User Review
( votes)In an oversaturated market like the one we’re facing today, it’s tough for a small business to set itself apart from all the competitors offering similar services and products.
A well-planned and thorough marketing strategy can help you establish a unique position for your business on the market in a way that will ensure growth.
Below you will find several essential marketing ideas for kickstarting the growth of your small business in 2020.
1. Go Pro!
No matter how great your products or services are, unless the right people hear the right message at the right moment, your odds for success in this over-competitive market are almost nonexistent.
You might have already realized this and formed a dedicated marketing team that successfully creates and handles your campaigns.
If your marketing campaigns are still handled by yourself or enthusiasts on your team who don’t have any knowledge in marketing, plan new positions in your budget.
In case your budget doesn’t allow full-time marketers, you can reduce costs by hiring remote employees working on a part-time or freelance basis.
Luckily, It’s possible to find top-notch professionals worldwide for an affordable price. By using tips for managing remote employees, they can quickly become one of your most efficient assets.
2. Have a Website
Not owning a website today is a luxury you can’t afford. Even though 35% of small businesses that still don’t have a website, think they are too small to need one, but they are missing a huge marketing opportunity.
Most purchases occur online these days, and your target customers will most likely look up for you on the internet if they are thinking about doing business with you.
Some of the benefits a website might bring you:
- With your name, address, and phone listed, your target customers will be able to reach out to you quickly.
- Both your local and your global marketing opportunities will increase.
- With the content you provide on your website, you will be able to inform and educate your visitors and convert them into paying customers.
- You’ll gain credibility for your business.
- You can use your website to generate leads and boost your sales.
If you already have a website, or you’re considering building one, keep in mind that it is not enough to have one for the sake of it. Your website needs to make an excellent first impression, primarily with its design. It needs to be visually appealing, as well as that intuitively navigational, allowing potential customers to find what they’re looking for effortlessly.
Loading speed matters too, so make sure your website loads fast as a 1-second delay in page response can decrease conversions for 7%. Your website loading speed should be no higher than 3 seconds, as everything above puts you in the risk of high abandonment rates.
Finally, since 2018, more than 52.2% of worldwide traffic came from mobile, which means that your website should definitely be optimized for mobile devices.
3. Perfect Your Content
Not only your blog or social media posts, but everything you provide to your target audience counts as content, that is something useful and helpful that is intended for them to consume and learn more about your industry, business, products, and services.
This means that each piece of content you provide needs to be worth their time and answer some of their needs and questions.
[embedded content]
For your marketing efforts to be effective, your content needs to based on the thorough research of your customers and a clear idea on who they are, what they need, and what are the pain points you can help them solve.
Here are a couple of things to get you going:
Have a blog that you update regularly. Companies that blog receive 97% more links and attract 55% more visitors to their website.
- Tailor your content to your customers’ issues and challenges. You should not put focus on your business and your products but offer solutions to their problems, depending on their position in the sales funnel.
- The content you provide should be easy to read, actionable, and grammatically correct.
- Use visuals to add value to your content and make it more attractive. Include videos, images, and infographics.
- Your content should be fresh and published regularly, so make sure to update it with new information and stats.
- Add content that your customers can consume while they’re on the go on their mobile devices. Webinars, podcasts, and videos are a perfect solution.
Such high-quality content can help you position your small business as a relevant and trustworthy partner and a credible source of information, both online and IRL.
4. Leverage SEO
Your digital marketing efforts won’t get you far unless you optimize all the content you create for search engines.
Even though the process is not simple, your goal is easy to understand. To attract the right kind of crowd, you need to rank well in search results for the queries that your target customers conduct when they’re looking for services and products you’re offering.
This means that all your content, including the one on your website, should include relevant keywords, and credible links to the relevant sites in your niche.
As 46%of all searches on Google are local, you need local SEO too.
To show up in local results, you need to use local keywords and include links from your local communities in your content.
Furthermore, it’s necessary to claim your GoogleMyBusiness and fill out all the details, as well as to list your small business in other directories relevant to your niche.
Also, ensure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) details are accurate and consistent across the internet.
5. Use the Power of Social Proof
Social proof is another marketing technique you should be using more of during 2020.
Using your customers’ referrals and recommendations are one of the best ways to establish your position on the market and get word of mouth going. 83% of your satisfied customers will be happy to provide you with a referral; but if you don’t ask them to, only 29% of them will do it on their own.
Don’t wait for a random referral to happen and consider establishing a referral program for your customers instead.
Ask your loyal customers to refer you to their friends or colleagues, and offer them an incentive they could use in return, or at least show them your appreciation with a thank you email.
Success stories and testimonials of your customers are great to include on your website, as a form of social proof.
However, to be effective, they need to have an authentic feel, so don’t even think about coming up with fake use cases and testimonials.
6. Make the Most of Social Media
Your small business needs to be where its target customers are; this goes for social media too. However, with limited resources, it’s best to focus only on the channels which are prevalent in your industry and preferred by your target audience.
In other words, don’t spread yourself too thin.
Social media tools can be a great way to deliver useful content to your target audience, and engage with them, forming meaningful relationships.
You can opt for using social media listening tools and be notified whenever there is a mention of your company on social media so that you can react timely.
You should also consider implementing a chatbot on some of the social media channels and bring your interaction with your customers to a whole new level.
To grow your small business in 2020, use these ideas and make them a part of a comprehensive marketing strategy.
