3 Cost-Effective Marketing Techniques for Small Businesses

 

For your small business to succeed, you must have a good marketing strategy in place. Don’t worry that this strategy will be a budget-buster. It doesn't have to cost you a lot if you’re resourceful and creative.

The purpose of a good marketing strategy is to help you broaden your client base, build customer relationship and increase your bottom line. Here are 3 low-cost marketing strategies that you can use.

1) Business Cards - One of your most effective marketing tools is your business card. Business cards lets potential customers know what your business is and provides people an idea of what you are capable of doing in case they need your product or service in the future. Your business card should at least contain your business name, your name, business telephone number, website address and, if you have a location, your store address. Don’t forget about the back of your card. That’s often wasted space. Use it to list your services or products.

2.) Blog – Your potential customers search online for solutions to their problems. Share your knowledge and expertise on your blog and other social media so they can find you and see that you’re an expert in what you do and have solutions that can help them.

3.) Word of Mouth - One of the most affordable and strongest marketing techniques is the word of mouth referral. However, it is one of the most difficult to achieve because, for people to talk about you and refer you to their friends and family, you have to truly satisfy your clients. Always give your best to your clients and be professional. This will keep them coming back to you and referring your business.

Ways to Market Your Business - # 4

Today, small business owners need to be smart about how they reach their target audience. Blue Dog Marketing has several ideas that can help you get more customers. Here is idea number 4.

#4 – Engage in Cause Marketing. You may have heard the phrase “cause marketing” and wondered what it meant. Cause Marketing is where your company finds a charity that you feel very strongly about and donate money and time to it. Make sure you use your logo along with the charity’s logo in specific communications about your support of them. Encourage your employees to volunteer at functions you are co-sponsoring.

Companies that are involved with charities are looked upon as givers and others will want to do business with you. Your business gets a lot of exposure in the community and creates a positive reputation in consumers’ minds.

Ways to Market Your Business - # 3

Today, small business owners need to be smart about how they reach their target audience. Blue Dog Marketing has several ideas that can help you get more customers. Here is idea number 3.

#3 – Advertise on the web. You see ads every time you go online. If you see them, so will your customers. The internet can connect you with millions of potential customers that are looking for your products or services. One place we often recommend clients advertise is Facebook. Facebook allows you to get specific in your targeting of potential customers. You can specify a geographic area, an age range, or even an interest on Facebook and quickly reach that audience.

Ways to Market Your Business - # 2

Today, small business owners need to be smart about how they reach their target audience. Blue Dog Marketing has several ideas that can help you get more customers. Here is idea number 2.

#2 – Get involved in your Chamber of Commerce. It’s all about supporting other local small businesses! A Chamber of Commerce is a great way to get your name out in the local business community and network with other small businesses. But like any organization, you get out of it what you put in, so get involved. Participate by attending meetings and networking sessions.

Blue Dog Marketing is an active member of the Gates Chili Chamber of Commerce in Rochester, NY.

Ways to Market Your Business - # 1

Today, small business owners need to be smart about how they reach their target audience. Blue Dog Marketing has several ideas that can help you get more customers. Here’s our first of four suggestions:

#1 – Have a great website. OK, let’s start with, have a website. We’ll work on the great part.

In today’s world, if you don’t have a website, you won’t have a successful business. Depending on your business, you can be open 24/7, allowing your customers to shop and order your products.
A website also allows potential customers to learn more about your business any time they want.

Make sure your website is on your business cards, letterhead, all your marketing materials and email signature.

When’s the Best Time to Post on Social Media?

As a marketing consulting firm, we’re often asked when the best time to post on social media is, especially since social media is 24/7. Someone is always tweeting, blogging, and posting on Facebook. You can’t be online all day and still run your business, so how do you know when is the best time to reach your target audience?

Here are some difference ways to determine when your audience is online:

Social Media Tools

There are many great social media tools available. Hootsuite (https://hootsuite.com) is one of my favorites. It has an AutoScheduling functionality which schedules your messages at the best times to reach your audience.

For those of you who tweet, SocialBro (www.socialbro.com) is great because it provides daily reports on the best time to tweet.

If you blog using Google+, like we at Blue Dog Marketing do, Timing+ (http://timing.minimali.se/)  analyzes your historical post data to determine what time of day has the most potential for your posts to have the greatest impact.

Learn from the Research of Others

The best times to post on social media is a hot topic and there is a lot of research available. I found the information below on the best times to post in several different places on the web:

v  Facebook – between 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday

v  Google+ - between 9 – 11 a.m. weekdays

v  Twitter – between 1 – 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday

v  Pinterest – The optimal time to post is on Saturday morning. Other times are weekday evenings and weekends.

v  LinkedIn – post both before and after business hours, 7 – 9 a.m. and 5 – 6 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday

Keep in mind, if you have customers in different time zones, accommodate your posting times accordingly.

You don’t always have to be posting, but you do have to be regular and consistent. Your audience expects that, so pick days and times to tweet, blog or post and stick to them.

Too Busy to Blog? Invite a Guest!

As a small business owner, you know you need to create a web presence that gets you found in online searches, is popular, and educates and engages your target audience. This can be difficult, especially if you’re doing all parts of your business by yourself.

Today, Blue Dog Marketing met with a potential client who was telling us how he goes about blogging for his business. He really doesn’t have the time to blog on a regular basis and was feeling stressed about keeping up his blog. His solution was to reach out to other bloggers in his industry and ask them to guest blog on his site. And he had quite a few takers.

We’ve recommended this to clients and it’s great to see someone else had the same idea. The benefits of this approach to blogging are many. You’re building relationships with others in your industry. In the future, they may decide to use your service or partner with you on a project.

If your guest bloggers use your key words in their blog, it raises your SEO.

Your guest blogger gets extra exposure and helps build their reputation as an industry expert.

By inviting a guest to blog regularly on your site, you take one marketing piece off your plate and give yourself more time for other parts of your business. It’s a win-win solution that you might want to consider.