Marketing Tips Every Small Business Should Know

Marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to promoting your business. After all, every business is different, and every business’s target audience is different. Take the difference between two similar soft drink brands, for example. In a blind taste test, people might not be able to tell the two apart. But the brand that is most profitable is the brand that has the best marketing strategy. The way you communicate with your target audience and how often you do it are key to keeping your business afloat. And even more important is the ability to adapt to changing times. For example, you may have been profitable 20 years ago without social media, but these days, a social media presence is vital. Read on for some marketing tips that every small business should know in order to set themselves apart from the competition.

Know Your Audience

To really “reach” your audience, you need to put yourself in their shoes. Start by asking yourself, “Who is my audience? What do they do? How can I help them do what they do better?” Take this a step further by creating buyer personas, which take their needs, demographics, and interests and bundles them together in a persona with a name and a face. Even if they’re “pretend,” you’ll at least be able to educate your staff on who that ideal customer is and how to reach them more effectively. If you already have some clientele who match that ideal persona, keep them around by revisiting them and asking if their needs have changed. Show you care. Invite them for regular conversations via a quick phone call or an in-depth, in-person chat over coffee. Or, host a networking event where you can get them all together in the same room. Don’t forget to have some promotional items handy for them to remember you by, such as custom company notepad with your business’s logo on them.

Optimize Your Emails

Are you only sending emails to your clients when it’s time to ask them for money? In contrast, are you emailing your clients way too often? Or are you somewhere in the middle? While you may think that email is old-fashioned when compared with social media, it is actually the way that most people prefer to communicate for business purposes. As such, you should always make sure you’re checking your emails for client concerns, as well as sending out occasional emails to update your customers and prospects on new products and services. Don’t let them forget about you. Just be sure to occasionally do an audit of your emails, including making sure the subject line is effective, the content is optimized for mobile viewing, the text isn’t wordy, and it has a clear call to action.

Boost Your Social Media Presence

Social media is so easy to use, but also quite complicated if you start worrying about the algorithms it uses and whether or not your methods are effective. Sometimes less is more, and all you might really need is an occasional, but interesting, social media post. It doesn’t even have to be directly related to what you sell or do for your customers, as long as you engage with them. Have a competition, for example, where you incentivize readers to share and comment on your post. You can post a riddle, for example, and say, “The first person who solves it gets this custom company umbrella.” Make it fun and make them remember you so you’re top of mind when they need your service or product.

Show, Don’t Just Tell

Did you know that the human brain processes images 60 times faster than it processes written words? What better way to get your message out quickly than with video? You don’t even have to hire a designer to create a video for you. It can all be done from your smartphone. Platforms like Instagram stories, YouTube, and Facebook Live are great ways to share details about your products and services while making sure you reach your target audience. Try to keep it under two minutes and make sure it doesn’t bore the viewer. Consider adding text to summarize key points on screen as well, since most videos are watched without sound. As an added way to get your name out there, be sure that you (or whoever is “starring” in your video) wear an item that promotes your brand, like a men's custom uniform shirt with your business’s logo on it.

Regardless of the marketing tips you use today, be sure to revisit them annually to see how effective they are. Things change so quickly in the digital world, you don’t want to be left in the dust. This will be especially important if your business offers any new services or products, as you’ll need to effectively get the word out about them. Doing so will show your customers that you’re a business that is capable of adapting with changing times and that you’re here to stay.