Although it may sometimes feel as though running a small business is like pushing a boulder up a hill, there are many tools that can make the job much easier. One area where this is most obvious is in marketing for small businesses. With the internet and social media platforms available today, even the smallest company in the most out-of-the way location can communicate with prospective customers. Given that it is Thanksgiving, here are some of the small business marketing tactics entrepreneurs should be most grateful to have in their marketing tool kit:
- Email: Email is so easy and cost-effective to use that any business can now communicate on a regular basis with customers and prospects. Simply gather those email addresses in-store or on your website, and then use email to keep in touch, provide educational information, introduce new products or services, or just to say thanks.
- Content marketing: Basically this is an opportunity to provide education and insights to your audience. It can motivate prospective customers to begin utilizing your product or service, or help current customers get more value from what you offer. If your small business is not using blogs and e-newsletters to communicate on a regular basis, then you are not communicating to a substantial portion of your potential customer base.
- Tumblr: Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website where users post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog, as well as follow blogs from other users. It’s easy to incorporate photos, videos, art, links, mp3s and more to increase interest when posting blogs. Blogs can then be linked to status updates on Twitter and Facebook for even more exposure.
- Facebook videos: 2015 was the year when more marketers began using Facebook than YouTube for their video marketing campaigns. These short, 30-60 second videos are not over-produced, but they allow small business owners to put a face to their business and add sight, sound and emotion to their marketing. A quick, effective way to get short messages out to a viewing audience.
- LinkedIn: This often-overlooked social medium is perhaps one of the more powerful forms of business communications available online today. If your small business is primarily B-to-B oriented, your LinkedIn page must be current and informative.
- Instagram: Originally thought of as merely a photo sharing site, this online outlet has morphed into a social marketing powerhouse. If your business caters to a younger demographic or your products can be represented effectively in photos, you need to be on Instagram.
- Twitter: This is perhaps one of the easiest forms of online marketing available to small business owners. A quick 140 characters on a regular basis can pack a lot of marketing punch.
Don’t bemoan the lack of resources your small business has at its disposal. Instead look at the abundance of effective marketing tactics that you have available online, and learn how to use them effectively to help your business grow. Now that’s something worth appreciating!