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Marketing isn’t about being the most clever, it’s about being the most consistent.

Did you know “50% of small businesses fail within 5 years”? As small business owners, it’s important to maximize your marketing dollars in order to run a profitable, long lasting business. Do you have a plan? Who is buying your product or service? How can you close more deals quicker? How do you know what works? Where do you start? Here are the top 5 recommendations for small businesses…

1) Define Your Target Market
2) Create a Marketing Plan
3) Strengthen Your Brand
4) Invest in Content Development
5) Maximize Digital Opportunities

 

Define Your Target Market

In order to maximize your marketing dollars, it is important to focus on your target market. Knowing who your customer is, specifically their demographics (location, age, gender, etc) and their psychographics (interests, beliefs, etc), will help you eliminate waste and concentrate your marketing efforts. Clear out the clutter and focus your energy on those who will actually become customers. Tailor marketing messages to peak their interests in order to close deals and drive sales.

Create a Marketing Plan

There usually is no shortage of marketing ideas, everyone seems to have one. What they don’t have is a plan to accomplish these projects consistently and in a timely fashion. Think about the year as a whole, set a budget, and make a plan. As a small business owner, you need to be honest with yourself! How much time, energy, and money do you realistically have to spend on marketing? Over committing and under delivering is a common theme, project management is the key. A marketing plan does not need to be over complicated, especially for small marketing budgets. For example, create a content calendar, commit to a monthly blog, send a monthly email newsletter, do a weekly social boosted post. It can be that simple! Just make sure you follow through.

Strengthen Your Brand

“Why is branding important? Branding can change how people perceive your product or service, it can drive new business, and increase brand value – but it can also do the opposite if done wrongly or not at all.” Your brand does not need to be fancy, focus on clean, simple and repeatable. Is your logo clear and correctly sized? Are your fonts and colors the same across all marketing pieces? Do you have a similar message pattern across all elements? Clearly and consistently communicating your brand over a long period of time will ultimately create trust, drive sales and establish long term business value.

Invest in Content Development

Investing in your website and continued content development is one of the most important marketing elements in this digital age. Think about what you do when you want to find or know something. Do you “Google it”? More than likely the answer is yes. So how does your business become the top searched website for your product or service? The simple answer is content. What helpful information is your target market looking for? What keyword or phrases are they searching? Create content that answers those questions. The easiest way to do this is through routine and consistent blogging (like this one!). There are all sorts of statistics and algorithms running in the background of search engines, but if you, as a small business owner, focus on simply adding valuable content over a long period of time, you will succeed in driving traffic to your website while educating your target market in the process.

Maximize Digital Opportunities

Digital marketing is one of the easiest ways for small businesses to maximize every marketing dollar. Digital elements such as your website, email newsletters, social media campaigns, website listings, adwords, etc. all offer small business owners opportunities to reach large audiences for very little investment and in some cases are completely free. These marketing options also offer analytics that help track whether your campaigns are effective, if you need to tweak your message or if you’re targeting the right audience. The downside to digital is competition and clutter. With so many other businesses trying to get your target market’s attention, you’ll need to focus your efforts on quality and quantity. Provide valuable information, routinely and timely in order to gain their attention.

Keep in mind, marketing isn’t about being the most clever, it’s about being the most consistent. Following these 5 recommendations is a great place to start maximizing those marketing dollars. Have questions? Schedule a consultation to learn more about our business coaching and advisory services. Or contact us with any questions you have.

Want to learn more?

Here are a few more resources to answer your marketing questions…
Make the Most of Your Small Business Marketing Budget in 2021 – lyfemarketing.com
Five Ways To Optimize Your Digital Marketing Strategy – forbes.com
7 Guerrilla Marketing Tactics That Will Grow Your Business When Money Gets Tight – entrepreneur.com
What Is Branding and Why Is It Important for Your Business? – brandingmag.com

 

Blog by Erika McCloud – Communications Director

Learn more about Erika and the rest of the Storen Financial team here.