Smart Marketing for Small Business
Most small Businesses struggle with marketing and NO budget. Here are a few ideas for making the most of your marketing dollars. First publish GREAT Content. Most people know how important the content is on your website and/or blog. Also, ask for participation from others on your staff especially if writing is not your forte. There might be people in your office that are full of creative ideas (shall we say).
Create informational/instructional videos. Often times, “We” (those in an industry) will take for granted that “everyone knows how to do that” but often times that’s not true. If you are a financial institution – you can have someone do a video on setting up a household budget or a 401k. Now everyone should have a budget but too many people do not; as Dave Ramsey would say “tell your money where it should go instead of wondering where it went”. Informational videos are awesome and people love to share them, so they’re a great way to drive up referral traffic and you can share them on your website and social media.
Partner up with other small business to make a larger impact. Co-branding or Cross Promoting has been around forever and it can be done in many ways. For a financial institution it can highlight your community involvement and promote your commitment to other small businesses. Cross promoting could be another business providing you with promotional items to act as give-a-way or prize for some contest. Or as I have seen recently in broadcast/video – showing a new building being erected with the small business owner and their financial institution representative standing side by side. There are all kinds of ways to co-brand/cross promote your businesses together.
Last but certainly NOT least Social Media. Pew Research reports that 72% of the entire online adult population use social media. 82% of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Facebook, along with 79% of those ages 30 to 49, 64% of those ages 50 to 64 and 48% of those 65 and older. These numbers are just too large to ignore. Social Media is the electronic “Word of Mouth”. Social networking sites and blogs allow followers to “retweet” or “repost” comments. By repeating the message the promotion of a product or business begins. Social media gives individuals and businesses the ability to interact with one another building a relationship and community on line. It gives customers the ability to express their feelings, ideas, and suggestions freely. It also gives a business the format to introduce new products and services and to get feedback. For a small business social media is probably the most powerful and cost effective tool available. What more can you ask from a marketing campaign but low cost, permanent access to your message and market wide reach…..And at the speed of online!
