Small Business Strategy for online marketing: 3 things you need to know
Learn about the right tools for small business online marketing strategies to focus on. We defined major challenges and emphasized key objectives you can try out right away.
The small business is constantly fighting for customers’ attention and dealing with various responsibilities for each staff member. Adding online marketing strategy implementation would be even more workload on the endless pile of daily basis tasks. There’s certainly no large marketing department with million dollars marketing campaigns to cope with that.
You’re about to develop an online marketing strategy that you can undertake, but what you find out is that most information on the internet simply is exaggerated! We are more realistic: there are tools and techniques for small business online marketing strategies that you can test and get the result within the next 3 months – affordable, low-budget, time-saving, and efficient.
Formulate the overall picture
Start with defining the core differentiation between what you really need and what seems important but, in fact, you will spend more than earn:
- Question yourself if a specific instrument or idea fits your business
- Do you have the needed resources to make it more than an idea? Can you fundraise it?
Related: Business Funding Acquisition: The Fundraising Beginner’s Check-List
- Are you ready to follow the chosen strategy from a long-term perspective?
- Less is more: you don’t need each and every marketing tool out there.
A low-cost strategy
Most standard business cases report spending up to 5% of revenue for B2B companies and 5-10% for B2C companies. B2C companies’ promotion requires more distribution and personalization while B2B marketing is considered to be rather formal – that’s where the difference comes from.
What allows you to save on marketing?
- Balanced approach and preparation of an online marketing strategy taking into account your experience, long-term plans, and competitors. But not to worry, you always start with analysis and planning, so as not to go astray from the very beginning.
- Start with several promotion channels, such as a website and several social networks. Gradually, you will be able to adequately assess your own strengths and current results.
- Professional approach. Online marketing is quite simple at first glance. The main trick here is in the dozens of small details and hidden pitfalls and it would be good to consider them in advance. The right investment in the beginning that saves resources for further promotion and aligns with the company’s main activity.
Both your customers and competitors are online and engage with each other. You have all the chances to make up for a winning situation for every aspect of your business: revenue, task division inside the company, market position, online presence, existing customers, who can find you online, and new customers that wanted to find you and finally did that. In other words, grow customer awareness, engagement, loyalty, and make online marketing strategy a pleasant part of your daily tasks.
A win-win online marketing strategy
Both your customers and competitors are online and engage with each other. You have all the chances to make up for a winning situation for every aspect of your business: revenue, task division inside the company, market position, online presence, existing customers, who can find you online, and new customers that wanted to find you and finally did that. In other words, grow customer awareness, engagement, loyalty, and make online marketing strategy a pleasant part of your daily tasks.
Where to promote your business?
website+social media+paid advertisement+emails
A basic combination is website+social media+paid advertisement+emails. You are to regulate which channel is primary and which is secondary. For instance, a restaurant might need a stronger social media presence and fewer emails. Meanwhile, a fintech company should have a bright website filled with all the relevant information and develop an email campaign. As time goes, online performance metrics signalize if you do everything right.
Gradually, having determined the general directions, you can disassemble each part and think of it separately. For example, social networks. Where to post and for whom? Again, an issue that is addressed by the specifics of your business. We know one thing for sure: interesting and informative content can be created for each and every business.
HOW to promote?
We offer essentials you can’t ignore when planning an online marketing strategy. You can add as many details as you consider relevant but these are the online marketing “must-have”s:
- SEO and content. Once you have a website, you want it to be seen by Google to make it easier to find your page specifically for anyone who searches related terms. You can promote the website via social media, however, it won’t make for favorable Google search results or will appear somewhere on the 8th page (at best) that no one opens. SEO optimization also helps to overcome competitors that rank high in search engines and brings more organic traffic to your website.
Content is the main tool to spread all the information about your business, insights, interesting stories, reviews, updates, and much more. An SEO-optimized content allows it to be seen for a wide audience and add value to your website and overall service/product.
Related: 6 Types of Content Marketing That Work Best for Your Business Growth
- Local search and Google My Business. This is one of the very first things to do when implementing an online marketing strategy – add your business to Google My Business service: the whole procedure is super easy and you will be seen by locals on Google Maps. Also, you can add pictures and reviews there, a link to your website, working hours, and much more! All for your clients’ convenience.
- The global presence will grow once more people will discover your services after you combine SEO-optimization tools with being visible to locals on maps.
HOW to stand out?
Create an online marketing strategy that highlights your strengths and best features that would be interesting to your prospects and customers. Another aspect is to fit this strategy into overall business activities and make them even easier with online marketing.
One of the examples is story-telling and involving your customers in sharing their experience actively and getting some small bonuses instead. There’s a potential opportunity for each company and the main goal is to find that specific feature that will bring you to a level above.
Related: Business Case Studies
There’s no universal solution…
…and that gives you an unlimited number of winning combinations as well as space for creativity. Reach a larger audience, target specific segments, turn it into your prospects, let people know about you, your competitive edge, and unique identity. We bet you haven’t experienced the true potential of digital marketing yet. There’s always something new to discover and more to implement.
Each small business has something to stand out, its special feature, the value they can offer for the customer. What is yours? Tell the world about it with the help of an online marketing strategy that aligns perfectly with your business.
Want to learn more about business promotion? We know how to transform the business into a highly recognized brand with the 7 STEPS TO BUILD A QUALITY BRAND ultimate guide. Check it out for free!
