Marketing plays no small part in the success of your small business but it can feel like a bit of a mindfield at times, particularly if you’re new to the world of entrepreneurship. We’ve put together a list of six powerful marketing tips to help you attract new customers and help your business hit new heights.
1) Get Super Specific
If you try to speak to everyone with your marketing, you’ll be heard by precisely no-one. Before you create a marketing campaign, you need to get super specific on the niche you want to target. The clearer you are on your ideal customer, the more precisely you will be able to appeal to their wants, fears and pain points.
2) Create a Powerful Value Proposition
How is your business going to deliver value to your ideal customer?
Your value proposition is your promise. It’s what sets you apart from your competitors. This is an integral part of your marketing strategy, as it forms the bedrock of your message, so you need to get super clear on this before you go any further. You can’t build a solid house on a shaky foundation!
3) Split Test Your Marketing
Once you have built a large enough lead database, you can begin to split-test your marketing materials to see what works best.
Let’s use the example of email marketing. You could create three different versions of a newsletter and split your audience alphabetically from A-H, I-Q and R-Z.
Then you can see which titles get the best open rates, which links receive the most clicks and which content really drives action.
4) Localised Marketing
The covid-19 pandemic saw a huge surge in support for local businesses, so now is a good time to establish yourself as a pillar of the community. Appeal to local customers by listing your business in online directories, getting involved in or sponsoring community events and even offering discounts or special deals.
5) Face-to-Face Networking
There’s no denying the power of digital marketing but face-to-face networking will never totally be replaced, even if the pandemic did put it on hold for a while. The best way to build relationships will always be in person, so you should endeavour to show up at local networking events, attend trade shows, or get on stage and speak at conferences.
6) Direct Mail
In a similar vein, direct mail should not be forgotten about, either. Many small businesses overlook direct mail in favour of its email equivalent, but this style of marketing is far from dead.
Research by the United States Postal Service (USPS) found that the average household receives 454 pieces of marketing mail each year. USPS also found that recipients of direct mail from a company spent an average of 28% more than those who didn’t.
Of course, the efficacy of direct mail somewhat depends on your target audience. The Data & Marketing Association found that direct mail marketing was most likely to elicit a response from consumers aged 45-54. If you are targeting a decidedly younger demographic, then you may be better off investing more of your marketing budget in social media platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok.
Summary
Precision is the key to effective marketing. In order to create a strategy that works well for your business, you need to be crystal clear on your ideal audience and value proposition. You should also split test your marketing in order to maximise results. Meanwhile, strategies like local marketing, face-to-face networking and direct mail can prove very effective for small businesses when done correctly. With sufficient forethought and consistency, the above marketing tips could prove to be total game-changers for your small business.