To someone who’s new to small business, marketing can be a fairly confusing part of it. It can be hard to tell what works and why it works. You might feel like you’re shooting blindly and hoping for results. Naturally, if you are to succeed in managing the business, that’s not going to cut it. So in this article, we’re going to help clear things up for you. To help you understand what works and how you can actually make sure it’s working.
The visual brand
There are two companies, both providing the same service. They have relatively the same unique selling points compared to their other competition. So what makes one more recognisable and successful? The branding. You need to define and create a brand for your company, a shorthand for communicating your value to the customers. From your digital advertising to your business cards, you should focus on how to unify it all through that brand.
Finding the voice of your content
It’s not all visual, however. Content marketing is a powerful force when marketing through the internet nowadays. But you want to keep your brand established and strong, so your content needs to be consistent with the rest of your branding. The key to that is finding the voice of it. Finding the way of communicating through your content with a consistency that fits to you and your customer.
Building an online community
Your content, branding and service should all be building towards something. Not just profit. A consumer base. People that are going to be sticking with you and your services. For that reason, you need to focus on the long game. Building a community of loyal customers. This means doing more than just what you’re paid to. It means getting involved, starting and participating in the conversation.
The face-to-face
One mistake that a lot of startups make nowadays is that they assume it’s all about online. Make no mistake; your online presence is important. However, there are few exchanges as valuable for both you and your audience as a face-to-face. Practice how you win customers over in a real conversation and make sure you’re present for those opportunities. Host events. Attend trade shows. Meet people.
The data-driven approach
Of course, you also want to know how it’s doing. Not just what you might be missing, but whether or not what you’re doing works. For that, you need to start paying closer attention to the data. Look at how much content you post and where. How many people see it, how many share it. The visits on your website and to which pages. This kind of data-driven approach can help you make better choices in future.
Listen to your customers
It’s not just the data that can tell you how you’re doing, either. The customer base you build up will often be very happy to tell you how you’re doing. Customer feedback is an important part of iterating on your business, and your marketing is no different. Ask your customers how they find you and what the appeal of becoming a customer was. Use that to inform your marketing
