Ongoing tweaks are essential if you want to drive your small business to success. However, consistently coming up with fresh, innovative and effective strategies is challenging.
But fear not, because here are 6 savvy tips to help boost your small business.
1. High-impact marketing
When you’re a small business with limited capital, spending money on expensive or ineffective marketing techniques can be a costly mistake. Your best bet is to focus on low-budget, high-impact strategies which offer a healthy ROI. For example, creating business profiles on social media to promote your business – it’s low-cost and low-risk.
2. Watch trends
If you want your small business to maintain a competitive edge, it’s essential that you keep an eye on happenings within your industry and the wider community. Even events which don’t immediately seem relevant to your business might have an impact, so always keep your eyes and ears open. This will leave you better placed to operate your business in a proactive manner, where you’re prepared for changes rather than reacting to them.
3. Learn from competitors
Whether you like them or not, there’s a lot you can learn from your competitors. They’re targeting the same customers as you, so chances are some of the tactics they’re using can be employed within your own marketing strategies. Monitoring your competitors will also help you identify what’s not working so well for them, which means you can learn from their mistakes without making them yourself.
If you’re not sure where to start, it’s easy to get started – take a look at the websites and social media pages of your rivals.
4. Customer reviews
Customer reviews help validate your reputation as a business and when you’re a small brand with a modest customer base, reputation really is everything. Encouraging customers to leave reviews is therefore essential. There are various ways you can do this, for example, by offering an incentive such as entry into a prize draw. You should also ensure that you have multiple places where customers can leave reviews, such as your website, social media and Google My Business page.
5. Networking
Networking is an essential activity for any business, in particular a small business looking to make a name for itself. It’s the opportunity to connect key professionals who could prove useful on your business journey, as well as an opportunity for you to demonstrate your expertise and spread the word about your business, thus increasing your brand reach.
6. Video
Visual content such as videos are effective tools for enticing customers because they enable you to show rather than tell consumers how your products can benefit them. For example, you can create videos for your website which show people using your products. However, If your business is lacking a visual content wizard, consider working with a visual comms firm such as Glasgow-based agency SNS Group – they have over 30 years of experience.
Follow these seven savvy marketing tips and your small business will be all set to soar within your industry.
That’s our list! Share your thoughts in the comments section.