8 Marketing Strategies To Increase Your Reach (Part 1)

You started your small business because you are good at what you do and you have great solutions or products to offer. You may be struggling with how to reach your target market. The answer is to consistently get your message out.

How can you do that? Here are 8 smart marketing ideas that will help you spread the word about your company and increase your sales. You may have tried one or more of these already but haven't stuck with them the way you should for them to work. Follow the suggestions Blue Dog Marketing is sharing in this post today and Thursday to drive traffic to your website, create visibility with your ideal clients and solve problems for your target market.

1. Blog about the problems your ideal client is facing – If you are not blogging you should be. Blogging is one marketing strategy every business owner can and should use. You position yourself as an expert in your field when you blog. You don't have to be a writer to have a great blog. Your posts can be short or long. They can be short video snippets of a webinar that you deliver. Your blog can be whatever you would like it to be. Just remember to have your content relate to the problems your target market is experiencing. Pick a schedule to blog and stick to it. If you don't have time to maintain a blog yourself, hire a marketing firm to do it for you.

2. Promote your blog – Once you have a blog up and running, you need to let people know about it. Attach the blog to your website, include a link to your blog in your email signature and put your blog link on all your marketing materials, including your business cards. If you don't let people know your blog is there, no one will read it.

3. Send your clients an email newsletter – You want to stay top of mind with your customers and prospects. An email newsletter is one of the easiest, least expensive and most effective ways to do this. Regularly publish an email newsletter, once a month or once a quarter, whatever works best for you and your company. When you choose a publishing schedule, be consistent. If you do not have time to create, write and send out an email newsletter yourself, outsource it to a marketing firm.

4. Following up from networking events – Networking is a wonderful way to increase your visibility in the community. You can make some great business connections at networking events. Don’t just collect a bunch of business cards. Follow up with the people you met to turn those conversations into opportunities. Call or email them to set up a time to meet for coffee so you can each learn more about the other’s business.

Check back on Thursday for tips 5 through 8!