, you should hire a social media manager that has community management experience. The social media manager will be charged with the duty of regularly posting content and responding to questions or concerns of followers.
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Conclusion
There is no one marketing strategy for small business. That is why I have shared these eight strategies with you that will surely help in promoting your products or services among your consumers.
These strategies require that you invest and devote time and money in order to reap the benefits.
