10 Tips & Tools to Market a Small Business
A business well started should be well marketed too. Only a well marketed business can bring in the expected returns. If you’re an entrepreneur who’s taken the big leap towards starting a business after years of speculation, you need to move now and move fast. You’re bound to have competition in the form of several businesses that produce the same product or offer the same service as yours.
But how do you divert the attention of your clients and customers towards your business, given your small scale and low stakes?
The answer to this quintessential question is – clever marketing. In a world where David can bring down Goliath, your product just needs to be marketed extremely well for you to negate your competition and wipe them out of the picture. Good marketing is also the key to consistent growth. There are many simple ways that you can take up for effective marketing, even if your business is small and you have just begun.
10Tips for Small Business Marketing
Although not all the routes that you need to take might be low cost and low risk, what’s the fun in starting up without a few challenges?
Here’s what you need to do:
Play to Your Strengths
This is the first and foremost thing that you should keep in mind while framing out your marketing strategy. Always play to your strengths and show people why you’re unique. Everyone’s got something special that makes their business unique.
If you’re a startup, play the startup card. This will help you attract the target audience is a better way. Companies that start big with a huge investment normally flaunt it. They wow the audience with their scale and size.
Arrange for a Press Release
Once you start your business, arrange a small press release for your products or services. Make sure that you decide on your USP beforehand and stress on the same throughout the release. People are not interested in what you’re providing – they’re interested in what sets you apart.
To tighten your purse strings, send your PR to free newsletters as many of these have a wide reach. You can follow the same thing online too.
Try: PR Web
Boost Your Online Visibility
It’s time to face the facts – everything is moving online. Or rather, everything has already moved online. People are far more prone to check your website than read about you in the newspaper, so create a striking website that clearly outlines what you do and how you do it.
Don’t go for a flashy website – only established brands can afford to do that, because of the fact that they are already household names. Pump up your website with SEO techniques and make sure that you target all the right keywords. Engaging content can double as engaging customers, while bringing in traffic from search engines.
Try: New Buzz Marketing
Be Virtually Social
There’s no better way of advertising your product than advertising it online. Social Media Marketing is touted as the next big thing because there’s a solid reason behind the claims.
Given the number of people who lead their lives online, you need to be active through all social networking platforms in order to keep your brand or business visible and constantly active.
Create a Facebook page for your product, open a Twitter account, sign up for a Youtube channel and make sure that your website links to a blog that is regularly updated. A regularly updated blog can show people the faces of the people behind the brand and increase their trust in your organization.
Try: FanBullet
Updating regular audio and video clippings about your business and your products and publishing it on several pages can work wonders. If you can, create an online version of your press release and let it fly!
Dig Deep Into Email Marketing
Use an email marketing program, where you can send emails to your clients or customers about your products and services. Apart from regular emails, you can send them updates on what is happening from your front as this will keep them well tuned.
If the responses to your email are good, create a target list, develop a consistent relationship and send mails often to this particular audience. You can ask them for their feedback on your products and services too, as this will definitely help.
Try: AWeber
Build a Solid Profile
Boost your company’s profile by attending trade shows and conferences. Not only will this help you with networking and increasing your list of professional contacts, it will put a face to your company’s name so that people can remember you better. Be active on the social front, and pick out people from your business who can be its outside representatives.
This is a very essential step that you need to take, one that can help you in the long run.
Customize, Customize, Customize
Every brand needs customized and personalized merchandise, and although you might be a B2B enterprise, it doesn’t mean that you can’t personalize the smaller things in your business so that people can remember you in the long run. All that you need here is a fair bit of creativity. You can make fancy postcards for special occasions, engaging posters, signage with your contact information, impressive business cards and the like so that people remember you instantly.
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Play to the Crowd
People love discounts and offers, and there’s no escaping from the fact. If you don’t do it, your competitor will, so this is a good way to retain your customers. Give away freebies and discounts initially so that people are attracted to your services and products more than ever. It is very important to maintain high levels of quality while doing so as even the slightest dip will be noticed during such instances and this can affect your brand value.
Retain Your Customers
The last and most important point is to never let your old customers slip away. Give them constant reminders about your business by sending them regular greetings and birthday wishes.
If you have not heard from them for long, send them a personalized email and rope them in again. You need to build working relationships with all your customers in the long run, and this can be possible only if you give them the attention that they need.
Keep the Pedal to the Metal
There’s no tool for this other than…you. And maybe a simple quote by Winston Churchill: “never give up!”
Your marketing strategies might work, or some of your ideas might not take off the way you expected them to. What you should do is ensure that you keep at it, regardless of what the returns are. Establishing a company’s reputation and creating a brand is a long process, and you need constant updates and activity from your side to show people that you’re up and running, every day of the year.
These marketing tips can help your small business establish itself soon, and kick up some fear in your competition.
10 Tips & Tools to Market a Small Business
10 Tips & Tools to Market a Small Business
A business well started should be well marketed too. Only a well marketed business can bring in the expected returns. If you’re an entrepreneur who’s taken the big leap towards starting a business after years of speculation, you need to move now and move fast. You’re bound to have competition in the form of several businesses that produce the same product or offer the same service as yours.
But how do you divert the attention of your clients and customers towards your business, given your small scale and low stakes?
The answer to this quintessential question is – clever marketing. In a world where David can bring down Goliath, your product just needs to be marketed extremely well for you to negate your competition and wipe them out of the picture. Good marketing is also the key to consistent growth. There are many simple ways that you can take up for effective marketing, even if your business is small and you have just begun.
10Tips for Small Business Marketing
Although not all the routes that you need to take might be low cost and low risk, what’s the fun in starting up without a few challenges?
Here’s what you need to do:
Play to Your Strengths
This is the first and foremost thing that you should keep in mind while framing out your marketing strategy. Always play to your strengths and show people why you’re unique. Everyone’s got something special that makes their business unique.
If you’re a startup, play the startup card. This will help you attract the target audience is a better way. Companies that start big with a huge investment normally flaunt it. They wow the audience with their scale and size.
Arrange for a Press Release
Once you start your business, arrange a small press release for your products or services. Make sure that you decide on your USP beforehand and stress on the same throughout the release. People are not interested in what you’re providing – they’re interested in what sets you apart.
To tighten your purse strings, send your PR to free newsletters as many of these have a wide reach. You can follow the same thing online too.
Boost Your Online Visibility
It’s time to face the facts – everything is moving online. Or rather, everything has already moved online. People are far more prone to check your website than read about you in the newspaper, so create a striking website that clearly outlines what you do and how you do it.
Don’t go for a flashy website – only established brands can afford to do that, because of the fact that they are already household names. Pump up your website with SEO techniques and make sure that you target all the right keywords. Engaging content can double as engaging customers, while bringing in traffic from search engines.
Be Virtually Social
There’s no better way of advertising your product than advertising it online. Social Media Marketing is touted as the next big thing because there’s a solid reason behind the claims.
Given the number of people who lead their lives online, you need to be active through all social networking platforms in order to keep your brand or business visible and constantly active.
Create a Facebook page for your product, open a Twitter account, sign up for a Youtube channel and make sure that your website links to a blog that is regularly updated. A regularly updated blog can show people the faces of the people behind the brand and increase their trust in your organization.
Updating regular audio and video clippings about your business and your products and publishing it on several pages can work wonders. If you can, create an online version of your press release and let it fly!
Dig Deep Into Email Marketing
Use an email marketing program, where you can send emails to your clients or customers about your products and services. Apart from regular emails, you can send them updates on what is happening from your front as this will keep them well tuned.
If the responses to your email are good, create a target list, develop a consistent relationship and send mails often to this particular audience. You can ask them for their feedback on your products and services too, as this will definitely help.
Build a Solid Profile
Boost your company’s profile by attending trade shows and conferences. Not only will this help you with networking and increasing your list of professional contacts, it will put a face to your company’s name so that people can remember you better. Be active on the social front, and pick out people from your business who can be its outside representatives.
This is a very essential step that you need to take, one that can help you in the long run.
Customize, Customize, Customize
Every brand needs customized and personalized merchandise, and although you might be a B2B enterprise, it doesn’t mean that you can’t personalize the smaller things in your business so that people can remember you in the long run. All that you need here is a fair bit of creativity. You can make fancy postcards for special occasions, engaging posters, signage with your contact information, impressive business cards and the like so that people remember you instantly.
Play to the Crowd
People love discounts and offers, and there’s no escaping from the fact. If you don’t do it, your competitor will, so this is a good way to retain your customers. Give away freebies and discounts initially so that people are attracted to your services and products more than ever. It is very important to maintain high levels of quality while doing so as even the slightest dip will be noticed during such instances and this can affect your brand value.
Retain Your Customers
The last and most important point is to never let your old customers slip away. Give them constant reminders about your business by sending them regular greetings and birthday wishes.
If you have not heard from them for long, send them a personalized email and rope them in again. You need to build working relationships with all your customers in the long run, and this can be possible only if you give them the attention that they need.
Keep the Pedal to the Metal
Your marketing strategies might work, or some of your ideas might not take off the way you expected them to. What you should do is ensure that you keep at it, regardless of what the returns are. Establishing a company’s reputation and creating a brand is a long process, and you need constant updates and activity from your side to show people that you’re up and running, every day of the year.
These marketing tips can help your small business establish itself soon, and kick up some fear in your competition.
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