Small Business Marketing Guide

You are not just a small business owner!

The sooner you understand that small business success is now dependent on digital marketing practices the faster you’ll be able to step up your game and start making a real impact.

In the 21^st century, promoting your small business online is no longer a bonus but rather a critical necessity. As you’ve probably noticed, your competition is already doing it. Nowadays, every successful business owns a highly functional website that’s supported by various digital marketing campaigns.

Since you’re reading this post, you’re probably looking for the same thing. In case you’ve never done this before, this article should help you get started.

In today’s post, I’m sharing several key small business tips that’ll help you take your business website out of the dark, allowing you to effectively promote your products and services in the online environment.

Shall we?

Define Your Target Audience Before Anything Else

All the small business marketing ideas and campaigns must be directed towards a small and specific target audience. Simpler put, before you create any promotional campaigns that will consume your time and money, you have to define your ideal future customers.

• Where do your customers live?
• Are their males? Females? Both?
• What is their age?
• What are their interests?
• What are their needs?
• What are their problems?
• What are their dreams?
• What makes them “tick”?

You shouldn’t stop here. You can go on asking yourself other questions that will lead you to a better understanding of your target market.  If you are targeting more than an audience, you should create separate “target personas”. When you create educational, informational, and promotional content, direct it towards each specific target persona.

Do not start any marketing campaign without properly aiming your message towards a very specific target audience!

Figure Out the Intentions of Your Future Visitors

Every small business is unique. Your products and offers are unique, just like your target audience.

When people enter your website or social media pages…what are they seeking? Generally, they’ll be looking for more information about your offers. However, in many cases, prospects might be looking to get in direct touch with the business representatives, which could be you or your customer support employees.

Figure out the main reason why your audience will be visiting your website and make sure that your homepage helps them immediately reach the pages and resources that they seek!

Create Amazing Content that Provides Real Value

Content is the single most important aspect that defines a successful marketing strategy. Whether it’s text, images, videos, or podcasts, all of your marketing campaigns involve content development and content promotion

You’re a small business owner, marketer, and entrepreneur. However, you might not be the best writer!

If you’re not good with words, you shouldn’t be afraid to invest in professional content development services. For example, Edubirdie or Upwork are just two of the resources that will help you discover talented writers that are able to craft exceptional content for your specific business needs.

Do not create content only because “you have to”. Focus on adding as much value for the users. That’s the only way you can effectively grow as a brand and win your prospects’ trust and loyalty.

Forget About Quick Sales and Start Building Solid Relationships

Focus on developing a long-lasting relationship rather than obsessing over quick sales. There’s nothing more annoying than an intrusive marketing campaign.

You cannot force your target audience to buy your products. What you can do instead is win their trust bit by bit, up until their barriers to purchase are removed. Win their attention and interest by changing their lives for the better through educational and inspirational content!

Craft an E-mail Marketing Strategy

How do you build relationships online?

It’s quite simple. You need to develop an email marketing strategy. To get people to subscribe to your email list, you need to offer them some benefits and exclusive offers.

For example, many small businesses offer free eBooks that contain case studies, resources, or any type of relevant information that may interest the future customer. You can also provide discounts, limited offers, or exclusive demos to those who agree to sign up to your newsletter.

Leverage Local Niche Influencers

If your small business is local, start looking for individuals who are well known in your local environment. Let me give you an example.

If your small business sells cosmetic products, you can search for beautiful ladies who are followed by more than 5000 people on social media networks. Contact those ladies and ask them if they agree to share your products or services with their list of followers.

They can do it by posting pictures of your products on their news feed, stories, or by featuring the benefits of your products in their live videos. Nevertheless, before you talk to any influencer, make sure they have an engaged audience who constantly likes, comments, and shares their updates.

Final Words

Digital marketing is a continuous journey of learning. When you fail to get it right, it simply means that you’ve taken the wrong decisions and that you have to start optimizing and changing your future approaches.

Website analytics tools like Google Analytics can help you realize whether your marketing campaigns are going well or not, while a great degree of persistence shall take your small business to the top of the ladder!