If you run a small business, then I’m almost positive you’re fully aware of just how difficult it can be. There is so much for you to do and you can only handle so much because you’re a smaller business. Fortunately for you, there are some tips below that you can easily borrow from some big brands and apply them to your small business! Even if you have a smaller budget, you can still use these tips to help propel your business to the next level in terms of marketing.
1. Consistent Branding
It should really come as no surprise to you, but the image that your brand gives off to its customers and the public is incredibly important. If you think of any big brand store that you’ve gone into such as Woolworths, JB HiFi, Starbucks or others, then you’ve probably noticed that it looks the same no matter which one you’re at. The one in a different state is probably going to look the same as the one in your hometown, and that’s definitely no accident.
Any big brand store knows just how important brand consistency is. You want to make sure that customers feel the exact same about your business no matter where they decided to visit you. As an example, a place like Starbucks is so particular about brand consistency that they prohibit their employees from wearing perfume or cologne on the job because it could ruin the “Starbucks smell” that so many people are accustomed to. You walk into a Starbucks, and you immediately recognise the smell of their coffee along with the distinguishable look of their storefront and the store on the inside.
While your small business isn’t going to have stores located all across the country, there are still a few things you can do to keep up your brand consistency. First of all, you want to make sure that you are using the same colours and logos across all of the platforms, both digital and offline. No matter what you do, you should use the same logo and colours at all times.
Secondly, you should really try and use the same brand voice across all of your platforms as well. Every time you interact with your customers or post something somewhere, you take a certain tone of voice in your writing, and often times it will match the values your company is reflective of. Make sure that you keep the same tone of voice across all of your different platforms where you interact with customers.
Lastly, make sure you stay consistent with blog posts and social media. Don’t let them become inactive for too long! Make sure you’re always posting on social media. If someone visits your pages, they should be able to easily tell that your business is still alive and well.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing is huge, and it’s not just about blogging because it can be a wide variety of content such as videos, graphics or podcasts that help persuade customers to buy your product.
However, content marketing is not just for the big brands out there and it seems like a lot of people forget that. Content marketing can help put your business on the map. It is a great way for you to show your customers how to use the product and how it can benefit them.
The best part about content marketing is that is incredibly easy for you to localise your content and make it easy to relate back to those who care. You can easily create blog posts about local events, restaurants, news and attractions.
3. Utilise Mobile Technology
In this day and age, everybody is using their mobile phones for just about everything, so you should be using it for your business as well. You should make sure you optimise your website and other collateral for mobile.
So many big brands have their own apps and they all use it to help drive their sales and target a brand new group of potential customers. However, since you’re just a small business, you’re probably not going to want to build your own app, but there are plenty of things you can do to expand to the mobile platform.
The key thing here is to make sure that every part of your web page is mobile friendly and can be viewed just as well on a phone as it could be viewed on a desktop. Additionally, a recent study found that more than two-thirds of all emails are opened on a mobile device, so make sure each and every email you send is optimised for mobile.
4. Hire A Digital Marketing Expert
Running a business is hard work and you shouldn’t have to do it all by yourself, so get someone to help you out. You need to ask yourself if you can devote the time to constantly maintain all of your social media profiles and other outlets. If the answer is no, then using Grow Digital Marketing dedicated team to take care of your online needs and using our Smart Marketing software to help you make informed marketing decisions is a great start.
The last thing you want to do is slip up when it comes to your digital marketing plan, so if you can’t handle it on your own, then it’s important to seek help. While you most likely won’t be able to hire a whole team like some big brands do, using one centralised platform to inform you and one dedicated marketing team to help you out can help immensely.
If you want to create a successful small business, then you have to make sure you have the right tools in place to succeed, and the four tips mentioned above are a great place to start. By immediately implementing these tips into your digital strategy for your small business, you’ll begin to see a big difference when it comes to marketing and your overall image of the company.
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