Small businesses struggle when they don’t have an effective marketing plan in place. Marketing and advertising are about targeting new leads which turn into potential customers. With the right marketing campaign, you can see measure and analyze your sales. If you’re a small business that’s just getting started, here are some marketing strategies you should consider.
Email Marketing
Email marketing gathers names and email addresses of your leads. This marketing campaign involves sending regular emails that allow them to click through the links. This is a great form of marketing for small businesses because of the little investment to get started.
You just pay for the email marketing service you choose. Email marketing is also more successful than print advertising or social media marketing. If you want to create brand awareness, then you should consider email marketing. You should start building an email list before your website’s launch. You must get leads as soon as possible.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a broad category that reaches your target audience with valuable content. The key to content marketing is to create content that’s both informational and engaging, not boring. When they come upon this type of content, they’ll want to learn more about your business. That could lead them to sign up for your email newsletter or download a freebie from your website.
Content comes in a wide variety of formats such as articles, blog posts, case studies, infographics, ebooks, white papers, testimonials, videos, etc. Since content marketing is a subtle form of selling, it’s considered an engagement strategy rather than a marketing strategy. By combining content marketing with email marketing or offline advertising, you’re more like to increase sales.
Blogging
While blogging is similar to content marketing, it’s become a category of its own. It involves posting updates to your blog. Blogs need to be updated on a consistent basis to build awareness, authority, and brand loyalty. Your blog can help attract new customers who found your business for the first time or long-time customers who want to stay up to date.
Businesses that have a blog attract more leads than those that don’t. Figure out the common problems that your customers face and write content focused on solving those problems. If your business already has a blog, consider repurposing some of your content. Add visual content like infographics, images, and video to increase shares on social media.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing has become the most popular ways to market a startup or a small business. It’s also one of the most affordable methods on this list. One of the disadvantages of social media marketing is that it’s hard to know if it’s working at all. But, that shouldn’t discourage you from increasing sales through social media.
Pinterest is known to drive sales back to e-commerce sites. It’s also the second most-used social media platform for online sales. Facebook and Instagram have been known to drive e-commerce sales as well. It’s about choosing the right social media site that targets your audience and increases sales. Once you’ve found the best social media sites for your business marketing, you might want to start using social media management software from https://reputation.com/products/social-suite/ to engage with customers and launch campaigns. That could help businesses to manage their social media effectively.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is when you get paid for clicks on an online ad. These ads are often seen when you enter a keyword into a search engine and receive a list of results. PPC ads are also common on social media sites and blogs.
The success of PPC advertising results from choosing the right keywords. You also need to bid a high enough amount and have a high conversion rate. PPC ads are only good for generating new leads or increasing sales. You can use PPC ads to direct back to a sales page or squeeze page used to generate leads.
Offline Marketing
Offline marketing is exactly what the name implies. It requires going off the internet to market your business. Putting up posters and giving away flyers are both great forms of offline marketing. Advertising your business on a billboard or a banner are just some other ways to market your business offline.
The right location for your offline marketing is crucial for your small business. Placement of flyers and posters should be displayed in a heavily congested area. New leads from offline marketing can be tracked easily with coupon codes or tear-off coupons. This helps you determine if your marketing efforts were worth the return on investment.
Print Advertising
Print advertising includes print media such as direct mail, magazines, newsletters, and newspapers. This may sound like “old school” marketing compared to the other methods, but it’s still an effective form of marketing. Newspapers and magazines are still relevant to this day. Companies like Duplo International have a variety of print media equipment on offer that provide businesses an opportunity to create different types of printed material for branding and marketing purposes.
Print media isn’t dying, it’s adjusting to the changing landscape. Since print advertising costs more than other forms of marketing, make sure it creates the results you want. You need to come up with a goal for your print advertising campaign. Do you want more customers, more leads, or more sales?
Word of Mouth Advertising
Word of mouth advertising is about getting more leads and referrals. These referrals can come from existing customers or your friends and family members. Create a “Tell a Friend” program in which customers receive a discount or receive a free item just for recommending a product or service.
77 percent of customers are more likely to make purchases based on recommendations from their friends and family members, according to Nielsen Research. Referral marketing, or word of mouth advertising, is more organic than other forms of paid marketing and advertising. It also drives five times more sales than paid ads, according to WOMMA.
Event Marketing
Small businesses that serve customers locally can benefit from hosting an event that attracts their target audience. This process is known as event marketing. An event allows your customers to gather together in the same place. They can buy your products or services, or at least learn more about your business.
Event marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. You can create intimate events that meet the needs of your customers and your limited budget. Offering a free class or setting up a booth at a shopping center are both ideal ways to drum up business. It’s important to get leads or sales during your event. Track the amount of sales or customers you get after the marketing campaign is over.
Business Collaborations
Consider collaborating with another small business in a different industry. This can help create awareness for both of your brands. Collaborations can come in the form of promotions, product bundles, or corporate events that focus on your target customers.
Think about your target audience when planning your collaboration. What products would they benefit from? Brainstorm these products and look for local small businesses that have them. Approach them to see if they’re willing to collaborate on an upcoming promotion or event. If your business offers wedding invitations, find other wedding business that provides printing services or floral arrangements.
You should test out as many marketing strategies as you can in the beginning. Decide which ones work for attracting new customers and increasing sales. Choose one or two that best fit your needs and budget. With the right marketing campaign, your small business can increase sales and leads just like a large corporation would. Visit srish.com to get even more marketing ideas for your business.
