In the United States, more than 33 million small businesses are providing services, promoting products, and trying to capture customers’ attention.
With so much competition, implementing marketing strategies that attract and retain customers is vital for success.
But how can you optimize your opportunities in the relentlessly demanding business landscape?
And how can you take your small business from strength to strength each year? In this blog, we share 7 killer marketing tips for small businesses.
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Know Your Audience
Our first marketing tip is knowing your audience. Without knowing your target customer, you’ll find it challenging to market to them, let alone reach them.
To get to know your audience, complete a consumer profile that outlines your ideal customer. Within this profile, answer questions such as:
- Which online platforms do they use?
- Why do they need your services or products?
- How can your business cater to their needs and solve their pain points?
Once you have the answers to these questions, you can begin to craft content that addresses their pain points and supports their decision-making. You can also publish material on the right platforms.
Optimize Your Website For Search
Publishing a website and blogs that promote your services and products is a good start.
But without optimizing your copy, you’ll miss out on opportunities to reach consumers and generate new traffic.
When optimizing your website copy, incorporate short and long-term keywords that your audience will use when searching for solutions and information.
For example, if you own an accounting firm that provides virtual services, short-term keywords may include “virtual accountant” or “online accountants”.
Long-term keywords could include “virtual accountant for small business” or “virtual accountant in North America”.
If you provide a service in a specific location, don’t forget to optimize your website for local search by incorporating keywords that include your business’s location.
Take Advantage Of Organic Social Media Marketing
Did you know that 43% of consumers use social media channels to search for services and research new products?
Taking advantage of organic social media marketing and publishing regular updates can help your business reach new customers.
To maximize your opportunities, ensure your small business is visible on channels your target audience uses.
For example, LinkedIn and Twitter are often more effective for business-to-business (B2B) organizations.
For business-to-consumer (B2C) enterprises, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok can provide excellent platforms for connecting with customers.
Utilize Paid Social Media Marketing Opportunities
While organic social media marketing provides long-term reach, paid social media marketing can offer a quicker return on investment and enable you to target your audience more precisely with advertisements based on their location, age, gender, and needs.
Encourage Word-of-mouth Marketing And User-generated Content
With more than 95% of customers reading online reviews and 90% of customers more inclined to trust brands that are recommended, word-of-mouth marketing and user-generated content can increase your brand visibility and assist with new customer acquisition.
Word-of-mouth marketing means a customer recommends your business in some way to their friends, family, and even colleagues, which can be powerful.
Thanks to the social media boom, this type of marketing could also include customers posting reviews on social media.
Similarly, user-generated content can feature your product, which you can then repost on your platforms.
In addition to generating greater brand awareness, user-generated content increases consumer trust and contributes to acquisition and retention.
Employ Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most successful forms of marketing. With 4.14 billion people reading and sending emails, it’s clear why.
From retaining customers to generating website traffic and encouraging sales, flexible email marketing offers many benefits.
Incorporating industry updates, business news, events, sales, and even discounts into emails can engage your customers and encourage them to interact with your business.
Track And Optimize Spending
Marketing can take your business to new heights. But it’s important to review how well your efforts are performing regularly and monitor which activities are performing and delivering results.
For this reason, our last marketing tip for small businesses is completing monthly audits.
At the end of each month, examine important metrics that align with your brand goals. These could include impressions, clicks, link clicks, likes, shares, reposts, and sales.
Favorable monthly metrics and return on investment indicate that strategies are working. A drop in the relevant metrics will offer insight into what tactics need adjusting.
Damian Brychcy, COO and US MD of Capital on Tap, says business credit cards can be a practical tool to track spending.
“A business credit card can provide you with invaluable insights into your company’s expenses, helping you better understand exactly where your money is going.
This can be especially helpful when it comes to tracking marketing costs, as it can give a company owner clear insight into how much they’re spending on different platforms, campaigns, and more without having to manually track every transaction”.
To Conclude
Getting started with marketing can seem costly. But that’s where business credit cards can be handy.
For example, the Capital on Tap Business Credit Card, issued by WebBank, supports small businesses when paying for business-related expenses.
Brychcy goes on to say: “Marketing is an integral part of the success of all businesses.
But the costs of marketing and other business expenses can come as a surprise for small business owners.
Often, these costs can hinder business growth. With the Capital on Tap Business Credit Card, business owners can invest in marketing tactics that can contribute to business development.”
Having read our 7 killer marketing tips for small businesses, take the first step in transforming your marketing today.
