Marketing To Small Business Owners – If there’s one thing we all know as local business owners, it’s that there are never enough hours in the day. As marketers working with local business owners, we know that marketing is one of the last things on your to-do list.
We understand. So we’ve put together a list of 10 marketing tasks you can undertake to grow your local business over your morning coffee, and then you can get on with the rest of your day.
Marketing To Small Business Owners
Email marketing, or writing newsletters, may seem daunting, but the truth is that many business owners find it too much work. Open your email marketing software, and write an email (pretending to be a friend) letting them know what you and your business have been up to lately. It’s a good idea to leave a link where they can book a time to chat. Talk to you more, or maybe buy the product or service you mentioned. Send to your customers, and repeat next week.
Small Businesses And Link Building
Help a Reporter Out, or HARO, is an online marketplace that connects journalists with thought leaders to source their news articles. Anyone can sign up, and it only takes 5 minutes! There are several levels of membership, but the most basic is free. Then you can sit back and watch your inbox for requests that fit your field. Who doesn’t want more publicity?
It’s easier to get repeat business from customers than it is to get new customers, so why not create a customer appreciation program? This can be anything from a percentage of next purchase/service to a “buy 3 get 1 free” type of incentive. Brainstorm coffee ideas, and ask your web developer to place them on your website later today.
Volunteering is not only great for brand visibility, it’s also a great cause and a great way to meet other local business owners. Do a Google search for local charities looking for volunteers, and send an email asking how to get involved.
Another thought that is often overlooked and overthought! Here are 5 quick content ideas you can post on social media:
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One of the easiest ways to broaden your audience and grow your business is to partner with other business owners who share the same ideal customer. Do you own a pizza shop? Email or Instagram DM the sandwich shop and suggest going Live to discuss how the pandemic is impacting the local food industry. Doing so can increase exposure for both of you! Worried about living on social media? Suggest areas on each other’s websites or social media platforms where you can promote each other.
Have something smart, relevant, or controversial to say? Software programs like Canva allow non-graphic designers to quickly and easily create shareable social media content. Whether it’s a quote, a meme or a diagram, Canva templates will get you floating with ideas and building your brand effortlessly. You can then download your high-res designs in minutes. And it’s free too!
Go through your website page by page, and do an audit to see what needs improvement. Has your service changed? Has COVID-19 changed your appointment booking process? Is your About page still up to date? You don’t always have to do a complete rebranding to make sure your website is up to date and working for you. Note which pages need editing and update later.
Your Google My Business Listing is a powerful search tool that lets new customers find you and stay up to date on everything from events to new products and store hours or new policies. But for Google to want your listing, it has to be active. Share new posts to your account at least once a week. It’s fast, easy, and has a big impact on your business’s search engine readiness.
Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses
There’s been a lot of discussion about growing your social media following. However, the emphasis isn’t on nurturing the audience you already have, though this is arguably the most important part of a successful social media marketing strategy. While you’re drinking coffee, spend 30 minutes responding to comments, interacting with your followers, and most importantly “socializing.” This will go a long way in building their trust in you and converting them from followers to leaders.
Try one of these tips tomorrow in your morning cup of coffee, and let us know what you tried and how it went! As always, if you have questions about marketing for your local business, book a free consultation and let’s talk. Online marketing is critical to your success as a small business owner. So in this article, we’re going to share some of the best small business marketing ideas and give you tips on how you can put them to use right away.
If you want your business to succeed online, you must focus on marketing it by advertising, promoting and selling your products and services.
That’s because if people don’t know your company exists, how can you expect them to come to your website to sign up for your email list or buy something from your ecommerce store?
Social Media Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses
So, now that you know why online marketing is important to your success, let’s take a look at some great online marketing ideas for small businesses.
You probably already know that every business website should have an email list and run regular email marketing campaigns to promote their services and products. Well, having a large email list doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming.
This is especially true if you use one of the best email marketing services on the market such as Constant Contact or Sendinblue.
Make creating subscription forms a breeze using Mailchimp, AWeber, Drip, Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact, MailerLite, GetResponse and many more.
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Not to mention, you can easily add a subscribe checkbox to your WordPress theme to build your email list and continue to market your products and services to people who show interest in what you have to offer.
85% of people trust online reviews written by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from personal contacts.
So by adding testimonials to your website, you are not only adding an extra element of social proof to your website that supports what you are selling, you are helping potential buyers make a better decision because they are more likely to believe what your satisfied customer is saying.
OptinMonster does an excellent job of displaying testimonials on their website. In fact, they have a dedicated testimonials page:
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Another great way to build trust and encourage people to become customers is to feature reviews on your website, such as many popular ecommerce sites.
Use the positive feedback you collect to drive conversions and sales by harnessing the power of social proof.
It may seem obvious, but one of the best ways to market your brand is to consistently publish valuable, informative and entertaining content on your website.
In fact, if your content is good, your blog can become the foundation of all your marketing efforts. And the best part? Starting a WordPress blog is relatively inexpensive and easy to do.
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Are you part of the 51% of marketers who say they don’t have enough time to publish blog content regularly?
It doesn’t matter! By using the Post Submissions addon, you can let others do the work for you by having visitors publish blog posts instantly to your website for others to read.
For help with this, see our guide on how to get users to submit blog posts on your WordPress site.
When you publish a new post, don’t forget to promote it. You want to market that content over and over again to get maximum views.
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It’s easy to use PushEngage to send browser notifications to your subscribers whenever there is a new post on your site. Push notifications are a great way to keep your audience coming back for new content.
Running a contest is a great way to build consumer awareness and get your company name out there.
All you have to do is spend some time managing the contest and placing the prizes. From there, you will let other people market your business for you. Here is an example of using the RafflePress giveaway plugin, which we highly recommend.
If you’re looking for an easy way to set up a contest on your website, check out our form gallery, which also happens to have contest entry form templates.
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Simply customize the form the way you want it to look so people can enter your contest right away. All entries can be sent to your business email address or stored in the WordPress database.
Working with big brands or influencers can cost a lot of money. And while their reach and involvement may be great, it may not be an option for you if you’re a small business on a budget.
But don’t worry, there are cheaper ways to market your brand in your industry. All you have to do is network friendly.
For example, ask guests to post on influential websites
Small Business Marketing Plan Tips
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