Top Ten Online Marketing Tips for Small Business

There’s so much more that goes into running a small business than a new owner may expect. Between building a brand, finalising all your product details, and acquiring a team of staff members, you’re often handling many things at once.

One thing you can’t forget to focus on, though, is your marketing strategy. No matter how amazing of a small business idea you have, you can’t succeed without effectively reaching your audience.

Marketing might sound as simple as running a few ads, but it’s actually pretty complex. There are many ways to get your name out there and generate sales.

The trick is to find the best marketing solutions for your small business needs.

The following are the top ten marketing tips for small business campaigns to help you do just that.

1. Put Some Effort Into Your Website

Whether you’re opening a brick and mortar shop or running a fully-digital operation, you need an outstanding website. This is going to become a cornerstone of your marketing campaign.

As such, make sure to give your website the effort it deserves. Build out your landing pages to have custom URLs. Make sure everything loads in three seconds or less and that your website is mobile-friendly, too.

The best approach to do this is to build one responsive site, rather than a desktop version and a mobile version. This way, all your digital marketing efforts will drive traffic to one place.

2. Invest in Graphic Design and Copywriting Services

Building a responsive website is an essential part of back-end design.

But, you need the right front-end design to support it, which comes down to graphic design and copywriting. You’ll need to invest in a professional photography for images of your products, location and staff, too.

Such tools present the information your audience is looking for in a fun, engaging manner. Creative graphics, copy, and photos are what will guide users to various pages on your website. These elements keep them engaged and move people through the buying cycle.

3. Develop a Search Strategy

After you’ve created a stellar website for your small business, you’ve still got work to do. The next step is to develop a digital search strategy to help you gain traffic.

There are many marketing tips for small business owners to succeed at search. Some of the most noteworthy ones are:

Do your keyword research
Watch what your competitors are doing online
Make sure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) citations are consistent
Start a blog or email campaign to connect with users
Keep publishing a constant flow of new content

In addition to these efforts, take some time to find specific, targeted opportunities for your search campaign. Also, be sure you’re up to date on Google’s algorithm changes and valuable search updates.

4. Partner with Influencers

To take your search strategy one step further, work with other people. Consider your market and target audience and what other services may align with these things.

If you’re a healthy foods shop, for example, a well-known fitness account or recipe blog may create some great search opportunities. These are people who already have a large internet following, which you can leverage for your site by working together.

You can also choose to work with affiliate marketers, who are a little different from influencers but still offer great results.

5. Be Social

While you’re discovering different ways to build your business’ online presence, don’t forget about social media. Channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube can have a profound effect on the success of your marketing campaign.

Open an account on each major social media platform and come up with a content calendar. This is your schedule of posts for every week of the month. In fact, some business owners plan their posts out even further in advance.

Such a planning strategy allows you to stay relevant within your industry. But, posting all the time is only part of the social media puzzle.

You have to keep the conversation going via likes, shares, comments, and tags. Respond to users who interact with you in these ways as much as you can. Make it a point to go live or share something spontaneous from time to time, too.

6. Focus on Local Opportunities

As you’re putting all the pieces of your digital campaign together, make use of your local opportunities. This is a key element of marketing for a small business.

When you only have one brick and mortar location, you have to maximise your audience reach within that area. That’s what local search is all about. It connects you to potential users who are nearby in an effective, engaging manner.

7. Learn to Make the Most of Your Content

Perhaps the best thing about any sort of digital marketing is the opportunity to recycle content. This allows you to get the most out of all the efforts you put into the creative process.

Recycling content looks something like:

Using an old blog post for a tweet or Facebook ad
Turning an email update into a blog post
Promoting organic user-generated content on your site/social channels

These strategies take content that you’ve already used and turn it into something new and exciting all over again. The art of recycling is not a tool to rely on, but it does come in handy when you need to fill your content marketing calendar.

8. Don’t Forget About Print Resources

One of the least common marketing tips for small business owners is the use of print marketing. Just because digital marketing is blowing up doesn’t mean print is dead.

In fact, things like local billboards, brochures, posters, and even leaflets can still drive a significant amount of customers to your door. Don’t spend all of your marketing budget on this, but definitely add it to your strategy.

9. Promote, Promote, Promote

There are traditional forms of print media, then there are promotional items. These are handouts – like lanyards, stickers, stationery items, branded USB sticks, etc – that create fun, memorable interactions with your audience.

Promotional items are great to have on-hand for the grand opening of your small business. They also work well when attending trade shows and conferences.

10. Keep Your Budget in Mind

Whatever kind of marketing tips for small business ideas you choose to act on, always keep one thing in mind: how much money you can spend.

There’s no sense in coming up with an extravagant marketing strategy if you don’t have the funds to follow through with it. Prioritise your spending to make sure you get the reach you need at the price you want.

You may have to start small and expand your efforts later. But, you’ve got to get your marketing campaign going at some point!

Get Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners from the Experts

Interested in the marketing tips above, but not sure how to act on them? That’s where DMD come in.

Our team of design and marketing professionals can help you turn your marketing ideas into effective action. From web design and copywriting to search campaigns and blogging, we do it all.