Do you run your own business? Do you find it difficult to find time to work on and implement a marketing strategy on top of doing everything else you need to as the owner of a small business? You have many different options for improving your marketing strategy; even a few simple changes can go a long way. It can feel overwhelming as you dive into marketing your business, but it doesn’t have to be hard. Starting small, especially if you don’t have any marketing experience, will still benefit your business.
Review your online reputation
The first step you’ll want to take is set aside some time to sit down and review your online reputation. You can learn more about the importance of your online reputation and how to get a handle on it in my previous blog posts, so I won’t go into great detail here. While those blog posts focus on the personal aspect of an online reputation, you can apply the same methods to the online reputation of your business. If you’re a small business owner, your personal online reputation is important as well and can influence how your business is viewed by your local community. Find ways to improve anything if necessary before you begin crafting a more traditional marketing plan for your business.
Clarify your brand identity
In order to have effective marketing, your messaging needs to be clear. A big part of your messaging will revolve around your brand identity, especially if you’re a newer business or are not particularly well-known. Maybe you’re trying to change the perception or demographics of your business, which means your messaging must reflect this goal. Once you have a clear idea of your brand identity, you can incorporate it into your messaging and marketing. You’ll want to have a set logo, color palette, and style you use for your website and social profiles. The quality of any posts and photos you share needs to be consistent and in-line with your brand identity. Are you focusing on a younger generation? Are you a place for families? Do you want to incorporate humor into your marketing efforts? These are just a few examples of questions to ask yourself before you develop a marketing strategy.
Utilize social media
Social media is a great free marketing tool that can do a lot for your small business. If you don’t already have them, set up social media profiles. A Facebook page and an Instagram account are must-haves. Depending on your business, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn can also be good options for your business. There are over 226 million Facebook users and over 120 million Instagram users in the United States. People of all ages, locations, and professions use these platforms. Even simply having your basic business information on these profiles can be beneficial. Keep your profiles up-to-date with business hours, relevant links, and news about current events or specials.
Refresh your website
If you don’t have a website for your business, it’s time to get one. You can use third party websites like Wix or Weebly to create a free website, or purchase your own domain and build it yourself. Website builders like WordPress and Squarespace are often relatively easy to use. You can hire someone to do any part of this process for you or even to teach you how to manage the website. If you do already have a website, make sure it’s up-to-date, easy for customers to use, and contains important information. It’s up to you how extensive you want your website to be, whether it’s just for listing basic business information, for selling product online, or for running a blog or community related to your business.
Make a plan
While it would be beneficial, you don’t have to make an extremely detailed yearlong plan for your marketing. You can go a month at a time, have just a general idea of your marketing timeline, or even make a detailed weekly plan. You can say you’re going to post on social media more often and work harder on your marketing strategy, but without an actual plan and schedule, it’ll be easy to let it fall to the wayside, especially when you’re focused on running all the other aspects of your business.
Stay consistent
Now that the more tedious, front-loaded work is out of the way, you can easily maintain a successful marketing strategy for your small business with consistency! Whether you’re managing the marketing for your business, you have someone on staff who takes care of it, an agency handles it for you, or a combination of these, consistency is key. Figure out what posting and maintenance schedule is the best for your brand and business and then keep that up.
If you need help in any of these areas or are looking for someone to manage aspects of your small business brand and marketing for you, feel free to reach out to me at julianarknight@gmail.com.