Marketing remains essential for businesses in order to successfully compete, sell products/services and become profitable and grow. Following are effective marketing best practices.
Set Attainable Goals
- Determine your position in the market and decide what you want to achieve.
- Keep your goals realistic, making them something you will be able to accomplish.
Establish Brand Identity and Target Market
- Brand Identity: Communicate what your business does with the right name, logo, colors, imagery.
- Target Market: Consider the age, gender, interests, location, etc. of your target customer.
Maintain a Website
- Nearly two-thirds of small businesses rely on websites to connect with customers.
- In this digital era, websites are the window to virtually any type of business.
Combine Online and Offline Strategies
- Combine online channels such as blogs, social media, etc., with offline marketing practices.
- Be mindful of SEO (Search Engine Optimization¹): incorporate relevant keywords into websites/online portals to rank higher on search engines.
Use Google Tools
- List your product/service on Google My Business² to gain search visibility, customer insights and display useful information to help customers find you.
- Prepare for a Google Ad Words³ campaign by setting a budget, finding the right keywords and creating landing pages that bear significance.
Don’t Discount Email Marketing
- Every new subscriber to your email list is a potential paying customer.
- Sixty-six percent of emails are opened on mobile devices; use mobile responsive templates that automatically adapt emails to mobile formats.
Prioritize Content Marketing
- Eighteen percent of marketers said content marketing had the greatest impact on their business.
- Create and share quality, unique content through webinars, blogs, social media posts, etc.
Join Local Business Groups / Solicit Customer Reviews
- Network and showcase your business and meet like-minded people to share stories/goals by joining local groups.
- Ask your customers for a review: feedback is a powerful tool for small business owners;
“The key to setting achievable marketing goals is to spend time evaluating your current position.” — Shanelle Mullin, Director of Marketing-Onboardly
¹SEO: methods used to increase traffic to a website by increasing its search engine page rank (techopedia.com).
²Google My Business: a tool to manage your online presence across Google.
³Google Ads: an online advertising program (support.google.com).
Source: smallbiztrends.com, reported by Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead