How To Successfully Market Your Small Business In 5 Easy Steps

Small business marketing has come a long way in recent years. Gone are the days of print ads and word-of-mouth. Now, it’s all about how you can reach the most customers on a limited budget. In short, you don’t need to be a big business to invest in your marketing.

However, successful marketing is about so much more than social media and ads. It’s about finding new ways to connect with your audience. Keep reading for a guide to successfully marketing your small business in 5 easy steps.

1. Cultivate Your Brand Identity

A lot of new businesses jump right into marketing their business without planning their messaging. As a small business, you have the chance to really connect with your audience. It’s hard to compete with big brands like Amazon on things like price or selection, but you can compete with your story. What sets your business apart? How can you uniquely tell your brand story?

Once you’ve developed your brand identity, create content that conveys your brand’s values and messaging. Your marketing output should constantly reflect what your brand stands for, and the more clarity that consumers have regarding your brand identity, the stronger connection they will feel to your company.

2. Adopt New Technologies

Technology is rapidly improving, and though some tools might sound intimidating, adopting new, innovative tools is one of the most effective ways to prepare your business for the future. When it comes to marketing, artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) are two technology trends that your business should be using.

AI can help you free up time by taking over smaller tasks, allowing you to focus your energy on more important endeavors. It can also be a huge asset when it comes to data collection, which you can then leverage to re-focus your efforts and improve your marketing strategies.

When it comes to implementing marketing strategies, AR and virtual reality are becoming huge players. These new technologies can help you engage customers who are quickly becoming used to having the lines between the online and offline world blurred.

3. Connect With Your Consumers—Online and Off

One of the most important aspects of a successful marketing plan is not only finding out how to connect with your audience, but where. Just like real estate, location matters in marketing. Don’t make the mistake of marketing everywhere and seeing what sticks. It is much smarter to invest time and money into one or two platforms than it is to spread out your efforts across every platform. Different audiences are known to spend time on different platforms, and you should be reaching out to your audience on the platform they use the most.

At the same time, don’t forget about taking your efforts offline. As important as cultivating a strong online presence is, you need to be able to reach your audience in the real world as well. This is particularly important if you have a local-based business. Use local SEO to make sure your local community sees your business online while also hosting or participating in local events. A two-pronged effort helps create an undeniable offering that your audience can engage with.

4. Create Content That Includes Your Community

Content remains incredibly important in marketing. It is one of the best ways for your business to show its value and to foster a connection with your audience, which helps increase brand loyalty. Not only do you want your audience to respond to your content output, you want them to actively engage with it.

As effective as celebrities and influencers can be when it comes to promoting brands, consumers are most likely to trust a regular person. In fact, about 90% of purchasing decisions are influenced by user-generated content (UGC). Though incentivizing your audience to create content can be challenging, it may be the most rewarding marketing tool.

5. Be Ready For Change

Not only does technology change at a rapid pace, but so do people. The way consumers interact with ads and brands this year may be completely different next year. That means that the most successful marketing strategy for your small business is one that is constantly changing and adapting to new behaviors.

For marketing, this could mean switching focus from search engine advertising to social-led marketing, or using different in-app tools offered by leading social media platforms. To stay on top of changing trends, you should always be analyzing data relating to your audience’s habits and thinking about how you can apply them to your marketing strategies.

Small Business Marketing in 2020

The world of small business marketing is a much different place than it was 10 or even 5 years ago. Having a small business means taking the time to learn the best ways to get your business noticed whether it’s online or in person. Follow these 5 steps above to create a solid marketing plan to launch your business!