Nate Stockard asked:


Small business marketing is small, as noted by the name, but too many times business owners think that small business marketing is too small for planning, budgets, or strategies. Since small businesses usually have little or no marketing budget and are concentrating on just keeping the doors open, owners, more times than not, neglect their marketing planning. No business should exist without marketing planning and strategies!

Actually, small business marketing requires planning and strategy more than major companies.

When the marketing manager of a large corporation has a $20 million marketing budget just for print ads, they have room to make mistakes, produce the wrong ads, and even scrap the marketing plan half-way through completion. Small businesses don’t have such freedom and liberty. Small business marketing should contain a plan before anything else happens in the company in the area of sales and marketing. There should be budgets and strategies created as early as possible and reviewed as often as possible.

Create a marketing plan as soon as you decide to start a business.

My company specializes in helping small businesses with marketing and design, and we encounter many of the same problems, and they all stem from lack of early planning. Once you decide to start a business, start creating a marketing plan.



Who are your customers?

What are their needs and wants?

How will you acquire new customers?

What kind of customer relationship management systems will you use?

What do your customers expect from you?

What are your products’ benefits?

What are your strengths?

What are your weaknesses?

How will you advertise?

How much will you budget for marketing?



This list is actually very small when it comes to creating a marketing plan, but you must answer all of these questions and more. Small business marketing must be precise, have a defined strategy, and contain at least a rough budget. Figure out who your customer is, how you will reach them, and why they will buy from you. Starting with these three areas will give you a plethora of other questions to answer in figuring out the maze of small business marketing.

 

 

Aaron Goldberg asked:


When it comes to small business marketing there are several things that must be kept in mind. For example, small businesses rarely have big budgets for advertising. As a result, they need to find methods to advertise their product or service without spending a lot of money. The following small business marketing tips will help your business grow and make more money.

Multiple Marketing Tactics

The first thing you will want to do is come up with several marketing ideas that will help your business. Then, figure out a plan to rotate these tactics so that you get the most bang for your buck. One marketing effort may work great the first time and not the second time or else it works only occasionally. Because of this it is important for small businesses to have a marketing plan and alternate various types of marketing tactics for the best results.

Buddy Marketing

Another option is to use buddy marketing. This is a great way to reach new customers without much cost. The way buddy marketing works is that when you send out a brochure of your company you include a business card or small leaflet for another business to advertise for them based on an agreement that they will do the same for you. The business should be complementary to yours, but not in competition.

Second Offers

As soon as a customer makes a purchase send them a letter thanking them for their purchase and that because of this purchase they may be able to buy return and buy an additional item for a discount of 20% or something of that nature. Make sure you include an expiration date, too, so there is a sense of urgency.

Market to Past Customers

Remember that marketing to your past customers is better than marketing to new ones. That is not to say that you don’t want to try and get new customers just that old customers are easier to sell to. As a result, concentrate and marketing to your past customers whether this be through email marketing, newsletters, or coupons in the mail. Regardless of the way you market to past customers you will benefit by making more sales.

These are just a few tips to help small businesses market their services and business. It is really important to keep in mind there are unlimited ways to market your business without spending a lot of money or even time. It’s just important to be aware of what the options are and how to make them work for you.