When you’re first starting a small business, marketing your organization can be a real challenge. Especially in our information-rich age, small business owners can feel overwhelmed with marketing opportunities. Should you pay for local business marketing by placing an ad in the newspaper? Or would it be more effective to choose an Internet marketing strategy, such as paying for pay-per-click Google Ads? Or how about the other gazillion marketing ideas that float across your desk every day?
In our experience, successful small business marketing is less about finding marketing prospects, and more about focusing on the rare niche or local business marketing opportunities that will fulfill your goals and bring you the highest ROI.
The techniques listed below will help bring focus to your small business marketing campaign.
1. Define your ideal client.
If you don’t know where you’re going, then it doesn’t matter which way you go. Without specific goals for your marketing efforts, you will have no way to measure progress. The first step in outlining your small business marketing needs should be brainstorming what your ideal client looks like.
If you’re a B2B company, what size of firm is optimal for your product? What is the smallest amount clients must be willing to spend on your services? Think of this as a profile; include the typical age, gender, lifestyle, number of employees and even emotional state of your model clients. Figure out exactly what kind of client you want to attract before embarking on any new marketing ventures.
2. Describe your ideal client to your network.
If you’re like most small business owners, local business marketing often begins with your Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking accounts. Start telling people what you are looking for, and be extremely specific. Most of us are too busy to spend time responding to vague calls for help. Instead, describe your ideal client, and emphasize the problem that you can help solve.
For instance, you might write that your clients often approach you because they are frustrated about growing their business. Details are key here. The more specific you can be, the easier it will be for your contacts to chime in with leads.
3. Use your ideal client profile to guide marketing choices.
Your ideal client profile will also come in handy for defining which opportunities are best for your business. For instance, if you’re thinking about buying a list of business contacts, your ideal client profile can help you narrow down on a niche group that will be more likely to be attracted to your services.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals.
Each of your clients probably knows of at least one other person who would benefit from your services or products. Referrals are an extremely cost-efficient form of local business marketing, and research has shown that customers who come to a company through referrals are more forgiving of service failures and more likely to be highly engaged with a brand.
5. Up-sell and cross-sell to make more while working less.
As small business marketing guru Alan Weiss emphasizes, you can dramatically increase your profits by selling more services and products to your current clients. Chances are that many of your clients will find your other offerings useful.
6. Revisit past clients.
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but in this age of extreme data saturation, most of us would say that absence makes the heart forget. Stay visible by regularly contacting past clients to remind them that you are available. If they don’t have a need for your services, they may be able to recommend potential clients.
[ photo by: MoneyBlogNewz ]
These technique’s are extremely helpful for small marketing firms. I especially like number 4 because it seems that most small businesses shy away from it when it is indeed needed.
I think most people skip over #1. If you don’t know your ideal client and target them then you are typically wasting your time and money. Great article.