Not having a small business marketing strategy is akin to having a car but not knowing where to drive it, or a destination and not knowing how you’re going to get there. Just because you have a solid idea, doesn’t mean it can flourish by itself. 

 

In comes having a beautifully crafted marketing strategy. 

 

Whether you’re a product-based business or a service-based business, having a defined marketing strategy is crucial for the growth and visibility of your brand. Now, a well-planned out marketing strategy is going to include a few key elements that will help it take root and benefit your business. 

 

Here are 5 key things that can help contribute to creating that kicka** marketing strategy: 

 

1. Thoroughly understand your SWOT analysis, and create one if you haven’t already. 

If you don’t know what a SWOT analysis is, it stands for ‘Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.” Conducting a SWOT analysis is fairly straightforward, and making one helps you decide essentially what should your business’s next move be. By assessing internally and externally the position of your business, you’ll be able to move your marketing strategy forward and informed. Here are some things to consider when making a SWOT:

1. What is the objective of the SWOT?
2. What are the strengths of your business? What do you do really well?
3. What are the weaknesses of your business? What needs to be improved?
4. What are some opportunities your business could potentially have in the future, or events you can take advantage of?
5. What are some threats to your business you should be aware of, such as current and new competitors within your industry? 

Running a successful business should always include running a SWOT analysis at least a few times a year. Knowing those four topics will help you not only evolve and get better, but also with client retention as well as gaining more clients. (BTWubs, I have a whole podcast episode on this topic you should definitely check out here)

 

2. Determine your ideal client profiles

Determining your ideal client profiles is a lot like defining what your ideal audience/client/etc looks like. It’s fine to have just one, but realistically you should aim to define at least two. What’s their gender? How old are they? What are their interests, job occupations, location, average yearly income, etc? Once you know WHO you’re trying to target, you can build that on top of your SWOT analysis and really begin to hone in on the strategy.

 

3. Determine what platforms are going to be best suited FOR those ideal client profiles. 

For example, entrepreneurs are most likely to be more on IG. If you’re more B2B, corporations might be Googling (blogs) or probably on Linkedin. Note: it’s important to be realistic here. Not every platform needs to be used in your marketing plan. What do you have the capacity for within your business? Are you simply executing marketing, or do you have a team who can help?

 

Here’s a list of marketing strategies you can tap into. 

Organic social media

Exactly what this sounds likes- just you and your brain and maybe a nifty third party scheduling app.

Paid social media

So maybe you want to reach a larger audience, and you’re willing to pay to promote your posts of your business on social, or run a Facebook ad campaign- that’s what this looks like.

Email marketing

A great way to send out more long form content that wouldn’t be appropriately suited for social media to a select subscriber base, and also a great and easy way to generate leads if you can get your newsletter or eblast advertised on your other platforms!

Blogging

Perfect for creating content that is SEO optimized for the internet- aka, when people search something, YOUR blog and expertise come up thanks to knowing a few keywords etc.

Podcasting

Now, I might be a lil biased on this one, but Podcasting is a great way to use your industry expertise or business experience to create content that is useful or helpful to others out there in a more personal space – podcasting is great to build a connection with an audience that feels more real and connected than simply liking a post on social. 

Google AdWords/Google My Business

Google Ad Words is paid marketing wherein you can bid on specific keywords related to your business, so that when people search for them it is your business that pops up. Google My Business is a platform designed for businesses to manage their “online” presence from reviews, maps, Search, etc – aka, a way for you to control the narrative of your business.

Webinars

If you’re a thought leader in your industry, then this is the perfect opportunity for you to teach others, promote your brand name, and also interact/engage with others in a similar field as you. Webinars are also great content that YOU can create, using it as a way to educate your audience and possibly interest them in your other services.

Guest Blogging

Collaboration sound more like your type of party? Guest blogging is fun if you love writing and want a piece of content to promote that also doubles as a referral source if need be. 

Partnering with other businesses

Like mentioned above, partnering with other businesses can be a great marketing strategy that will bring in referral business for you. It’s also a way to become exposed to a different audience you previously might not have had the chance to interact with.

Networking

Yes, this is 100% a marketing strategy you should look into! Networking events are a fun way to connect with other entrepreneurs and businesses. Not only do you make connections with valuable people, but that in person interaction is a great marketing tool to use because at the end of the day, an in person connection is 10x more valuable than a screen time only connection.

Direct Mail

A classic marketing strategy, but if you’re branding is super unique or memorable, perhaps physical mail to your audience is the way to go. Anything from promotions, incentives, announcements, or a newsletter work well with direct mail!

Speaking engagements

Speaking engagements are really great because you’re allowing an audience to connect your face with your brand, and you can leave a lasting impression to a larger audience as opposed to a select few people that you’d see at a networking event.

 

4. Begin Market Research 

Once you’ve nailed down the few platforms and marketing strategies that you’re going to use, the best next step is to do some audience market research. This is best done by asking your audience specific questions that will better your own market strategy, such as: 

• What motivates you?
• What do you enjoy/not enjoy doing?
• What would you say are some struggles you have?
• What goals do you have? Are they broad or specific?

These types of questions will help give you content ideas for the specific platforms you’re going to use, and then target that specific audience you’re trying to reach. Remember, it’s important to speak right to the consumers you’re marketing for. 

 

5. Execute and Assess

Your marketing strategy is never one and done. You should be constantly reassessing and transforming as a reflection of the constant fluctuation and change of whatever industry you’re in – nothing is ever static. Look back and find what did well, what didn’t go well, is there an audience that isn’t responding to a certain aspect of your strategy, or is there? Recognize patterns, and always, ALWAYS analyze your data.

Knowing your data will fuel the evolution and innovation of your marketing strategies, and give you better insights to your audience and the makeup of your audience. If you aren’t sure how YOU can do this, then I encourage you to get on the waitlist for my self-guided program, Data Driven Money Moves! We’ll go over everything from what numbers you should be looking at, what they mean, how to identify patterns and how to implement them, and LOADS more valuable info your biz can definitely benefit from. As someone with a heavy background in strategy, I geek out on numbers and I just want to help YOU at the end of the day! So remember – reassess, execute, and don’t forget to look at the numbers. 

– Lauren