SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING IS NO LONGER JUST A PERK.
SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING IS NO LONGER JUST A PERK.In the current competitive commercial atmosphere, small business marketing is no longer a luxury enjoyed by those with extra liquidity but a necessity for every small business owner. This is true regardless of your financial situation. If you do not market your business it simply will not grow.
Did your small business experience any growth last year? If so, what are you planning to do to keep that momentum going? If not, what do you intend to do to kickstart growth and see better returns?
No matter how you look at it; no matter which field you are in, without a website you are dead and in the water. As things stand now, shoppers are going online either for their purchases or at the very least to research a product or service.
If your customer base cannot find you easily online, you will miss out on what is now a trillion-dollar online shopping industry.
With the right website design and SEO, your small business will be in a better position to attract more organic searches and thus better placed to get a share of those online purchases. While brick and mortar stores still make up a high percentage of the words commerce, millennials (who make up the bulk of online shoppers) prefer to read up on a product or service prior to purchasing. Make it easy for them to find and like you by employing proper website design and SEO and you may just turn a digital window shopper into a loyal and dedicated customer.
How to attract more business through small business marketing
Even though having an excellently designed website and having it optimized for search engines is a good start, there is still more you need to do in order to cement your place in the market.
We are going to explore some ideas that will help you position your small business as the go-to brand online this year.
Get Social
Social media has taken over the internet. If you are not on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and almost every other platform out there, you are not on people’s lips and fingertips. Which means you are not on their minds when it comes to spending their money online. You need to get social. Hire a social media consultant if you have to but at very least ensure that your brand is creating a buzz online through social channels.
You can do this through
- Hosting exciting competitions on Twitter.
- Creating an attractive and interactive fan page on Facebook.
- Showing people a more picturesque and human side of your brand on Instagram.
- Educating them about your products and showing them how to use them on YouTube and so on.
It is all about grabbing their attention and using that time to tell them why they should choose your brand. This is continuous work but when carried out properly, it can help you realize some incredible results.
Focus on Content Marketing.
As much as it is helpful to tell your customers about how your products can help them solve whatever need they have, this kind of message gets tiring very quickly. There are only so many times you can beat your own drum before people tune you off. That is why you need to focus on content marketing instead.
If you offer your customers useful, interesting and fun niche-adjacent information, it will keep you and your brand top of mind while actually providing them with content they might like and even share with their friends.
For example, a dog food manufacturer can share information on how to house-train your dogs or a camping gear seller may tell their clients about the best camping spots in each state and so on. Just share something your clientele may be interested in based on what you sell.
Whatever you do, think mobile!
Currently, there are more than 2 billion internet users in the world.
– About 51 percent (http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/) of these people spend their time browsing the internet through their mobile phones.
That is not all
- About 75% of Americans (http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/) have at least one smartphone within their household.
- Facebook says that at least 38% of its users (http://highexistence.com/images/view/the-egg-by-andy-weir/) use mobile only when visiting the platform.
These are not numbers to ignore as a small business owner.
If you want to tap into that market, which quite frankly presents an incredible marketing opportunity, you need to go mobile. Having a responsive website is a necessity now.
Send them value through weekly emails
We live in a ‘microwave society’. That means that we zoom past things as fast as possible and we want instant gratification wherever we can get it. Huge companies have realized this and that is why they have sunk billions of dollars towards frequent advert campaigns that attract online shoppers. But since you are a small business owner, spending billions of dollars on daily flashy adverts may be a little too much overhead. But you can’t just sit back and let the big guys attract all the customers. So what do you do? You send out weekly emails. This is the best way to give your customers comprehensive information on your brand and products. It is also an excellent way to keep in touch with them and to send them valuable information that will help them in their day to day lives.
There are a thousand other ways through which you can carry out excellent small business marketing without going bankrupt. We are talking about things like:
– Supporting a worthy cause that will grab the attention of the audience and paint you in great light.
-Creating excellent giveaways just to keep them excited and interested.
– Attending networking events or creating one that is sponsored by your brand.
– Use video to connect and pass the message across.
All these are wonderful ways to remain relevant in the eyes your online readers.
As a small business owner, you should always be looking for effective ways to carry out small business marketing online. The most effective of which is starting with having an excellent responsive website created and employing up to date search engine optimization and providing content that your user base finds engaging and insightful.
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