16 good marketing strategies for small businesses
A small business is a chance to build a culture, do good in the world, and profit. Fresh marketing strategies for small businesses take a bold approach to targeting an audience. Whether you’re a new company aiming to make an impact or an established brand seeking growth, marketing strategies are vital.
Here is where to start using your budget and resources to create marketing that resonates and converts.
Create content based on different intent
To connect with your audience, you need a mix of content and marketing. Adjust your messages to fit your customers’ different needs. For those ready to buy, create content that helps them complete their purchase smoothly.
When customers need specific information, make it easy for them to find it. For example, details about where to buy a product or service could be included here. If customers want to learn, offer information or skills through how-to guides or tutorials that teach something new.
Set up digital signage software
Digital signage software allows you to program video walls, interactive displays, kiosks, product or menu boards, and promotional and advertising messaging. It’s a whole new way to make your business location stand out to customers in the most colourful ways.
Use customer feedback
Ask customers to fill out surveys when purchasing. The insights gained from these surveys can be used to format content for social media, landing pages, product descriptions, and email marketing. Rely on your customers to fill in the blanks on your marketing strategy.
Sell mystery boxes
Every company has low-selling products. Bundle slow-moving products and product samples in a mystery box and promote them at an affordable price. Mystery boxes play on the brain’s desire for surprises and tap into the fear of missing out.
Low-cost, high-impact marketing tactics
A small business doesn’t have the budget the big players do. Focus on low-cost, high-impact marketing strategies that generate enough return to pay for themselves essentially. SEO, for example, can drive organic traffic to your site with minimal investment.
Jump on board with email marketing
Email maintains a high ROI marketing channel. Provide updates and promote events while nurturing relationships with past, current, and future customers. This can be an innovative way to reach customers with personalized messaging and special offers.
Automate social media posts
Save a ton of time if you’re marketing yourself by investing in social media software to automate posts. Schedule them for specific times during the week. You can release posts at optimal times without signing in manually.
Engage your local community
Look for innovative ways to advertise locally while supporting community initiatives and other businesses. Sponsor events or a local sports team, participate in community gatherings or local events, and partner with other businesses to see what unique opportunities exist to increase visibility.
Partner with another business
Partner with another business whose target market overlaps yours. In this partnership, there may be lots you can do. Provide discounts to each other’s email list, co-host and co-promote an event together, shout out to each other on social media, and more.
Focus exclusively on local SEO keywords
As you search for keywords on your website and digital marketing content, focus strictly on locally relevant keywords. Ensure there’s a mix of difficulty, search volume, and length.
Run a competitor analysis
Besides setting marketing goals, creating customer socioeconomic profiles, and running financial analyses, competitor analysis is equally important. Explore what your competition does right and wrong and reinterpret it in our marketing plan.
Provide a free gift once a year
For someone’s birthday, consider giving them a gift from your company. A free sample or product will get many people through your doors and motivate sales. This ‘gift’ approach can also be a way to share goodwill with business content, potential buyers, or similar stakeholders.
Gift free products to influencers
Give free products to an influencer. Pay for it all yourself. Influencers may like your product so much that they connect with you to discuss it in their content. Influencer marketing has a strong ROI, assuming the influencer has a similar audience to your company.
Prepare your store
After you receive a lead or potential customer, capitalize on it. Prepare your store with digital signage software showcasing immersive video and branded graphics, a clean brick-and-mortar layout, and a strong presentation representative of your brand.
Offer branded merchandise
Prepare branded merchandise that customers can buy, win in a free contest, or be included in select purchases. T-shirts, hats, socks, mugs, and stickers are all popular places to start. Add taglines, catchphrases, jokes, or inside references to your merchandise to create a conversation.
Create similar product sections
Put together product families and create in-store displays based on upselling or cross-selling. Create product sections based on seasonal recommendations, gift ideas, or similar concepts.
