The stakes are higher when you own a small business. Marketing your products and services brings in a strong ROI, and though it may seem like a huge task it might not be so. Thanks to the step-up in technology there are many tools that can help you reach your audience or market with minimal spend on retargets.
There’s usually no discernable infrastructure behind you when it comes to advertisement tools – at least not what big corporations have at their disposal. This means that implementing successful marketing strategies comes with its own set of challenges. So which tactics can help expand brand awareness for small businesses? Thankfully, there are a lot of options for you to try out to be successful.
1. Social Media
If you run an aspiring small business, social media marketing is your best bet for reaching a wider audience. After all, most of your potential customers are active on at least one social media platform. If you play your cards right, you get a free advertising platform that gets the job done.
In fact, you can go for a multi-platform approach and dabble in a bit of everything – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. The key to your success is to identify where your target demographic is focused. For example, an older clientele will mostly spend time on Facebook, while younger people use Twitter and Snapchat.
You’ll also need to develop an understanding of the nature of each given platform to utilize its full potential. For example, if you’re a fashion retail brand, you’ll want to prioritize Instagram, the ultimate visual platform and retail advertising Mecca, over Twitter.
2. Email Marketing
If you take a parting glance at lists such as this one, you’ll notice that email marketing permeates through all of them like some sort of universal tactic. Indeed, email marketing is ubiquitous in the business world, and it’s here to stay.
If you’re looking for a significant ROI, it may even serve better than social media. The trick is to spruce your mails up to keep the audiences hooked even in this age of information overload and short attention spans.
For example, visually enticing ‘postcards’ that show the necessary information along with colorful or sleek designs are almost obligatory these days. To boost your efforts, include something in the mail to sweeten the pot: discounts for products and services, vouchers, coupons, etc.
3. Find an efficient SEO company
Unless you’re an established marketing guru, there’s only so far you can go by doing everything yourself. If you’ve raised your small business above the bootstrapping stage, you should consider spending some money on content marketing to save precious time.
Thankfully, we live in an age where the exact service you need is only a few clicks away. Make sure to do thorough research because there are entire services dedicated to link building in the vast ocean we call the Internet. It’s your greatest retarget, and your most important promotional tool to get as high up the Google ladder as possible.
4. Turn to influencers
If an influencer is endorsing your brand, you’re “very 2019” and pretty much set for a solid promotion. Influencers have the necessary social traction and authority to serve as the word-of-mouth powerhouses they are.
But their endorsement often comes with a price tag. This is why you should turn to them only to a certain extent. If you’ve dabbled in networking (which is also a topic of its own), you’ve probably come across a niche authority who has significant traction on social. There’s always the option to reach out to influencers and ask for a promotional boost in exchange for a service. However, never go beyond your financial means and make sure to set clear goals for the campaigns.
5. Offline marketing strategies
This might sound counterintuitive: offline marketing is not only alive and well, but it also appears to be poised for a small renaissance in 2019. Print advertising, appearing at local events and fairs, speaking to people in person at cons, mingling with clientele – these strategies still haven’t been outrun by the digital era. How come?
You’ve probably noticed how people became enamored with vintage items, textured, tactile materials, and obsolete technologies. Everything has become so digitally ephemeral that the ‘old ways’ are gaining traction. For this reason, putting a friendly face in front of a brand can do wonders for you. The “human touch” has become a precious commodity.
Conclusion
We’ve assorted these five strategies according to specific criteria. Firstly, they had to be financially feasible for a promising small business. Secondly, there had to be a reasonable possibility to implement them with a limited workforce, since most SMBs count less than 50 employees.