Small business marketing can be a massive struggle, especially with the competitive business landscape after the pandemic. For small business owners, just starting up the idea of marketing or marketing services can be a daunting task.

Relying on word of mouth to get your business out there can be a challenge if you are not known to your local communities. When working with a small budget, it can also be hard to pinpoint the best value-for-money technique to help kickstart your revenues. 

Marketing can be a lot of trial and error. However, there is the option of hiring a digital marketing agency. Supporting businesses in their online marketing needs is what our sister branch BeMySocial does best; whether you need SEO services or a web designer, they are here to help. For more information on how they could help your small business visit the BeMySocial website.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) 

If you want to improve your Google ranking, then you’re going to need an SEO strategy. 

There are four main factors to having a good SEO strategy:

• Firstly you have your technical elements; this can be metadata set-up including alt text for images, no coding issues on your website and H1 headers. 
• Secondly, take into consideration the links you use in your article or blog posts. Make sure your links are relevant, always trying to link back to your internal pages. 
• Thirdly, content is another major factor; each page should focus on a different keyword phrase.
• Finally, there should be some form of social and review management. 

Content Marketing

There are three phases to a customer’s buying cycle; awareness, interest and purchase. 

Awareness is when a customer first becomes aware of the products or services that your business is offering. Interest is the period where they indicate that they might want to buy your product or service. Finally, a purchase is the time frame in which the customer will evaluate whether or not to purchase from you. 

Creating blogs, videos, press releases and infographics, are good ways to demonstrate industry credibility and authenticity. A tip for creating content would be to plan a content calendar; the advantage of this approach is that you can engage with your customer in a relevant way rather than just trying to sell to them. Creating engaging content that relates to your local communities is a way of grabbing attention for your business. 

Social Media

The common conception of social media is that users believe they can reach out to brands and businesses and receive an immediate response. Social media has changed from the beginning. Instead of being platforms to socialise on, they have now turned into a customer services role. It has become easier for businesses and brands to understand their customers and audience, by listening to the feedback from online users. 

For a small local business, this is a prime opportunity to keep your regular and potentially new customers happy; by giving them good quality content and taking the time to respond to their queries. The result is building trust in your brand, meaning you will more likely receive recommendations from your customers. 

For more information on the importance of social media marketing services for building a business, read our previous articles. 

Email Marketing 

Email marketing services are finally coming back into fashion. As with any digital marketing strategy, the main principle is to create customised communications based on your consumers’ interests. A good email campaign can provide a reliable way to build and develop relationships with probable buyers and customers. 

For more information on email marketing or any of the content discussed above, contact our sister brand BeMySocial on 01302 494 050.