Image credit: Dragon Images/Shutterstock Tweaking your marketing strategy in a few key areas can help boost customer retention and revenue in the new year.
Marketing your small business is a must if you want to produce a steady stream of paying clients and customers. If you’ve noticed stagnant consumer retention and attraction numbers, consider reviewing your marketing strategy. Perhaps your initiatives are outdated. Or maybe you’re trying to market your small business on a limited budget. Luckily, there’s always room for improvement. Here are some ways you can effectively market your small business:
Develop your brand
To effectively market your business, you need to create a memorable brand identity. A brand is more than just a logo or tagline. A well-articulated brand connects with your target customers and conveys who you are, what you stand for and what you can deliver. When developing your business brand, ask yourself these questions:
- What is your business’s mission?
- Who are your competitors?
- How can customers benefit from your expertise and services?
- What feelings and characteristics do you want customers to associate with your company?
Once you’ve answered these questions, you can begin to develop a brand image, voice and message. Strong brands help increase customer loyalty and keep your audience engaged.
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Create a brand logo
After you’ve determined your brand message, create a custom logo. You want to make sure that your logo is unique and adaptable. Consider hiring a freelance designer and comparing your competitors’ logos to your ideas. When creating your logo, make sure you use on-brand colors, fonts and images.
Generate an email marketing strategy
Effectively market your small business by creating an email marketing strategy. Email is a powerful channel for connecting with customers and driving sales. To reap the benefits of a successful email campaign, you need to identify the right approach for your business. This might come in the form of a newsletter, a limited time offer or a promotional announcement. No matter what approach you take, align your email efforts with the rest of your brand marketing tactics.
Produce interesting blog content
Blogging is integral to your online marketing strategy. Create compelling and relevant blog content to drive traffic to your website and position your brand as an industry leader. According to information from HubSpot, companies with blogs receive 55 percent more web traffic than those without blog content. Keep in mind that you might need to hire an external freelancer or bring a marketing staff member onto your team.
Use Facebook ad campaigns
One of the most effective places to market your business is through Facebook. According to the Pew Research Center, 68 percent of U.S. adults use Facebook. Seventy-four percent of users are active on Facebook daily. These numbers highlight the importance of developing a Facebook marketing strategy. When you create Facebook ads, you can choose your objective, audience, budget and ad placement. Facebook ads can help drive more traffic to your site and increase brand awareness and customer conversions.
Follow SEO best practices
Whether you’re new to the world of search engine optimization or have used the practice in the past, there’s a chance your SEO strategy needs improvement. When focusing on SEO, your priority should be keyword research. You can figure out the language your target audience is using in their searches through free channels on Google or paid SEO tools, like Moz or SEMrush. The goal of SEO is to create an effective web experience that is easily discoverable in search.
Conduct market research
Today’s market trends are constantly shifting and changing. It’s essential for businesses to conduct market research on a regular basis to maintain their competitive edge. If you want to dive deeper into understanding your customers, you might decide to perform market research. Conduct surveys and hold interviews to gather data and analyze trends related to your target audience. This can help you shape your present and future marketing strategies and content.
Nurture loyal customers with social media
Effectively market your small business by utilizing social media. Social media can be a helpful tool for promoting your products and services and increasing your customer base. Create an efficient social media strategy and analyze your results to see where you can improve. Some social channels to optimize include:
- YouTube
Set goals and budgets
When you create a plan to innovate your marketing strategy, you should set goals to measure your success. Make sure the goals you set are specific, measurable, attainable and realistic. Additionally, you will need to monitor your funds and set a budget that will keep your spending in check. To gain access to working capital, you may need to seek funding from an outside source.
Monitor and review initiatives
The best way to effectively market your small business is to go over your results regularly. Check and see where your efforts have succeeded or fallen short. From there, you can develop new initiatives that will outperform your previous marketing attempts. As your marketing strategies improve, your revenue will soon follow suit.
Ben Gold
Ben Gold is president of QuickBridge, a privately-held financial services firm providing “small business loans” and short-term working capital funding solutions for small-to medium-sized businesses nationwide. Based on its growth, QuickBridge has ranked two consecutive years on the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing American Companies list. Ben is a thought leader in the financial tech. industry and a contributing member of the Forbes Finance Council.
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