Marketing can be a challenging undertaking for any small business on a tight budget, but there are multiple effective methods of reaching out and building brand recognition.
Popular mobile apps allow businesses to target customers searching for services similar to yours in their area. Other affordable solutions may include direct mail campaigns, trade shows, fairs or farmers markets.
Online Marketing
Online marketing for small businesses utilizes digital tools such as emails and social media posts to promote and grow brands. It can be an economical and efficient means of reaching potential customers and increasing sales.
Small businesses rely heavily on various online marketing tactics – Facebook, email and SEO among them – for promotion purposes. Most respondents plan to devote more time and resources into these channels in 2019.
Blogging and YouTube are popular online marketing tactics. Blogs allow businesses to share their expertise while building trust with audiences by offering informative, engaging content; YouTube helps businesses reach a wide audience by posting videos showcasing features or benefits of products or services they are selling.
Respondents cited customer acquisition and retention as their top marketing goals, with increasing brand recognition and maintaining current customers ranking close behind. All these goals can easily be accomplished using email and social media – which most small businesses already utilize for marketing their businesses.
Print Marketing
Print marketing is a form of small business marketing which involves printing and distributing printed materials in order to reach potential customers. Print marketing can be an effective way of expanding brand recognition and ROI, and increasing brand visibility.
Printing and distributing brochures, postcards, and flyers can help your organization reach your target audience without being disruptive to them in an easy, non-disruptive manner. They also foster trust between you and your target market; don’t forget to include a call-to-action in all print materials that encourage readers to take the next step by calling you for more information or visiting your website!
Add digital calls-to-action into your print materials by including QR codes or email addresses that lead to online offers, creating an effective link between physical and online assets and increasing engagement and crafting an appealing marketing narrative. Traditional marketing may be perceived as outdated; however, traditional tactics still provide value to many small businesses.
Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is a form of small business marketing that allows you to communicate directly with both current and potential customers. It primarily targets individuals who have shown an interest in your company – such as email subscribers or people attending Tupperware parties – putting you in control of your data and giving you regular opportunities to share information that benefits their needs.
Marketing your small business this way can be an excellent way to retain existing customers and cultivate loyalty, while simultaneously gaining new ones by encouraging existing ones to refer your products or services to friends and family.
Small business owners need a marketing strategy in order to expand their audience, establish themselves as leaders in their market and establish brand authority. This involves tracking key metrics in order to see what is working and what is not, while being flexible enough to change your approach as necessary. Email marketing has historically yielded the greatest returns among small businesses followed by Facebook ads and traditional promotion.
Social Media Marketing
Small businesses can leverage social media for more than just sales or product announcements; it can help connect with their target audience and build brand loyalty. Posting updates about events, promotions, company news or industry updates can keep fans engaged with your business and its products and services.
Social media community management has become an effective form of business marketing for small companies, offering them the ability to form lasting relationships with followers and customers to increase awareness and boost revenues. Through sharing engaging content, addressing comments or messages and soliciting customer feedback, small companies can form customer connections that create long-term customer relationships while positioning themselves as industry experts.
Small businesses can leverage social media for paid advertising purposes as an effective means of promotion, particularly on Facebook. Here, advertisers have many advertising options available to them including paid advertisements and promoted posts which appear directly in a user’s feed and can be targeted to specific demographics or audiences. Furthermore, businesses may utilize native ads which look just like regular posts but include a “Sponsored” label and offer lower costs with greater returns on investment than traditional forms.