Whether you’re planning to start a business or you’re in the process of building one, it’s important to develop a marketing strategy that prioritises a strong online presence.
Since the pandemic, the amount of people researching local businesses online has grown to a whopping 97%. This means that it is important to have a strong online presence to ensure your business is visible to potential customers on the platform which they spend the most time on.
However, growing your small business in the digital landscape isn’t easy. Between defining your target audience, promoting your services, and getting your brand’s message out there, it can be very overwhelming to new business owners.
On top of that, throw developing a marketing strategy into the mix, and it might seem like you’re trying to learn a foreign language!
However, with the right strategies in place, you can get on the fast track to growing brand awareness and earning ROI. Let’s discover what should be at the centre of your marketing strategy.
Some quick take-homes
- A marketing strategy helps you to optimise your online assets and promote your company.
- You need to plan and develop your audience, value proposition, and technology before diving into digital tactics.
- The right strategy combination will help you earn brand awareness and gain conversions quickly. This refers to SEO, social media, ad campaigns etc.
Why is it important for small businesses to build a marketing strategy?
50% of small businesses don’t often have a dedicated marketing strategy as they don’t have to deal with a limited marketing budget. As a result, it can be a challenge to earn visibility within your local community.
A small business marketing strategy not only helps you to increase brand awareness, but also develops a pipeline of qualified leads that will turn into sales. With the right digital tactics in place, you can scale your small business marketing efforts to earn yourself more customers in your local area.
However, it’s important to build a foundation. Be sure to understand the following elements:
- Understand the problems and priorities of your target audience – you can present your business as the solution
- Build a strong value proposition that differentiates you from your competitors
- Set performance goals so you can focus your budget and resources on meeting these objectives
- Identify how you can leverage current customers to become your brand advocates
How to build a small business marketing strategy?
Here are some strategies that can help small businesses earn high ROI. While some of it might simply be trial and error, dedicating time and budget to your marketing will pay off in sales and brand reputation.
#1 SEO
Ways to implement SEO into your business include:
- Creating a Google My Business account
- Requesting reviews from your customers on Facebook or Google
- Optimising your website with a keyword and supporting keywords
- Creating original content through blogs or videos
- Focusing on getting high-quality backlinks
Developing an impressive website is one of the best SEO tools and can be the most impactful marketing strategy for small businesses. SEO helps to optimise your website and content for search engines to find your company more easily and help you become more visible to users browsing the internet.
The higher you rank on Google, the more likely you’ll be able to drive traffic and consumers to your website.
#2 Social Media
Social media for a small business is a must-have. These platforms are fantastic for reaching a larger audience and engaging with customers regularly.
The average user spends 3 hours a day on social media. While it may seem intimidating at first, it’s essential not to spread yourself too thin and join every platform. Instead, focus on your target audience.
What platform do they spend the most time on? What type of content do they enjoy? How can you make the biggest impact?
#3 Paid Advertising
Pay-per-click advertising allows small businesses to display ads when consumers search for certain keywords in a search engine. While it can lead to an expensive bidding war, local markets are often less competitive and the PPC model helps you keep a regulated budget.
For those who don’t know how pay-per-click advertising works, you bid on certain keywords—like “digital marketing agency” or “social media management”, and create ads around those phrases. Advertising platforms will then use an algorithm to display your ads in the search engine result pages (SERP) based on factors such as keyword relevance and landing page quality. You will then have to pay every time someone clicks on your ad.
#4 Email Marketing
Email marketing is an excellent way for you to reach your target audience, 81% of small businesses reporting that email is their primary lead generation and retention tool.
Email marketing is the only digital marketing tool that allows you to build a personalised relationship with customers and continue to nurture them well after their first purchase. You can pull customers back in through sending them regular newsletters filled with company and product updates.
#5 Content Marketing
Content marketing is all about publishing high-quality content that is of value to your target audience.
It’s important to note that content marketing is a long-term strategy. However, when done correctly, content marketing can position your business as an industry leader and build long-lasting relationships with your audience.
Your content should include a wide range of formats to highlight your industry expertise and learn what your audience prefers to see and interact with. The types of content to consider include blogs, videos, podcasts and infographics.
