Small business

What Marketing Techniques Are Suitable for Small Businesses

Small businesses often don’t have the luxury of diversifying their marketing too much. This is why they need to prioritize and allocate their resources as wisely as possible. This is also why ROI is everything. By resounding with just the right crowd, reaching them through the right medium and appealing to their emotions rather than their rational side, you can quickly grow into a regional powerhouse. For this to work, you need to take the first step, which is why you need to find marketing techniques that are the most suitable for small businesses.

Focusing on local offerings

The first thing you need to understand as a small business is the fact that your delivery system will not be that great. Therefore, you need to heavily focus on local market since it will A) allow you to rely on a retail store and your own delivery system and B) reduce the overhead of your corporate infrastructure. Some of the simplest ways to do so are to create a Google My Business account, register on platforms like Yelp and invest in local targeting. According to a survey, 78 percent of all in-person purchases are a result of a local, mobile search. This is a fact that can easily be turned to your advantage.

Follow-ups

Another efficient marketing method for a small business is follow-up. Since a small number of regular customers make up a huge portion of your profit (8 percent of regulars make up about 40 percent of profit), focusing on the follow-up is the single most important goal of a small business. Make sure to find out what made your customers choose your business the first time, whether the experience was satisfactory enough and what the areas you should improve are. By actively listening and then responding to this feedback, you will inspire a formidable level of brand loyalty, which is always the end-goal with customers. Soon, you might even turn them into brand ambassadors.

Presenting yourself as a serious business

The problem with the greatest number of small businesses is that outsiders expect a one-person startup or a local organization without a proper corporate structure. This is something you need to work on. First of all, even if your business requires the simplest execution there is, it’s still worth to get a proper business plan.

Next, the thing that worries customers and investors the most is the issue of fiscal responsibility. Sure, you can try to do your books on your own but it’s much better for small business to look for a reputable tax accountant and outsource this function. Aside from getting a considerable boost in the reputation (or at least perception) of your company, you also get greater efficiency and professional help with tax documents.

Learn the platform-based jargon

Utilizing your social media presence is far from simple, yet, if you don’t speak the language, it becomes even harder. Listing your skills on Facebook sounds like boasting, doing so on LinkedIn is a common courtesy, even a requirement. Furthermore, while Twitter wants you to be brief and concise, Google+ focuses on posts that are as specific as possible. As for how this affects different formats, Facebook audience adores videos (they watch 100 million hours of them every week) but when it comes to length, they would rather watch something that’s a couple of minutes long. On the other hand, YouTube users have much more patience and are far more likely to sit through videos that are longer than 10 minutes.

Email marketing is alive and well

While most teens use emails merely as a necessary requirement for various online registrations, B2B and even B2C interactions can’t be imagined without it. In fact, for every $1 invested in email marketing, you stand to make as much as $44, which makes it into one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies ever.

On the other hand, writing an email and being efficient in email marketing are not one and the same thing. The latter requires a lot of technical prowess and automation, which are skills that an average entrepreneur or business manager may not possess. Still, with enough research, this level of marketing competence can be achieved. Your other option is to simply outsource this function as well.

Learn about content marketing

Finally, it’s impossible to establish a strong online presence without enough prowess in the field of content marketing. Those with enough creativity should quickly look for a way to pick up some invaluable writing tips, while others should probably focus on finding contributors and content writers to collaborate with. Moreover, in the mobile-friendly, platform-diverse world, you will need to create content in as many formats as possible. In other words, you don’t just need skilled writers but also capable video editors, web designers (for infographics and charts) and charismatic podcasters.

Conclusion

With these six methods on your side, you’ll have a complete marketing system based on which you can tailor and alter your strategy. You’ll learn how to create content, figure out how to market it on specific networks and improve your targeting system so that you reach out only to the most qualified of your leads. For a small business that needs to see a positive return for every penny they spend, this is the only way to have an effective marketing strategy.

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