Marketing your small business can often feel overwhelming.
This is particularly if you are trying to wear dozens of other hats.
It can be hard knowing where to start or what to focus on.
Should you be emailing, posting on social media, sending smoke signals or carrier pigeons? The sheer number of available options are enough to make anyone’s mind boggle!
Before you into too much of a tizzy. It is time to take a step back and breathe.
For business owners experiencing information overload, it helps to get back to marketing basics and grow from there.
So what are those basics that you need to nail first?
Well read on to find out the 5 essential marketing ingredients you need to tick off for your business.
5 Must-Do’s When Marketing Your Small Business
1. Build A List
It’s never too early to start building an email list for marketing your small business. This list will become one of your greatest assets.
Although email may seem old-school, it remains one of the best marketing channels available, providing an enormous return on investment. It’s affordable for any sized business, easy to personalise, and offers many opportunities to test and track your marketing content.
You can start creating your list by collecting the names and email addresses of people interested in your business – when they give you permission, of course. This usually happens via a form on your website or an opt-in on your Facebook page. Provide sign-up incentives and ongoing value for your list subscribers in the form of discounts and special offers.
The best thing about your list is that it’s yours. It’s not owned by Facebook, Google, or Instagram. Therefore, you retain control of it and can do with it what you choose.
2. Use The Facebook Pixel
Your Facebook Pixel helps you create more effective, targeted ads to increase sales and get a better ROI for your marketing budget.
While social media marketing can be daunting, Facebook Pixel is actually pretty straightforward. It’s a free JavaScript code that you can put on your website to track visitors.
The pixel will provide you with information about what people get up to on your site. You will be able to see what pages they visited and what actions they took. For example, if they added a product to their cart, began the checkout process, or completed a purchase.
With that precious data, you can then create ads for a targeted audience on Facebook to ensure your business shows up in front of previous site visitors. This is known as remarketing.
The Facebook Pixel is free to use and an essential tool in your marketing toolbox.
3. Know Your Ideal Client
This is marketing 101. If you don’t know your target audience, you will struggle to grow your business. How can you possibly market effectively without knowing who you are trying to reach?
Marketing is all about striking the right tone, sending the right messages, and speaking to your audience. How can you do that if you are just guessing about who that audience even is?
Spend time figuring out who your ideal client is. How old are they? Where do they live? What do they do for a living? What solution do you provide for their problems? Where do they spend their time? Use this information to create a defined buyer persona, then develop your small business marketing strategies around this.
4. Have An Online Presence
This one’s a deal-breaker. If you are running a business, you must have a website. Word of mouth and some well-placed street-signs will not cut it if you want to be successful.
A website attracts new customers and adds credibility to your business. Research shows that 70-80% of people research businesses online before stepping into a store or calling a company. It doesn’t matter whether you are an accountant, a hairdresser, a mechanic, or a dog walker – if you are not showing up on Google for keywords related to your business, you are missing out.
Having said that, you can’t just throw any old website up and consider your job done. Although something is arguably better than nothing, you should invest in a user-friendly website that reflects your brand and attracts your target audience. Plus, you need to get the SEO right to ensure your business is up there in the search results.
5. Be Present When Marketing Your Small Business
Beyond all the bells and whistles and funnels and gadgets, marketing your small business is about showing up. It’s about being consistent, present and available in the places where your ideal clients spend time.
Be present in social media and on your website, be present in your email list, be present in your networks, and be present to your audience in whatever channels you are using. Respond to comments and messages, engage with your audience, and keep growing authentic relationships with your customers.
If you aren’t sure how to tackle these aspects of marketing, then let me help you nail the essentials. Together, we can define a marketing strategy that will work, and which resources you need to make it happen. Book a convenient time to chat with me and let’s get started!