6 Marketing Tactics for Small Business Success
By Shelby Ballou
Large corporations often have one thing small businesses lack: a big marketing budget.
But what small businesses lack in budget, they can make up for with unique and successful marketing strategies.
You can easily search Google for marketing strategies and techniques prevalent in your industry. But pursuing the wrong tactic will result in wasted time and money. In order to be successful, business owners must focus on what’s important for their business.
Here are 6 marketing tactics that might work for you.
1. Focus on blogging and creating content.
Many small businesses don’t post regular updates on their blog or website. Creating content for your audience on a consistent basis has proven to increase website traffic and increase sales. The content can be whatever you’d like, as long as the goal is to help your audience in a specific way.
2. Improve local search results and reviews.
This marketing tactic is very useful for small businesses whose services are located in a specific area. A recent study by Dimensional Research found that 90% of consumers say positive online reviews influence their purchasing decisions. Ask your customers to review your business on Google Reviews, Yelp, and other trusted review sites. If they had a positive experience with your business (and make sure they do!), they won’t mind writing about it.
3. Embrace social media in everything you do.
The key to a great social media strategy is connecting with your audience on an authentic, genuine level. To successfully do that, each social media account you have must be active and engaged. It’s not enough to merely post content. You need to interact with your customers, too.
4. Develop a referral program.
For many small businesses, referrals are the main source of their revenue and growth. For others, there’s a giant opportunity to tap into their existing client base for referrals. A steady flow of customer referrals can help to continue the momentum of a successful and healthy business or rejuvenate a failing business into a profitable one.
5. Be an email marketing genius.
Social media is trendy and effective, but it’s not the only way to pull in business. Email marketing is still a reliable way to reach customers and drive sales. If you don’t already have an email marketing program in place, start by doing some research and finding an email marketing tool that is right for your business. Remember to make the email sign-up process easy for your customers. Once that’s in place, you can begin to develop a detailed email marketing strategy.
6. Emphasize culture and team building.
As your small business grows, so will your team. A happy team and positive culture means a successful company in 2016. But rewarding hard work and loyalty is often forgotten about as small businesses experience rapid growth. You can combat this a few different ways.
- Create professional development programs for your employees that show you are invested in their future.
- Ensure that your employees don’t have to work late nights and weekends on a regular basis.
- Recognize and reward employees for doing a great job.
- Experiment with “work from home” days.
- Play a variety of team building games.
Employees truly value companies that are committed to personal, family, and social responsibility. Investing in them will mean a loyal commitment to your small business.
