The beginning of a new year is a great period for implementing new approaches in business. This start to a new decade offers small businesses the chance to tweak their marketing approach to yield more sales. This article provides nine effective marketing strategies that you, as a small business owner, can adopt in this new year.
- Be active on social media platforms
Eighteen million Australians are active in the use of social media platforms. This is about 75% of the Australian population. It easily translates to mean that the majority of your target audience are regular users of social media.
You can connect to this large number of potential customers by opening accounts on these various platforms. Stopping at opening an account will yield no new leads, there must be constant activity from your account. The continuous updates will seamlessly create brand awareness for your business. Then, prospective customers can engage with your brand directly.
- Make relationships not customers
Humans are social beings whose relationships influence their decision-making processes. Do not engage potential customers with business-only conversations. Be more friendly with them. A person treated like a friend is more likely to patronize a business than one treated solely as a customer.
You can build a lasting connection with a prospective customer first by using his/her name in conversations. You can also try going above and beyond the usual business limits in responding to your prospective customers. Appreciating a potential customer for contacting you is another way to convert them into buying customers.
- Make a killer website
A killer website will increase your business’ brand awareness. It will provide prospective customers with a lot of positive information about your business. It will also ensure that your potential customers find you easy to reach. A website with fine-tuned features will also improve your reputation.
Making your website a killer one can be done by uploading more appealing images. You should also provide useful information on topics relevant to prospective customers. Don’t forget to integrate the proper AdWords management into your website. This will increase traffic to your website and drive your revenue higher.
- Email marketing
Email marketing offers an excellent opportunity for small businesses to effectively run marketing campaigns at a small cost. There is the added advantage of creating specific messages for specific persons who satisfy certain criteria. It also grants you the privilege to send enticing media that will make prospective customers click on your website’s link faster.
Since most email marketing service providers have analytical features, you can track your emails. The tracking will help you to identify the subscribers who clicked on your link. It will also help you identify the subscribers that did not click on the link. This tracking will facilitate the tailoring of mails to the specific subscribers.
- Engage employees in marketing
Directly involving your employees in the marketing of your products or services will reap benefits for your business in the long run. For one, it will increase their commitment levels because their actions have a direct effect on revenue. This strategy also ensures that the persons with the most knowledge of the products are the ones doing the marketing.
You can implement this strategy by giving incentives and commissions to employees based on several paying customers referred. It can also be based on leads gotten. The extra incentives will motivate your employees to deliver more.
- Engaging the general public in marketing
This strategy involves using the general public, including prospective customers, in marketing your products or services. Your online presence will be magnified by the increased engagement this strategy will deliver. Enhanced customer loyalty will also ensue from this strategy.
Making coupons, commissions, and discounts available through referrals is the method for implementing this strategy. Prospective customers will be more willing to patronize you because they also see a benefit in it for them.
- Be unique
Being different in a competitive space cannot be over-emphasized. A different method of packaging a product may be the differentiating element between your business and your competitors. Being inventive with your delivery method can also make a difference.
As a small business owner, you should be on top of your game in ensuring that you have a unique selling point. Do what your competitors have not done, do not copy them.
- Push a time-sensitive event
The dread of not taking advantage of a discount deal before the expiration of the offer is one inherent in most humans. Black Friday sales are always massive because of the time limit attached to the expiry of the deal.
Your business can have its time-sensitive sale where products are offered at a discount for a specified length of time. It may also be a time-sensitive offer of free information on your website.
- Build a proper marketing plan
Before you start implementing the above strategies, fulfill the strategy of making a good plan. Research your target audience and their habits. Understand why you are choosing a particular strategy. Create the goals of your marketing plan. Consider the persons that will be involved in the plan. Stick mainly to your plan and modify it as the occasion demands.
In conclusion
In a competitive industry, a business requires a constant update of strategies to keep revenue up. No business grows by repeating the same technique; there is a constant need for modification. Businesses that stick to their old ways do not seek growth.
