Being a small business has certain advantages to it, but there are also certain disadvantages that you’re going to notice almost immediately. That’s why it’s crucial that you understand how you market your business and also how you should go about promoting every single service you’ve got to offer, you want to brand yourself but you don’t want to brand yourself in the wrong way. It’s the age of social media and using other digital means to market your business, and if you’re the old school type of owner you’re probably going to have a tough time adapting. There are certain things you should keep in mind when you’re putting your market plan together, and failing to incorporate these things is going to result in a bad marketing campaign (for the most part). It’s 2014 and you need to market like everybody else, the old time methods you used to use don’t really apply anymore and it’s almost like an entirely new game.
First things first, you need to understand social media. Social media allows your business to connect with customers and consumers on a personal level, and there’s nothing consumers love more than feeling like they’re personally interacting with a business (even if it happens to be small, in this case it’s actually much better). You should have a Facebook page already set-up, as well as a Twitter and anything else you can use to promote your brand and get your products out there in front of people’s eyes. The second thing you need to worry about is the kind of content you’re going to offer people on your website and blogs (and other things). You never want to have no plan for the content while marketing, you need to know what you’re going to produce and how you’re going to produce it.
You might be producing a high quality commercial or skit for use on YouTube, or you might just be looking to produce a few images or blog posts. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) are important as well, failing to handle these tasks with the right edge is going to leave you with your pants down (in most cases). If your small business can’t have its information accessed through mobile devices like a smartphone or even a tablet than you’ll need to work on that aspect as well, it’s a known fact that plenty of people (about 50% of users) conduct online searches through mobile means.
You need to be able to maintain a digital marketing plan if you’re going to stay competitive in 2014, the game has flipped itself upside down and it’s up to you to adapt accordingly. Nobody is going to perfect your marketing plan for you, and when you’re a small business you can’t necessarily rely on your large name to sell products. Take the time needed to put together the right marketing plan and you’ll notice the difference, we can guarantee you that much.
