30 Ideas for Your 2021 Small Business Marketing Strategy

In order to keep their businesses operational and viable, business owners take the help of marketing. This is because it helps them raise brand awareness and attract customers. If you are a small business owner, getting the word out about your business can pose a challenge due to a lack of resources or less visibility. However, some strategies can help scale the marketing efforts of your small business. From building your website's SEO to email marketing, there are many marketing strategies that can help market your business and get you, new customers.

Irrespective of whether you have time restraints due to a small team, have a limited budget, or simply require some direction, small business marketing strategies and tips will always come in handy. Let's discuss them in detail:

Small Business Marketing Strategies

Marketing strategies promote your business to a target audience, help brand your business, and help achieve sales goals. After you get listed on Google, here are some of the best marketing strategies for small businesses that you can follow:

1. Create A Website

A website is a channel you own. It is a place where you show who you are, what your offerings are, and how to contact you. If you have a professional-looking website up and running, it is the most significant asset for your small business.

We highly recommend creating a website to own your online presence. It works as a full-fledged salesperson for your business and we recommend that you create a site if you haven't already.

Note: Ensure you create an SEO-friendly website for your business. This is because it enhances the customer experience and helps generate organic traffic. As building an SEO-friendly, professional niche-based website can take days, we suggest that you use DashClicks' agency website tool. With this tool, you can make an SEO-friendly, custom branded agency website in a matter of seconds.

2. Invest in Ads

You may be aware that organic traffic takes time to build. So, as a small business, you can consider Google Ads or social media ads for short-term wins.

Google Ads are ideal if you are aware that your target audience is looking for your solution or product on the web. In case they aren't, you can think about investing in social media ads. It is true that people on social media have less buying intent, however, with the help of highly targeted ads and the required impressions, you will capture the interest of your audience.

3. Stay Active On Social Media

Social media platforms aren't just for connecting and socializing but also double up as fantastic business tools. They help businesses engage with potential customers and improve their search engine rankings.

Today, customers expect companies to be active on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. They also expect them to regularly post on social media.

4. Consider Blogging

Another small business marketing strategy you can consider is blogging. It is a great way to generate organic traffic. Even if you post a blog once every week, it will help educate your potential customers and build trust amongst them. Doing so will also increase your site's visibility. Ensure you add a CTA in your blogs for visitors to subscribe to them. Remember, blogging helps provide your potential customers with information even if they haven't yet made up their minds about buying from you.

5. Know The Power Of Your Existing Customers

As per a 1990 study by Bain & Company and HBR, acquiring a new customer is 5 times costlier than closing an existing one (on average). Keeping this in mind, don't stop marketing once your customers have purchased from you.

Think about this - your existing customers have purchased your product/service, which means they already like and trust you. So, identify your opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, and repeat purchasing.

6. Offer A Free Consultation

If you have established yourself as an authority in your niche and offer a high-priced or expert service, you can think about offering a free consultation. Individuals want access to expertise when they are looking to buy professional services. Therefore, offering a consultation can be a step in the right direction. Providing a free consultation also helps you generate more leads and thus, proves to be beneficial for your business.

You can promote your free consultation on social media and your website.

Tip: Offer a 30-60 minute consultation and focus on providing value to your potential customers.

7. Become a Speaker at Events

Another good marketing strategy is speaking at events. When you start out as a speaker for events, deliver insightful talks at smaller events first. You can then slowly work your way into grabbing opportunities that allow you to speak at bigger events.

You can start out by becoming a speaker at these types of events:

• Specific interest groups (for example – sewing, hiking, etc.)
• Major companies and their employees
• Schools
• Upcoming events which you can check in magazines and newspapers
• Business networking groups

8. Offer a Free Webinar

Offering a free webinar is a great medium to allow potential customers to sign up for an online course that you'll host. Such courses are typically between 30-60 minutes. In these courses, you can provide tips and answer questions about a topic your business is experienced enough to talk about.

If you decide to provide a webinar, you get the chance to boost your credibility in your industry. You also get to unlock sales opportunities.

9. Display Reviews on Your Site

Apart from social media, don't forget to display reviews on your site. The reason behind displaying reviews is simple - When customers are thinking about purchasing something, they don't turn their attention to ads, they turn to other customers. This may not come as a shock because showing reviews can raise conversion by more than 360%

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10. Offer An Exceptional Customer Experience

Ensure you provide an amazing customer experience. Remember, happy customers can recommend your business to their family and friends. According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from family and friends compared to other advertising types.

To improve your customer experience, make sure you go through customer feedback and work on the areas that require improvement. When you focus on providing a great customer experience, you get more online reviews, which builds trust and ultimately drives more sales.

11. Text Your Customers

There is a high chance that your customers may ignore promotional material in their inboxes. But that is not the case with text messages on their phones. As per the statistics, text messages have a 98% open rate. Therefore, from getting a review to advertising a sale, text messaging service for small business can prove to be helpful. Just ensure you write a strong CTA in your text message to motivate the customers to take action (for example: Leave us a review on Google).

12. Establish a Brand

Your business is required to have a clear brand identity for your audience and customers to know what your business is, what it does, and what it stands for. Once you decide your company's identity, match it with a suitable name, colors, logo, and imagery that conveys your brand to your target audience.

Once your business has your own logo, ensure you display it on everything - business cards, advertising, website, and email signatures.

13. Email Potential Customers and Customers

There are many benefits of using email as a marketing strategy. It can be automated, is easy to do, doesn't cost that much, offers instantaneous communication, and can reach many potential customers.

It is important that your business emails relevant, valuable, and interesting content to your audience. This is because you don't want your email to just remain unread in their inboxes.

14. Join Local Business Groups

Another great marketing strategy is joining the local business groups. Doing so offers the opportunity to meet up with like-minded business owners. You can look for meetups and niche-specific groups in your area. These groups are great places to share your ideas and listen to other's opinions about them. It also helps recognize fresh opportunities and even find fresh talent. Lastly, these groups can also lead to profitable partnerships and joint ventures.

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Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

When you invest in marketing, you grow your business and your brand. To position your company for success in 2021, let's discuss some marketing tips for small businesses that can prove helpful to you:

15. Create A Buyer Persona

When you think about a customer looking for your service or product, how do you imagine them? What are their pain points? What job do they do? Creating a buyer persona that describes your ideal customer and tells a story about them can assist you in optimizing your website for them.

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When you create a buyer persona, you are in a better position to know what kinds of things your target customers could be searching for online. These terms can then be used on your website.

16. Increase Your Google Ranking With SEO

The technique that helps your site rank higher in SERPs is defined as SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO makes your site more visible to those searching for solutions that your business can offer via search engines such as Bing, Yahoo!, and Google.

An SEO strategy consists of certain things, including buyer persona research, on-page SEO research, and keyword research. With the help of these three areas, you get to know how your target audience is searching on the web. These areas also make your business get noticed by the right people online.

17. Research Keyword Opportunities

In the previous sections, we talked about creating buyer personas. Use these personas to find the right keywords for your business. Then, what you can do is open a tool called KW Finder to search for related keywords for your audience.

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You can also go through our Definitive Guide on Keyword Research for SEO to know how to find keyword ideas.

18. Optimize Your Site For Mobile Devices

We all do a lot of Google searches on mobile devices, that, too, almost every single day. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the importance of having a website that is optimized for mobile devices. Your website, when opened on a smartphone, should look clean and allow for easy navigation. Remember, you can lose potential customers if they decide to leave your site because it wasn't optimized for their mobile phones.

19. Use Social Media For Customer Service

After you join different social media platforms, make it a point to answer customer questions when they ask them via direct messages or comments. You want to let your audience know that you are responsive as well as credible.

Note: A lot of companies today are using Twitter for customer service.

20. Encourage Happy Customers To Share Their Experiences

When a delighted customer talks about how amazing your business is on review websites or social media platforms, it shows that your service or product is a great investment. Social media in particular is where word of mouth really works and influences a person's purchasing decision. For example, if an individual sees their friend raving about your company on Facebook, they are more likely to purchase from your business.

If your customers say that they loved your product, encourage them to share about their experience on Google, Facebook, or Yelp.

21. Reply to Customer Reviews

So many business owners do not reply to reviews. But, this is a mistake they must stop making. Responding to reviews is highly beneficial for your business. One of the most significant benefits you get from doing this is customer loyalty. When you reply with a simple message such as “Thank you so much, we hope we can see you again soon,” you leave a great impression in your customer's minds and encourage them to return to you.

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22. Give Co-Marketing A Try

Look for a local business in your area that you do not directly compete with but provides a service or product to a similar target audience. If you find one, think about working with the business on a co-branded campaign to promote each other through email, on social media, or in your blog. Doing so will give the local business a lot of promotion and let their fanbase know about your business.

23. Try Influencer Marketing

Look for a person in your area who is an expert in your field and has a strong social media following. If you can contact the person, check if they can share their experience of your service or product on social media. If the person agrees, their follower base will know about your offering and may trust it because an expert recommends it.

24. Advertise on Social Media

Most of the big social media platforms provide advertising options. With these options, you can target your posts to a particular audience. Small businesses have been advertising on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook for years. You can think of advertising on Instagram as well.

25. Offer Coupons on Landing Pages or in Newsletters

A great way to engage your customers and make them happy is to place a coupon in your marketing emails. When your customers purchase a service or product from you by availing of a discount, they may be more likely to pay the full price the next time.

Tip: You can provide a code for a free trial to your prospects.

26. Tell a Unique Brand Story

Telling a unique brand story is like conveying your own life story - one that has feelings, emotions, and teaches something. Your brand should have a different, one-of-its-kind story that draws your audience towards your business and makes them want to know more about it.

“Content” is a means to let people focus on your business. Some content creation tips for your brand's story are:

1. Know what your audience desires and what their content preferences are.
2. Produce content that educates and entertains.

27. Create Video Content

It may not come as a surprise to know that people remember 95% of a message from a video. We all know that video content is quicker and much easier to understand. Today, people prefer video lessons as it gives a clear picture regarding what a person wishes to explain. So, another great marketing tip for small businesses is producing more video content for their audiences.

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28. Create Beautiful Assets

When you have beautiful assets, your business stands out. Once you figure out your content marketing calendar, you should start creating your assets.

As a first step, start with content. Make it a point to write original and professional content. Then, you can create email campaigns and social media posts. Also, focus on updating your website, creating video content, and contemplating the potential landing pages to create.

All in all, make it a point to be proactive about creating beautiful assets.

29. Leverage Your Community

When marketing your brand, it is best to aim small before you decide to expand your outreach. At this point, the entire world doesn't need to know about what your business has to offer. Start by reaching out to the people around you. Get the word out about your business by telling your family, the local community, and your friends. Check if they support your business. Once you create a customer base within your community, you can consider expanding your outreach and promoting your business.

30. Update and Improve

Stand out from your competition and be honest, genuine, and bold. As a small business owner, you must constantly look for ways to improve and update your offerings. Look at adding value and don't be afraid to try something unique.

Conclusion

Bottom line, these marketing strategies, and tips will definitely help in the growth of your small business in the year 2021 and beyond. Some of these ideas may take time to show results, while others may provide immediate effects. But it is important to note that all of these ideas will help take your business to new heights.

Now that you are armed with so many ideas, you have started your journey of marketing your small business much more effectively. So, which of these strategies and tips are you going to use first? Which ones are your absolute favorite?