9 Small Business Strategies that actually work in 2022
Avoid the pitfalls of small business marketing and achieve long-term goals by choosing the right strategies. Whether you’re a small business startup or an established company, you know that marketing can be tough. It seems like everyone is competing for attention, and it's hard to stand out from the crowd.
Here is a list of tried and tested strategies that gain results.
- Know how to target your audience
The main goal of marketing is to convey the right message to the right people. And to do that right, you need to learn how to reach your target audience effectively.
If you market your product to the wrong set of people, you’ll end up wasting your time and money. You need to figure out a way to reach your target audience to market your products. Here are the steps you need to take to reach your target audience more effectively.
- Define your target audience
- Research your competition
- Use demographic data
- Segment your audience
- Leverage email marketing
Everyone uses email. As other digital marketing strategies have evolved, is email marketing still important?
Yes. Creating a strong email marketing strategy helps you reach and connect with your target audience in a personalized way and increase sales at an affordable cost. Just as other platforms and media have changed, email marketing tools give your business the ability to reach customers easier than ever.
Email Marketing has come a long way. No longer is a monthly “newsletter” the only way to use email marketing. Today advanced automations and triggers allow us to tailor messaging to our target market based on actions such as opening and click throughs - the results? A high conversion rate which equals sales into the business via a warmed audience of customers.
2. Partner with influencers to build awareness
You can't afford to overlook the power of influencers. Sure they have been given a bad rap in the media but not all Influencers are created equal. Influencer marketing is a strategy that businesses use to promote their products and services by partnering with popular social media users or bloggers.
The key to working and engaging Influencers is not to measure their return on sales - shocking I know! Having implemented over 500K of Influencer details for brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Westfield I do know a thing or two about delivering ROI. ROI when working with Influencers should be measured via
- Increase website site traffic
- More Profile Views
- More brand awareness and eyes on your brand
- Create great content that you can repurpose and use
As a bi product if you get sales brilliant but know it’s not the primary purpose of the Influencer to be a “sales person” their objective is to use their Influence to let people know about your product or service and drive them to your website & socials. It is your job to convert that lead into a sale.
- Stay Active on Social Media.
Get your brand out there, where people hang out all the time on social media! Here is my list of social media goals for 2022 and beyond.
- Increase brand awareness.
- Generate leads and sales.
- Grow your brand’s audience.
- Boost community engagement.
- Drive traffic to your site.
With the changes on Instagram allow me to suggest you explore other social networks if you are not already for your business like TikTok, Pinterest and Twitter. With a more relaxed, less strategic algorithm these three platforms allow you a greater chance right now of growing your brand awareness and attracting a new audience.
- Use marketing automation
Marketing automation uses software to automate monotonous marketing work. Marketing departments can automate repetitive tasks such as email marketing, social media posting, and even ad campaigns - not just for the sake of efficiency, but also to provide a more personalized experience for their customers.
Sending out surveys to gain feedback on products, services, updates and follow-ups is another excellent marketing automation example. These are typically sent out after triggers, such as purchases, subscription and the like.
- Invest in search engine optimization (SEO)
Should I invest in search engine optimization (SEO)? Does SEO offer real value? Is SEO really an important factor in business growth? Well, you have to read more…
Here is the list of amazing benefits of SEO to small businesses.
- SEO Provides 24/7 Promotion
- SEO is Key to Search Visibility
- SEO is a Long-Term Marketing Strategy
- SEO Targets the Entire Marketing Funnel
- SEO Improves Credibility & Trust
- SEO Increases Organic Discovery & High-Quality Website Traffic
- SEO Offers Impressive ROI
In conclusion, having a strong marketing strategy requires more than adjusting your priorities year after year. You have to be constantly on the lookout for technologies and opportunities to stand out from the crowd.
- Harness the power of an Events
Event marketing generates business. It helps build brand awareness and fantastic PR. Events can be as small as a free picnic in the park for customers & suppliers to a full scale cocktail event or event day.
Events bring people together, they build community and culture around your brand plus provide opportunities in many forms.
8. Gain PR & Authority
Public relations is about sharing the right information to the right people, to build the business reputation and relationship. PR comes in many forms including media features, speaking engagements, activations, sponsoring a sporting club or charity. Not only do these activities increase brand awareness they also lead on to authority for you and your business. Other PR ideas include self publishing a book plus sharing case studies, testimonials and names of businesses you already have worked with.
- Develop a Personal Brand.
Personal branding is a growing strategy in today's economy as businesses move to stand out more against their competition. People trust people, there is not a truer word spoken. We are looking for someone we can relate to and recommend. Having a personal brand increases your perceived value. When you have a name recognized in the media and your industry, people will start considering you as an expert.
Nikki Milne www.nikkimilne.com
