The key to small business marketing
success is mastering the fundamental strategies. In that respect, it's just
like doing anything else well. When I played basketball in junior high school,
for instance, we wanted our coach to teach us how to do fun shots and let us run
fancy offenses. Instead we did dribbling drills and practiced our free throws
over and over and over. When we protested, he explained that until we mastered
the fundamentals we couldn’t do anything more. He was right. Business is no
different.
No
matter how many different marketing tools or strategies you want to do, if you
aren’t paying attention to these marketing fundamentals, you will be wasting
your time. Maybe a few dribbling drills wouldn’t hurt...
Allocate
Resources Consistently to Marketing
Many
small businesses treat their marketing budget like discretionary spending.
Investing in marketing when things are going well and there’s a bit of extra
money available. And cutting back when things get tight. Instead of playing the
feast or famine game with your marketing, resolve to set your marketing
resources budget in the beginning of the year and keep it consistent all year.
It’s
OK to set a budget that will work in the leaner times so you’re not in over
your head. The important part is to determine an amount and commit to investing
it in marketing. Not only does this ensure you market all year, it also keeps
you from making a rash decision to add on a new marketing campaign simply
because a salesperson suggests it to you. It makes it easier to say that your
budget for the year is already allocated and you can consider it next year.
Your
marketing budget includes more than just the financial part. You need to invest
time and people-power as well. Block out time for implementation of your
marketing campaigns and figure out who is going to do it.
Choose
Your Marketing Tools Smartly
There
are hundreds of ways you can market your business. It is important to choose
marketing tools that will accomplish what you need from your marketing. First
you need to determine what your business needs: new customers or increased
business from current customers. Both are worthwhile goals and you should
probably have a marketing strategy designed to help with each of these. The key
is to match the marketing tool with what it can accomplish.
If
you need new customers, you will want to choose a marketing tactic that reaches
out to people who have not previously purchased from your business. Examples
include Facebook advertising, print marketing in targeted publications or targeted
directed mail.
If
you want to increase your revenue from current customers, you need to market to
your existing customers through marketing tools like in-store signage, email
marketing or text messaging. This kind of marketing requires capturing your
customers’ contact information so that you can easily reach out to them again
with your marketing messages.
Use
a Few Key Tools
With
the plethora of marketing tools available to you, it may feel like you need to
do all or many of them. The reality is that you can build a great business with
a few strong marketing tools that work for your business. Focus your energy and
resources on these tools and do whatever you can to make them work better and
better.
For
example, if you find that your text messaging campaign brings in customers
whenever you send out a message, then keep doing it. Put your efforts into
getting more and more customers on the list and figuring out new ideas to put
in front of them. Getting incrementally better results over time on a
successful marketing tactic is a wise investment of resources.
It
is better to do a few marketing strategies really well and be fully invested
than dabbling in several with just your proverbial toe in the water. You don’t
have to keep adding on more and more marketing campaigns if what you do is
working well for your business.
Track
Your Results
Nothing
is more frustrating than trying to make a decision without the full information
you need to do so. Once you have undertaken a marketing tool, you need to know
if it is actually working. Otherwise, how will you know if you should keep
doing it or stop and move on to something else.
Ask
your customers how they found you and keep track of their responses. Keep paper
coupons when they are redeemed so you can count them or use your POS to do it.
Then analyze this data after you have it. Calculate the revenue each marketing
tactic brings in. You may be surprised to see which of your marketing efforts
is working best.
Stick
with It
Marketing
takes time and repetition. When you do try something new give it enough time to
make sure it is or isn’t working. Don’t place one ad in a publication or do a
one-day Facebook ad campaign. Invest enough time for it to succeed. Then, once
it is working, keep doing it.
Sometimes
doing the same marketing over and over gets boring. Sending out a newsletter
consistently or working on campaigns that feel like you have done them a
million times can feel like a grind. That’s OK. If a marketing tactic is
working then your customers are not tired of it. Stick with it
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