When it comes to marketing a small business, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the variety of options to choose from. Any marketing 101 course will teach you all about branding, promotions, SEO, advertising and social media, but putting these all together in a succinct marketing strategy can be difficult without professional guidance.
The good news is that it’s actually easier than you think – so let’s find out how you can go from zero to marketing guru by using just 7 strategies.
The importance of marketing for small businesses
Before we delve into some marketing best-kept secrets, it’s imperative that your marketing strategy actually has an aim.
Marketing is essential to push your business, brand and/or product across a variety of platforms to gain new customers and create brand loyalty, amongst other things.
But for small businesses, marketing is imperative for survival from day one. Without it, you won’t be able to compete in your niche. Let’s take a look at ways you can get your marketing strategy off the ground with little upfront fee and a fast turnaround.
7 top tips to market your small business
Create an explainer video
Video is undeniably one of the best ways to market your business. For a start, video remains consumers’ favourite type of content to consume and businesses can quickly reap the benefits without paying through the nose for it.
An explainer video is one such strategy. Designed to visualize and present something exciting about your business, like a new product, an explainer video has to be short, snappy and straight to the point. A 2D animation studio like OK Social is able to create exceptional explainer videos for your business.
Explainer videos are enormously popular for a reason. Consider one of the following to get you started:
- A motion graphic explainer video
- A 2D or 3D animated explainer video
- An illustrated explainer video
- A live-action and animation hybrid video
Create graphics for social media
Animation-type videos are essential if you’re looking to grow your following, reach and revenue. The reason for this is that they’re easily digestible on social media – and are fun to watch, providing entertainment value as well as informative value (such as information on the product you’re advertising, for example).
It doesn’t matter what market you’re operating in – social media is a goldmine when it comes to promoting your small business and its services. And it is relatively low cost to create a short animation that will deliver high returns.
Create a company history video
A company history video, meanwhile, is an opportunity to personalize your brand. A brief company history video, like an ‘about us’ or ‘company story’, provides you with the chance to show to consumers why your company matters.
Include things like your company values, ethos, aims and ambitions and how you started. You might have an inspiring message or a popular cause for people to easily support. For example, if it matters to you that your products are ethically sourced and eco-friendly, this is your opportunity to shout out about it and attract like-minded consumers to your brand.
Get your customers involved in video
There’s a reason why influencer marketing and customer testimonial videos are working for brands: they cut through the noise, celebrate your product and hit the right target audience.
But the best part of a customer testimonial video? It adds credibility and authenticity – two key foundation building blocks to create loyalty and reputation for your brand.
Utilize creative content with the most impact
With just a few clever and creative videos under your belt, you can maximize the impact of their reach by utilizing them across your social media channels, your website, email marketing campaigns and even in company PowerPoints.
Your videos will stand the test of time by helping you in every area of your business time and time again.
PR (public relations)
PR is the classic customer acquisition channel that your small business needs in order to spread awareness about your brand. You can have a selection of incredible and professional videos at your disposal, but you need a good PR strategy to ensure they’re landing on the right pages and in front of the right eyes.
PR could look like:
- Articles about your business in news media or the press
- Advertisements on the radio or TV
- Animation videos shared across social media platforms
- Press releases on your website
SEO
No marketing strategy is complete without an SEO strategy. Search Engine Optimization might sound complicated if you’re brand new to it, but in reality, it’s quite straight forward. In the beginning, you only need to ensure you are ranking for your niche’s specific keywords and have a website that is user-friendly.
Follow these top 7 marketing tips and your small business will be turning heads in no time.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.