What are the most effective marketing strategies for a small business?
There isn’t a straightforward way of answering this question.
In my experience, there are 2-3 key strategic marketing strategies that are of benefit to small businesses. But to determine any others there are several factors to consider first.
Marketing strategies – things to think about
Target audience
Who are you targeting? We’d have this mapped out in your marketing strategy – your target markets and your target audience. Where is your target audience – online, offline? What channels does your audience use to keep updated within your industry/field? What are their demographics? What do your buyer personas tell us?
Considering these factors helps determine which strategic approach will help us get our messaging out there in the most effective way. For example, if your audience isn’t on a social media platform then social media marketing isn’t the right approach to adopt. If your audience doesn’t attend trade shows or conferences, then event marketing isn’t one to consider either.
Budget
What budget do you have to play with for marketing, advertising and promotion? This is a key area I’d incorporate into your marketing strategy as it outlines your annual spending for things such as:
dedicated marketing direction and delivery
any outsourced support (copywriting for example)
ESP hosting (email service provider)
your CRM (customer relationship management system) etc.
I advise a figure based on predicted revenue and sales, typically 5% to maintain your current position, and 10%+ for growth. If you’re marketing on a shoestring, I wouldn’t recommend event marketing or paid media as effective strategies as you won’t have the budget to throw at them.
Your business and industry
Are you just starting up or have you been trading for a few years? Is your service/product for businesses or consumers? Maybe both?
While B2B marketing (business-to-business) is not the same as B2C (business-to-consumer) you can use the same strategic approach; how you phrase the marketing messaging will be different. There will be less need for some methods (email marketing for example) over others based on your industry and target audience etc.
7 marketing strategies for small businesses
Keeping the above factors in mind, here are seven marketing strategies that could be effective for your small business.
Content Marketing
Effective content marketing raises awareness of what you offer, builds interest in your business and helps generate enquiries. Through well-planned content, you showcase your expertise and knowledge and demonstrate why your organisation exists – how you help your target audience, solve their problems etc.
Content can take the form of blogposts, vlogposts, videos, imagery, white papers, and press releases (see below). The types of content will vary from one business to the next based on your budget, your offering and your audience’s demographics. Whatever content looks like for your business, it contributes to “pull marketing” – pulling your customers in with content that resonates with them, at the right time via the right communication channel.
Content that promotes customer advocacy – customers who are happy to put their name to using your product/service – highlights what you sell and how your product/service has helped them, in turn generating interest in your business and influencing sales.
Client-led content is gold dust and if you have customers who want to shout about how great your product/service is then embrace this with open arms!
Client Advocacy
Clients that want to shout about what you do are the best – they facilitate new business. Client advocacy provides a powerful marketing strategy for you to run with. Clients contribute to the decision-making process as part of the “buyer’s journey” – awareness, consideration, purchase, retention (and then advocacy…)
Any potential customer (business or consumer) on that journey who sees a testimonial, reads a case study etc or watches a video interview, connects with a like-minded person explaining how your product/service has helped them. This approach also strengthens your relationships with your current customers – the advocates – and contributes overall to customer satisfaction and retention. Win-win.
Brand Marketing
Brand marketing is paramount – it communicates what you do, why you do it and why it is important; it is an instant representation of your business. Like customer advocacy, brand marketing impacts customer decision-making and is effective in generating repeat business. It strengthens your customers’ experience of buying from you, and if you combine your content marketing and customer advocacy with brand marketing, you build on your brand identity and amplify your voice.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing takes on different forms. The channels you use offer routes to a variety of networks. By sharing relevant content and generating engagement with your followers you broaden your reach to help raise brand awareness and generate sales. Conversations in the public space create relationships which in turn generate trust.
It’s worth noting that 75% of B2B buyers use social media to research suppliers*. Social media profiles provide a second website for potential customers to review the content you’ve posted, the messaging you’re sharing and whether you’re demonstrating you’re able to solve their problems with your product/service.
I’ve seen small businesses utilise social media (and unnecessary channels) when it’s not the best approach for them – their audience isn’t there and/or the content they’re creating doesn’t align with the channels they’re using. Social media management can be time hungry and you can do yourself a disservice by not using the platforms in the right way. There’s a fine line between posting effectively as part of a structured campaign and attracting potential customers and doing it haphazardly and turning them away.
Paid Media Marketing
Paid media reflects the traditional format of marketing whereby you pay a third party to promote your content. The content is distributed to individuals and often provides an open platform to a new audience. How the content is distributed varies: email marketing, paid content/media sites, webinars, Google/LinkedIn/Meta ads etc. You focus on demographics when considering the data you use, so you hit your target audience.
While owned media (organic content) provides longevity for brand awareness, paid media offers brand association and expands your reach quickly. It’s a good example of “push marketing” where you interrupt your audience and push your messaging onto them; the opposite to pull marketing and content marketing.
Paid media can be good for creating short-term quick-win enquiries when needed but it can be expensive and zap your budget quickly; it’s not always a cost-effective route for a small business with limited marketing spend.
Partner Marketing
Partnership marketing is a great strategic approach when you want to build your networks – you can reach a different audience than your own using others’ social media channels, third-party solus emails/newsletters and as part of others’ offerings. By building strong relationships with other businesses, you amplify your voice and broaden your reach.
Influencer marketing is very similar to partner marketing but is based on performance – how well the influencer sells your product/service to their audience (a short-term quick win, similar to paid media).
Product Marketing
Product marketing communicates what the product is, but more importantly what it does and why – what problem does it solve? Integrating this message with your content marketing, and utilising your customers’ voices, builds on your brand marketing.
Implementing the right marketing strategies for your business
Knowing which marketing strategies to adopt can be tricky – there are multiple factors to consider first. Once you establish which approaches are right for your business, you can elevate your messaging and communicate effectively with your target audience by integrating the strategies into your campaigns. You then ensure your marketing makes an impact, in line with your business objectives.
Get in touch if you’d like to talk this through and find a strategic and structured approach to your marketing.
*International Data Corporation, IDC Social Business Study, February 2014