Small Business Marketing Tips
By Siân Morgan-Owen
Digitally Dazzle with These Small Business Marketing Tips!
We live in a digital age and our universe is driven by tech. If you are still trying to deny digital evolution then ask yourself this…do you watch tv, drive a car, own a mobile phone? When you want something new, do you research it first?
Would you be surprised if I told you that more than 80% of shoppers/buyers do their research ONLINE before purchasing a service or product.
So if you’re not even getting into the digital ‘ring’ then how are you going to have a fighting chance against your competitors?
Having an online presence enables you to be found by potential customers, giving them the opportunity to get to know you and your product/service instead of losing them to a competitor. An online presence also adds credibility to your brand.
Regardless of your business size you can use digital platforms to build your brand and reputation, in a cost affective way. Now I have no problem with hard copy marketing there’s a time and place for it. However, online marketing is cheaper and your target audience can be far more defined.
We are always going to evolve digitally but the pandemic has pushed us forward faster along the path. In 2020 so many businesses pivoted the way they sold to accommodate the way people needed to shop. Although some businesses have no option but to be offline, it’s now not enough and some element of an online presence is a good idea.
Below are few more small marketing tips to help you thrive online. You don’t have to cover all of them, just what you can is a great step forward.
Website
Create a website, it doesn’t have to be all singing and dancing. You can keep it simple and create just a landing page telling people what you do, how they can get hold of you and how to sign up to your email list. Some cost effective, user friendly website platforms are Squarespace, Wix and Shopify.
You can create landing pages in Mailerlite.
You can even create a simple website in Canva.
However, if you’re planning on building courses, memberships etc then it’s might be worth looking into an All-In-One Platform like:
If you do have a website/landing page it is worth updating it with fresh content on a regular basis as search engines regard websites with the most recent content as the most relevant to web users.
Blogs are a great way to keep your website fresh and SEO active – Read my blog – Are There Still Benefits to Blogging.
Social Media
I know I say this a lot but find out where your ICA (Ideal Customer Avatar) hangs out. There’s no point pouring your energy into LinkedIn if your ICA is on TikTok.
Be persistent and consistent:- in order to beat the ever changing algorithms you need to be consistent with your posting. You also need to spend time on your chosen platform, the algorithm knows if you just ‘post and ghost’. This is why I advise you pick two platforms and master them. If you think about the platforms you are on, multiplied that by the amount of times you should be posting each week on EACH platform and then multiply that by the average time it takes you to create a post (15 mins approx), then that a LOT of time.
Small businesses can spend on average 5/6 hours a week posting to various social media platforms.
4 platforms x 5 times per week x 0.25hrs = 5hrs
That’s a big chunk of your week.
Look at ways to simplify it by using tools like:
- Buffer, Hootsuite, Publer.IO to schedule your posts.
- Repurpose content from your website, blogs, old posts. Check out my blog – Going Zero Content Waste
- Pixabay to find royalty free images.
- Create images and graphics in Canva. If this is still too time consuming then use ‘done-for-you’ templates to save you heaps of time. I sell Canva social media templates bundles in my template shop – Dazlr Studio starting from -just a few pounds. You can also find lots on Etsy or Creative Market.
Repurpose Your Content
Email Marketing
I know I’ve talked about this before in a previous blog but it doesn’t matter how many followers, group members you have on social media you could lose them tomorrow if the platform shuts down. Having an email list is crucial and it’s also YOURS! I’m a fan of Mailerlite because you get a lot for free and I’ve found it really easy to navigate. However, there are others like ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp.
The all-in-one platforms I’ve mentioned above also have email marketing available.
Entice people with a lead magnet/opt in freebie. Regardless of what you use to get people to sign onto your list ALWAYS send a welcome/thank you email.
- Only 57.7% of brands send welcome emails to their newly subscribed users.
- Welcome emails have 14.4% click rate compared to just 2.7% in other types.
Outsourcing
We are in ‘gig economy’, the era of OBMs (Online Business Managers), VAs (Virtual Assistants) and Freelancers. There has been a rise in awareness of the OBM/VA/Freelancer in recent years (certainly since I first started my entrepreneurial journey as a VA back in 2014).
A surge of new freelancers with niche areas means your can outsource a heap of tasks, especially those that are not in your zone of genius.
Financial VA’s, Creative VA’s, OBM (Online Business Managers), Executive VA, Social Media Managers (SMM), Accountability Managers, they are all out there.
Not sure what the difference is between a VA and an OBM? Check out my blog – Online Business Manager or Virtual Assistant.
If you’re thinking more along the lines of a social media manager then read my blog – Am I Ready to Hire a Social Media Manager.
Competitors (Direct or Aspirational)
Have a look at your competitors and see what is working for them and what content is getting their audience engaged. Don’t plagiarise but you can definitely use it for insight and inspiration.
Did you know you can compare your competitors post performance against your own Facebook Page, via Meta Business Suite?
Having an online presence is relatively low cost and makes it an attractive option for start-up’s, small business and coaches. It makes owning and running a business much simpler, affordable and achievable.
Would you ever consider not having an online presence?
