Marketing your small business comes with its challenges. The belief that marketing is too expensive and making time for it takes away from your ability to run the day to day operations can all be good excuses to not do marketing. However, this very belief can also do your small business a huge disservice and here are a few reasons why:
- You miss out on 100% of the opportunities you don’t take when it comes to putting your company in front of your target customers.
- You miss out on the ability to expand your market reach and market share. Instead, you give it all to your competitors.
- You miss out on being found when online searches take place. More specifically, did you know that 80% of online queries result in an in-store visit or purchase?
In this blog post, we’ll explore 5 easy ways to market your small business online today…
1) Make it easy to get in touch
Have your phone number, email and a contact form easily viewable and findable on your website. The key to successfully leveraging your website to generate new sales and leads is to ensure that people don’t have to go on a scavenger hunt to contact you.
2) Update your Google Local Business
Ensuring that your Google Local Business listing is up-to-date is important to understanding the following:
- Stay on top of reviews. As a small business owner, being the first to know when people are talking about your business is key to being a part of their conversations and also responsive to any major complaints. (Note: Nearly 70% of people say positive reviews make them trust a local business more).
- Gain more insights on how customers are interacting with your business, how they found you and where they are coming from.
- Clicks and calls. Easily track the number of clicks on your business’s phone number, driving direction requests and site visits you receive.
3) Implement local SEO tactics
Do you only provide your services or have stores located in certain locations? Make sure you take advantage of local SEO tactics by specifically highlighting the areas you are in. Here’s an example to give you reference:
4) Email marketing is not dead
Nurture existing customer relationships with email newsletters that provide them with company updates and promotions. Doing so will ensure that you maintain loyalty and gain repeat sales. More specifically, pay attention to the following email marketing stats:
- Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. (Source: McKinsey)
- Email marketing has ROI of 3800%. (Source: DMA)
- For every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI. (Source: Campaign Monitor)
5) Blog about relevant topics
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – the only thing blogging costs you is: your time. Make time to write about topics that you know your target customers are interested in learning more about. Doing so, positions you as an authority within your niche and will help build trust. For starters, make sure you consistently plan out your blogging calendar and update it anywhere between 2-4 times per month.
Final Thoughts
Align your marketing efforts with your sales goals. Prioritize campaigns and programs that will work well together to help elevate your brand, while also growing revenue. Don’t be afraid to take risks especially when it comes to digital marketing because you will be able to collect data much quicker than traditional marketing routes. In other words, you can quickly pivot and make improvements along the way without needing a large budget.
Have more ideas to add? Share them with me in the comments section below.
