Simple Marketing Ideas for Small Business Owners
Given that 74% of consumers rely on social media to steer their purchasing decisions, it’s easy to observe that if a company, or in this case, a small business, wants to get sales – that’s where they need to be.
To give this bit of data more context, it’s important to note that 41% of small businesses consider social media their main income generator.
What if you’re a web design agency in Miami that provides that special attention to detail people want yet are unable to find? Well then, maybe it’s a good idea to help raise that 41 percent stat to at least 42.
Keep reading.
We’ll outline some important points and perspectives on how small businesses can ensure steady customer streams.
First things first
What might help generate revenue as a first step is for a business to present itself on a broad scale.
Do you know a specific method for removing oxidation from expensive copper drain pipes that you learned while drinking vodka in the cold with a newly acquainted Polish man?
Well, maybe people need to know just how special your deoxidation method is and just how well you can freshen up these functional ornaments of their home. Letting them know you learned the rare method abroad? Now that is a selling point. Just don’t let them in on the details.
We’re talking about what’s is USP. Your very own Unique Selling Proposition. Angles that make your business look unique, and with that, prestigious, whatever your field of work may be. People love novelty, and playing that card can really help you.
Even if you haven’t gone to exotic destinations to warm yourself with fiery water, try reaching out not only to the pockets of your future customers but their hearts as well by giving them a unique insight into yourself and your business, which they’ll dearly accept, and love telling their friends.
This guides us to the point that comes naturally after this conclusion, but you’ll need to wait a bit before we get to it. We want to be thorough and leave no stone unturned.
You need to pitch before it goes out of the park
What we spoke about relates to your business and its perception among buyers. And that’ll be of use.
But we want to expand and talk about your business’s biggest advocate. Well, who might that be? If only someone knew the ins and outs of your business, willing to go above and beyond to highlight them. That someone is you.
Elevator pitches are seldom mentioned as being an important presentation skill. But, in case you were living under a rock, the idea is simple.
Provide complete and true information about yourself or your business.
As there are nuances to this being done right, you might want to look at LinkedIn’s Guide to Creating The Perfect Elevator Pitch. Countless professionals mastered this, and taking the time and effort to do so, should give you extra confidence when enlightening someone about your business.
Aim to be spoken of highly
This brings us to that immensely important point that we mentioned above: people speaking about your business.
It’s well known that word of mouth is, since the invention of language and consequently, free trade, the best driver of new customers. However, even with your product or service being staggering in quality, sometimes a kickstart is necessary. And you might need to rely on someone for this.
Where better to start than with friends and family? Did you know start-ups that received funding from friends and family are much more likely to receive funding from investment funds? The reason behind this is simple, and you’ll understand it rapidly.
Having support from these two groups of people close to you signifies that you’re a trustworthy person with a good reputation.
Most importantly, it shows that you’ve come up with a concept that can be pitched to people with whom you might not have that much in common, apart from the fact that you’ve got each other in your lives, of course.
For similar reasons, your closest ones sharing the good things they know about your business to people aware of it already, who might have sidetracked it in their minds, is great. And people who are just about to find out about it, they’ll love hearing a mouthful of praise from someone who knows the gist of what you do.
Become recognizable and well known
Well, that certainly sounds vague. One could even imagine it’s the biggest wish of every high school teenager with a mind jacked up on superficial values spread by the most recognizable and known people they look up to.
The aim is to provide you with a better sense of how important it is for your business to become a brand.
This process is relatively slow and has a glut of different aspects, yet, you can collect the rewards for years to come.
Once this is accomplished, though, you’re developing brand loyalty, earning praise, and with that, the best advert possible – your product being out there or your excellent service being showcased and talked about in detail.
If something says “brand” more than anything else, that’s the business’s logo.
Help people remember your business by providing them with constant glances at your company’s logo.
Also Read: 7 Tricks To Make Your Small Business Large
Approaching your offices? A flag with your logo.
Walking through your front door? A logo on it.
Front desk? A logo on the wall behind it.
You get the picture.
Still, keep the logo in circulation in differing ways—watermarks on pictures for social media, business cards, envelopes with it. Anything you can think of, as long as it’s not spam.
Maybe see if there are experts, for example, among the web design agencies in Houston, of all places, that can help you with this.
Social media is your friend
This is a great opportunity to reflect on the statistics mentioned at the top of this article.
41% is a good minority when the division of social media use is made. Even with the chance of businesses that are not on such a wide stage actually being more profitable, one can strongly doubt that there is no benefit to be gained from new people knowing about your business.
You might never know. Some people on social media might have been planning to involve their money with a business that has what you’re offering. Others, well, might not even know they needed what you’re selling, and boy, they might be happy to know.
Whichever social media platform hosts your targeted audience, research it, take a deep look into how its ad distribution works, and plan your content strategy.
You might even find that overwhelming. And that’s OK. Hiring a social media marketing agency doesn’t have to break the bank, so considering it can be a tremendous time-saver. It’ll give results much quicker, and you might get a great insight into how things operate in that domain.
Speak to people
Well, to people leaving you comments and reviews, that is.
With all that social media traffic you’re establishing, be sure that there will be people who’ll give you a piece of their mind about their experience with you.
Those, obviously, can go both ways.
You’ll be receiving praise about anything and everything, and that’s going to feel good, as it should. Positive comments are opportunities to see your biggest strengths and determine how you can use them when crafting future strategies (the business kind, not the social media kind only.)
Make sure to thank your reviewers authentically. Take a moment to personalize the response without overdoing it. After a meaningful interaction, users will feel closer to your brand, thankful.
But hey, where there’s a yin, there’s a yang.
You might be getting some serious critique as well. And that can come hard on you.
Boy, if your day was long, the rain started, and you didn’t have an umbrella, a car hit your dog (Ol’ Yella luckily survived), and you came home to someone bashing your hand-made casserole? Well, that’s going to be tense, to say the least.
Speak more to people
Be that as it may, take a bit of time to breathe, relax, and think about what they wrote. Not how they wrote it, but what they wrote. Maybe that cheese really should have been more melted. Maybe that chili really should have been spicier.
Check for feedback with your colleagues and employees, experiment towards improvement. If you can do that, you’ve just made a negative critique have a positive outcome, and that hater helped you to prevent anyone else from experiencing something they might not like about your business.
In case their flaming (that’s what the kids call it these days) was unjustified, then there’s no actual reason to let it swing your mood, and you can let them know your true thoughts about what was mentioned in a pleasant yet witty way.
The internet loves witty comments and witty responses to comments even more. Not that the chances of that are great, but your response might even go viral. If it does, oh man, you better staff up.
Final thoughts
As you see, it’s a matter of getting your business out there. Having the business with you all the time is going to help, but other strategies and tactics are immensely contributive to smaller businesses thriving.
Keep your reputation strong, get referred by people close to you, make your brand recognizable.
Advertise on social media, and interact with your customers. It’s not that hard.
Do it. You know you’re able to.
Author bio
Travis Dillard is a business consultant and an organizational psychologist based in Arlington, Texas. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for Finddigitalagency.
