Small Business Marketing Guide: How to Get More Business With An Advertising Strategy

Small businesses face unique problems when marketing their products and services that big brands, with their own marketing departments, never have to face. Not only do you have to manage your business, but you also have to work what feels like a second full-time job to attract new customers. If you’re already successful, but want to scale to even bigger heights, this small business marketing guide will provide the information you need to make sure your small business reaches more customers and increases revenue.

Where to Start

Congrats, you built your small business from the ground up and now it’s generating a few hundred thousand, even up to five million a year in revenue. But, how do you break the barrier and become one of those small businesses that generate even more than that? Is your ambition to turn your company into a Fortune 500? We like your style! Here at Pixl Graphx we’ve been helping companies big and small reach their goals. Let’s get started!

Before you start ramping up your small business marketing strategy, there are some important questions to answer, like “Who is my customer?” and “What does my product or service offer them?” Luckily, since you’re already generating revenue, and already have a target audience, you should know the answers to these questions, which will be a lifesaver later on when it comes time to build an advertising campaign.

If you’re ready to take it up a notch, then small business marketing is the key. Before you start investing thousands into digital campaigns and SEO, start small. Identify your customers, assess what they want/need from your product and services, then start small. Take advantage of local newspapers, radio, and, most importantly, posting content on social media – which is free.

These small investments can have a huge ROI for small businesses that don’t have the same marketing budget as large corporations.

Below we’ll list all the essentials you’ll need to get started on a small business marketing strategy.

Small Business Marketing Tools and Technology

The first thing a business owner should know is what tools are out there for them to use and master. Here are some of the small business marketing tools that should be in your small business arsenal:

Social Media Platforms: Social media is a great way to attract potential customers and buyers. Utilizing platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube can help any small business owner reach new audiences.

Since you’re already generating revenue and should have repeat customers, make sure you engage with them on social media platforms. Ask them to post about your product or services, or just to comment on how they found your business and why they chose it. Know that a lot of your customers are on their mobile devices, so make sure that all your social media posts are crafted to reach your target audience.

Another way to use social media in your digital marketing strategy is influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is when a company pays a person with a large social following to market its product on social media.

This can be costly, but we’re not talking about paying a Kardashian one million dollars. Social media marketing could be as simple as identifying a local social media influencer and asking them to try out your product or services. They may agree to work with you on a barter system. These marketing efforts can go a long way in attracting new potential customers.

Traditional Marketing: We’re not just talking digital marketing here. The real world still works as a great place to get the word out about your product or services. Use your local newspapers and mailers. Put out an ad in magazines. Even if your customers are increasingly online, we all still drive regularly. Billboards in a highly trafficked area still get thousands, even millions, of eyeballs on your product.

Offer small prizes or giveaways for people who interact with your small business in the offline world. Collaborate with a local sports team or organization. And because you already have repeat, loyal customers, don’t be afraid of asking them to spread the word through word-of-mouth marketing.

Content Marketing: Content marketing can help small businesses build trust with their target audience and potential customers, increase the visibility of their products or services, and drive traffic to their websites.

Creating content like blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, and eBooks allows small businesses to showcase their expertise and engage potential customers. Plus, using search engine optimization for every blog post on your website can help you reach an audience that would have never found you otherwise because it enhances the chances that your website comes up on search engine results.

Email Marketing & Newsletters: An email marketing strategy is essential to any digital marketing campaign. It is a great way to keep existing customers engaged while also reaching new ones. By building out automated campaigns and setting up segmentation, small businesses can ensure they are sending the right message to the right customer at the right time. Make sure you’re acquiring and saving each of your customer’s email addresses. Learning how to gather and use data is essential in a small business marketing strategy. More on that later!

And don’t just send out lazy newsletters. Get creative! Use an email marketing platform that can help you reach your goals. Add video and exclusive content to each email. Identify which customers are reacting positively by clicking on links, and make sure you make an effort to reach out to them regularly. There are a ton of ways to use email marketing, and analytics tools can help you measure your success.

Google Analytics: Data, data, data. Small businesses need to track the success of their small business marketing efforts so they can make more informed decisions. Google Analytics is the perfect tool for small businesses to track their progress and performance. All this data can then be used to analyze and customize your marketing strategy.

Also, it’s super easy and free to get started.

• Create a Google Analytics account.
• Set up the property you want to record. In this case, it’s your business website.
• Add the tracking code to your site.

After you’re all set up, it should take 24 to 48 hours to see data in your Google Analytics account.

Paid Advertising: Believe it or not, your small business can also benefit from investing in targeted paid campaigns that specifically reach your target audience. Whether it be ads on Google Adwords or sponsored content on social media, small businesses should look into small-budget paid marketing to see if it could help them reach their goals.

It doesn’t even take a whole lot of money. Paid advertising can be as low as a few dollars a day. By using all your marketing channels, that small amount of dollars add up.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO: Small businesses can benefit from SEO campaigns to boost their visibility on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Bing.

SEO is essential for any marketing plan. To get started, a small business should focus on creating keyword-rich content, optimizing titles and meta descriptions, and building external links to their websites.

CRM Platform: We’re not done talking about data! A CRM platform is essential for small businesses because it allows small business owners to track their customer’s emails, behaviors, and buying patterns. This data can then be used to create targeted marketing campaigns and better understand the needs of your small business’s customers.

These are just a few of the small business marketing tools that small businesses should be utilizing to generate new customers, build relationships with existing ones, and create marketing campaigns that will have the biggest impact.

Now that you know the tools and technology, let’s use these to develop our marketing strategy.

Know Your Audience

It’s impossible to get the most out of your small business marketing efforts without understanding your target audience.

Understanding who your small business is targeting makes it easier to create content, design campaigns, and make informed decisions about which marketing channels are best for you. It’s essential to do research on who your small business’s customers are, what their wants and needs are, and how you can best reach them.

Luckily for you, you already know your customer. You sell to them, service their health or automobile. And if you’re using all the technology tools in your marketing plan, you also have data on them. Once you have a better understanding of your small business’s customers, it’s time to start creating content and campaigns that will appeal to them. Don’t forget about optimizing for search engine results. Finally, measure the success of your small business marketing efforts so you can refine them and make sure they are reaching their desired audience.

Creating Your Advertising Campaign

Now that you know your target market, it’s time to create an effective small business advertising campaign. You’ll want to start by developing a few different creative concepts for campaigns and then decide which one to move forward with. Next, determine what platform you will advertise on. Will you use search engine marketing, social media campaigns, or sponsored content?

Once you decide on the platform and ideas for your small business advertisement campaigns, it’s time to set up a small budget to test out each of them. It doesn’t take much money to test marketing campaigns and see which strategies are helping attract customers. Even a small amount of dollars can be used to test advertising campaigns and see which ones are more successful than others.

By testing out your campaigns and marketing strategy, you’ll have the ability to make informed decisions on where to increase your budget in order to get the most out of all your marketing efforts.

What Platform is Best for Your Digital Marketing?

The platform you choose for small business advertising will depend on your target audience. If your small business is targeting a younger, tech-savvy crowd, then social media campaigns and sponsored content may be the best platforms to consider. On the other hand, if you’re targeting an older demographic that is more likely to use search engines, then SEO and search engine marketing are probably more appropriate.

No matter what platform you choose for small business advertising, it is important to remember that your content should be engaging, informative, and relevant to the audience you’re targeting. If your small business advertisement campaigns aren’t interesting or helpful, then they won’t be successful.

In House or OutSource?

As a company that already generates revenue, maybe even in the low millions, you’re in a unique position to decide whether you want your marketing strategy to be handled by a marketing professional or firm or if you want your marketing in house. In house can provide many advantages. Maybe you have the resources to hire a full-time marketing team and social media manager. Whichever route you choose, you must learn digital marketing and traditional marketing techniques yourself so that you have the knowledge to make informed decisions.

If you’d like to learn how Pixl Graphx can help you get the most out of a marketing strategy, feel free to contact us. Our team would love to help you come up with a small business marketing strategy that fits your needs.

The Bottom Line

Small business marketing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. By taking advantage of small tools and technology, small business owners can craft effective small business marketing strategies that help them gain visibility, reach new customers, and grow their businesses.

Contact us to get started on small business marketing today!