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Top Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Small businesses need sound marketing to attract customers and grow their companies, but they don’t always have a lot of funds to spend. Fortunately, there are plenty of options that make advertising affordable that are highly effective. If you’re among the estimated  33.2 million  small businesses in the United States, here’s a look at some top marketing strategies that could work for you.

Use Google and Bing Ads

Google and Bing ads are a way to target your marketing to people who are using the search engines to find products, services, or general information related to your business. Typically, you select highly relevant keywords and suitably specific keywords, as those can connect you with potential buyers more effectively than less-focused alternatives. Then, you target the ad to help it display to the right audience, such as by narrowing down user demographics or limiting the ad to a particular physical location.

Most of the associated charges use a pay-per-click format, meaning you’re charged only if a person engages with your ad by clicking. Both Google Ads and Bing Ads are worth exploring. While Google is a more popular search engine, it comes with a higher price tag than Bing, and Bing offers stronger targeting options.

Don’t Forget Social Media

For small businesses with tight marketing budgets, social media is a highly effective option. Setting up a profile for your company and creating regular posts costs nothing but time, giving you a nearly free way to advertise. Plus, you can set up ads on the platform and target them to specific audiences.

Ideally, you want to create a mix of informational posts along with some marketing content that promotes your products or services. By providing value beyond simply showcasing what you’re selling, it’s easier to attract a following, which could increase your success.

Use Influencers Wisely

Partnering with influencers can help you build brand awareness, and the approach is potentially low-cost. However, you need to choose the influencers you work with wisely. Make sure to vet an influencer’s following, including its authenticity, engagement level, and overall audience demographics.

At times, looking for micro-influencers that match your niche with engaged followers can provide more value than a larger influencer with an audience that doesn’t fully align with your target. As a result, it’s an approach worth considering.

Connect With Other Local Businesses

Partnering with other local businesses with similar customer bases but different product or service lines can work well. It allows every participating company to essentially cross-market with each other, which can reduce total advertising spend while connecting everyone with potential customers.

The approach is often highly collaborative. You can do anything from scheduling a multi-store event to advertising joint deals. Offering discounts to individuals with proof of purchase at another participating business can also work to bring in buyers.

Automate Your Marketing

In many cases, small business owners don’t have a lot of spare time to dedicate to marketing. Fortunately, you can streamline your efforts by taking advantage of automation. For example, you can create social media posts in advance and schedule them to go live on a particular schedule. Many email marketing platforms can work similarly, letting you plan out your messages in one sitting and have them go out at the right time. Then, you don’t have to worry about managing your marketing on a daily basis, giving you more time to focus on other tasks.

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What Is a Marketing Strategy?

• How It Works
• Strategies vs. Plans

How to Create a Marketing Strategy

• Marketing Strategy FAQs

Marketing Essentials

Marketing Strategy: What It Is, How It Works, How To Create One

Investopedia / Daniel Fishel

A marketing strategy refers to a business’s overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services. A marketing strategy contains the company’s value proposition , key brand messaging, data on target customer  demographics, and other high-level elements.

A thorough marketing strategy covers the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Key Takeaways

• A marketing strategy is a business’s game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services.
• Marketing strategies should revolve around a company’s value proposition.
• The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies.

Understanding Marketing Strategies

A clear marketing strategy should revolve around the company’s value proposition, which communicates to consumers what the company stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves their business.

This provides marketing teams with a template that should inform their initiatives across all of the company’s products and services. For example, Walmart ( WMT ) is widely known as a discount retailer with “everyday low prices,” whose business operations and marketing efforts are rooted in that idea.

Marketing Strategies vs. Marketing Plans

The marketing strategy is outlined in the marketing plan —a document that details the specific types of marketing activities that a company conducts and contains timetables for rolling out various marketing initiatives.

Marketing strategies should ideally have longer life spans than individual marketing plans because they contain value propositions and other key elements of a company’s brand, which generally hold constant over the long haul. In other words, marketing strategies cover big-picture messaging, while marketing plans delineate the logistical details of specific campaigns.

For example, a marketing strategy might say that a company aims to increase authority in niche circles where their clients visit. The marketing plan puts that in action by commissioning thought leadership pieces on LinkedIn.

Benefits of a Marketing Strategy

The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies by understanding the needs and wants of its consumers. Whether it’s a print ad design, mass customization , or a social media campaign, a marketing asset can be judged based on how effectively it communicates a company’s core value proposition.

Market research can help chart the efficacy of a given campaign and can help identify untapped audiences to achieve bottom-line goals and increase sales.

Creating a marketing strategy requires a few steps. HubSpot, a digital marketing resource, offers insight into how to create your strategy.

• Identify your goals: While sales are the ultimate goal for every company, you should have more short-term goals such as establishing authority, increasing customer engagement, or generating leads. These smaller goals offer measurable benchmarks for the progress of your marketing plan. Think of strategy as the high-level ideology and planning as how you accomplish your goals.
• Know your clients: Every product or service has an ideal customer, and you should know who they are and where they hang out. If you sell power tools, you’ll choose marketing channels where general contractors may see your messaging. Establish who your client is and how your product will improve their lives.
• Create your message: Now that you know your goals and who you’re pitching to, it’s time to create your messaging. This is your opportunity to show your potential clients how your product or service will benefit them and why you’re the only company that can provide it.
• Define your budget: How you disperse your messaging may depend on how much you can afford. Will you be purchasing advertising? Hoping for a viral moment on social media organically? Sending out press releases to the media to try to gain coverage? Your budget will dictate what you can afford to do.
• Determine your channels: Even the best message needs the appropriate venue. Some companies may find more value in creating blog posts for their website. Others may find success with paid ads on social media channels. Find the most appropriate venue for your content.
• Measure your success: To target your marketing, you need to know whether it is reaching its audience. Determine your metrics and how you’ll judge the success of your marketing efforts.

Why does my company need a marketing strategy?

A marketing strategy helps a company direct its advertising dollars to where it will have the most impact. Compared with the data from 2018, the correlation between organization and success in marketers jumped from being almost four times more likely to almost seven times more likely in 2022.

What do the four Ps mean in a marketing strategy?

The four Ps are product, price, promotion, and place. These are the key factors that are involved in the marketing of a good or service. The four Ps can be used when planning a new business venture, evaluating an existing offer, or trying to optimize sales with a target audience. It also can be used to test a current marketing strategy on a new audience.

What does a marketing strategy look like?

A marketing strategy will detail the advertising, outreach, and public relations campaigns to be carried out by a firm, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives. They will typically follow the four Ps. The functions and components of a marketing plan include market research to support pricing decisions and new market entries, tailored messaging  that targets certain demographics and geographic areas, and platform selection for product and service promotion—digital, radio, internet, trade magazines, and the mix of those platforms for each campaign, and metrics that measure the results of marketing efforts and their reporting timelines.

Is a marketing strategy the same as a marketing plan?

The terms “marketing plan” and “marketing strategy” are often used interchangeably because a marketing plan is developed based on an overarching strategic framework. In some cases, the strategy and the plan may be incorporated into one document, particularly for smaller companies that may only run one or two major campaigns in a year. The plan outlines marketing activities on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, while the marketing strategy outlines the overall value proposition.

Walmart Corporate. “ About .”

HubSpot Blog. “ 7 Steps to Create a Complete Marketing Strategy in 2022 .”

i7 Marketing. “ 6 Steps to Develop a Winning Marketing Campaign .”

CoSchedule. “ Trend Report: Marketing Strategy 2022 .”

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50 Ideas for Your 2023 Small Business Marketing Strategy

Published: May 19, 2023

Whether you’re launching a new business or already have one, having a small business marketing strategy that includes a strong online presence for your brand is essential.

Consumers learn about local businesses online more than anywhere else, with Statista predicting the number of ecommerce users to grow to nearly 290 million by 2027 .

If you’re a small business owner with little experience in online marketing, creating a strategy to boost your online presence may feel overwhelming. Have no fear — we’ve got you covered.

In this post, we’ll help you build and optimize your small business marketing strategy using inbound marketing , setting you up to attract new clients and ultimately grow your business.

Small Business Marketing

Marketing is meant to raise brand awareness and build a pipeline of qualified leads that turn into sales. With a small business, getting the word out can be challenging due to less visibility and lack of resources (like budget or time).

However, there are key strategies that can help you scale your small business’s marketing efforts.

Whether you’re struggling with a limited budget, the time restraints caused by a smaller team, or even a lack of direction, a marketing plan appropriate for your business can guide you as you scale.

Small Business Marketing Strategies

• Know your audience.
• Emphasize your value proposition.
• Stay focused on singular goals and objectives.
• Capitalize on short-term plays.
• Double down on what works.
• Understand the power of existing customers.
• Use free promotional tools.
• Create a website to own your online presence.
• Consider blogging to attract prospects for your website.
• Promote yourself on social media.
• Collaborate with influencers to create brand awareness.
• Create short-form video content.
• Stick to a social media posting schedule.
• Invest in ads.
• Make sure you're capturing web prospects’ information.
• Use email marketing to nurture leads.
• Manage relationships with a CRM.
• Lean into word of mouth as a promotion channel.
• Connect with other local businesses.

These strategies are fundamental as you generate awareness and revenue for your organization:

1. Know your audience.

A key mistake is thinking that “anyone” is your buyer. Larger companies may be able to appeal to a wide market, but they say “the riches are in the niches” for a reason.

You’ll have the most leverage as a small business in a niche. And to develop a niche and appeal to buyers within it, you must understand their pains, problems, triggering events, and priorities.

What is pushing them to make a purchasing decision? What does it look like if they succeed? Knowing these things will help you craft messaging that resonates and makes a compelling case for your solution.

Start by thinking about your existing customers and who you’d like to work with. Then, create a buyer persona to get into your ideal client's head.

Download Free Buyer Persona Templates

2. Emphasize your value proposition.

If there’s no difference between you and your competition, there’s no reason why a buyer would be compelled to work with you.

Your value proposition is what will differentiate you from others in your space and make up your prospects’ minds that you're the provider to go with.

What do you do better than anyone in the industry? Conveying this makes a compelling argument.

3. Stay focused on singular goals and objectives.

If you’re exploring the world of marketing, you may have noticed that there are a gazillion directions you can go in. It’s tempting to do it all at once and craft a complicated machine in hopes that you covered all your bases.

However, this strategy makes it easy to take on too much.

Instead, identify where the biggest impact will be. Where is the biggest blind spot in your marketing prohibiting your growth?

Set a performance goal around that one key area and focus your resources on the activities and tactics that will achieve that one performance goal.

You can expand your efforts or pivot to other initiatives when you’ve made more progress toward that singular goal.

4. Capitalize on short-term plays.

Start scrappy. As you scale, it’s critical to see ROI sooner. This will give you the momentum and cash flow to put toward larger projects, long-term plays, and more sustainable growth models.

Tactics that take time to build (such as SEO) are poor fits for your primary initiatives because you won’t see a return soon enough for your liking. If you have enough resources to start there, great. However, don’t put all your eggs in that basket.

If you have evidence that people are taking to Google with purchasing intent for your particular solution, you may find that paid ads will give you that short-term ROI.

5. Double down on what works.

Once you have your initiatives running and you’ve experimented with a few things, pay attention to the data. This can inform you of what’s working. As you scale, it’s a good idea to double down on proven methods of generating revenue.

6. Understand the power of existing customers.

On average, acquiring a new customer costs five times more than closing an existing one. This means you shouldn’t stop marketing once they’ve made a purchase.

Identify your opportunities for repeat purchasing, upselling, and cross-selling. Because your existing customers have already made a purchase, they already know, like, and trust you.

If you’ve provided a good experience, you’ve given them a reason to do business with you again should the need ever arise.

Even if the need doesn’t arise (in cases where it’s a one-and-done purchase with no upsell opportunities), you should still delight your customers. Word of mouth is a powerful (and free) promotional tool.

7. Use free promotional tools.

Speaking of free promotional tools, it’s important to note that since you’ve committed to a limited goal and scope, there’s no need to inflate your overhead with gadgets.

Use free promotional tools where possible, and only commit to paid tools if you know they will drastically improve existing operations or performance. Here’s a helpful list of marketing tools (some free, some paid).

8. Create a website to own your online presence.

A professional-looking website is one of the most important assets you will create for your small business. This is where you will show who you are, what you offer, where you are, and how a potential customer can contact you.

It is a channel you will always own, and it has the capability of generating organic traffic in addition to being a place to send traffic from advertising and other marketing initiatives.

Your website isn’t just a simple brochure, either. You can turn it into a 24/7 salesperson by understanding how to convert traffic and turn them into leads (more on that later).

For one of the best website tools, check out HubSpot’s CMS .

Free Marketing Plan Template

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

• Pre-Sectioned Template
• Completely Customizable
• Example Prompts
• Professionally Designed

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

9. Consider blogging to attract prospects for your website.

Blogging is a great way to generate organic traffic, particularly for those prospects who have not reached a purchasing decision yet . In addition, it can establish credibility in your space and position you as a thought leader.

To start a blog, you can use an inexpensive or free website tool to make a free site and use one of their templates.

Even if you only publish once a week, it will improve your website’s visibility online and help educate your potential customers on why they should trust your company.

If you plan to write your posts yourself, check out this beginner’s guide to writing .

Once you start writing, you can add a call-to-action (CTAs) on your posts for visitors to subscribe to your blog and receive emails.

This is a great way to start collecting leads and offering potential customers a way to get information if they aren’t ready to buy anything from you yet.

Download Free Blog Post Templates

10. Promote yourself on social media.

With billions of potential customers using various platforms daily, social media is a powerful business tool. Social media marketing can help you engage with potential customers, build brand awareness, and promote your products.

Why wouldn’t you want to be seen where your potential customers spend their time?

Download the Free Social Media Content Calendar Template

11. Collaborate with influencers to create brand awareness.

Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook are top of the list when it comes to social media platforms . But, if your small business is not yet well known on these outlets, consider collaborating with well-established influencers in your niche.

Influencer marketing is currently the top marketing trend. Collaborating with influencers is a surefire way to get your business in front of the eyes of your audience. Influencers understand their (and your!) niche.

Not only do they understand the niche, but influencers have a knack for storytelling — meaning, they’ll be able to effectively tell your business’s story and sell your brand to the appropriate audience.

Consider reaching out to influencers in your niche to add to your small business marketing strategy.

12. Create short-form video content.

Marketers know that a good marketing strategy for your small business should include more than just written content. In fact, in 2022, 44% of social media marketers focused their efforts on creating video content for TikTok.

Adding short-form video content to your marketing strategy is a great idea, as platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook make connecting and engaging with your audience convenient.

Short-form video content is easily shared, meaning you can quickly get your product or service in front of the right audience — and their friends.

13. Stick to a social media posting schedule.

You shouldn’t just post to your social media platforms hoping that something will become a viral post. Instead, you must focus on intentional content creation and posting.

After you find the social media platform that works best for your business, create a social media content calendar and stick to a regular posting schedule.

But, don’t just post every day for the sake of posting. 83% of social media marketers say it’s better to post at a lower frequency with high-quality content than daily posting.

You’ll likely post irrelevant, low-quality content when you post daily.

Take the time to create engaging, thoughtful content and schedule it for the appropriate times to stand out from the competition.

14. Invest in ads.

Organic traffic takes a while to build, and as a small business, you want to invest in short-term plays. Pay-to-play tactics that target buyers with high intent are great for short-term wins to jump-start other objectives.

80% of brands use some form of paid advertisement. Google Ads are perfect if you know that your target audience is searching the web for your product or solution. If they aren’t, you might consider social media ads instead.

Individuals on social media have less buying intent, but with highly targeted ads and enough impressions, you’ll gain the interest of your audience.

Download the Free Advertising Planning Kit

15. Make sure you’re capturing web prospects’ information.

We’ve been talking a lot about visibility and traffic but haven’t really covered how these will help drive revenue yet. One simple way to start generating leads or customers from your website is to implement a conversion tool.

A simple, free option is HubSpot Marketing Free . By using this tool to add a pop-up widget to your website , you can start collecting the email addresses of potential customers.

From there, you can send out promotions and offers and convert them into paying customers. You can also implement any of these 24 conversion tools to help you optimize your website and use it to drive leads.

16. Use email marketing to nurture leads.

Just because you’ve converted website traffic into leads doesn’t mean those leads are ready to buy yet. It’s important to stay top of mind and move them closer to a purchasing decision.

Email marketing is a critical part of your marketing toolkit, and it is the most effective method of marketing. In fact, 73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email.

This strategy is an easy, free, and scalable way to communicate with both new and existing customers.

Once you have an email marketing tool in place (many are inexpensive or even free), experiment with emailing out newsletters (with your sleek new blog posts) and other promotions to your database.

We know small business owners don’t have tons of free time to devote to digital marketing, so consider using marketing automation to make this process even easier for yourself.

To get started planning your email marketing strategy, check out this guide and template from HubSpot .

17. Manage relationships with a CRM.

Email marketing works best when you’re sending personalized, targeted emails. This begins with a customer database or customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Your CRM stores information about your leads, prospects, and customers so that you can keep track of customer interactions and identify sales opportunities more effectively.

HubSpot has one of the best CRMs (and, best of all, it’s totally free).

18. Lean into word of mouth as a promotion channel.

As mentioned previously, delighting customers can have a big impact on your business, primarily in repeat purchases and word of mouth.

If you provide a great experience, your customers will be more inclined to leave reviews, give testimonials, and tell their friends about you.

That’s why measuring customer satisfaction and encouraging customers to spread the word is a good idea.

19. Connect with other local businesses.

Take your business to the local community and connect with other local business owners in your area. Consider partnering with local businesses to create discounts, deals, or coupons for customers.

Start a live stream with local business owners during a promotional event or coordinate a giveaway.

Connecting with other small businesses is both great for word of mouth and collaboration. If you collaborate with other local businesses, advertise the promotion or sale on your social media outlets.

Online Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

Now that we’ve covered the basics, here are tips for improving whichever marketing strategies you choose.

• Determine your brand's identity.
• Identify your buyer persona.
• Design a logo and other assets.
• Build your website with a CMS template.
• Draw up a go-to-market strategy.
• Hire a freelancer to help you scale your content.
• Consult agencies and freelancers for web design help.
• Track your site with analytics tools.
• Boost your Google ranking with SEO.
• Research keyword opportunities.
• Optimize your website for mobile devices.
• Write optimized blog posts.
• Experiment with photo and video content.
• Launch business pages on Facebook and Yelp.
• Build out your social media strategy.
• Use social media for customer service.
• Build interesting landing pages.
• Plan an email marketing strategy.
• Offer coupons in newsletters or on landing pages.
• Share your distribution channels on your website.
• Offer a free webinar.
• Try co-marketing.
• Encourage happy customers to share their experiences.
• Try out marketing experiments.

1. Determine your brand’s identity.

A consistent brand identity to promote your business will make you look more professional and help you attract new customers. According to a 2020 study, nearly 9 out of 10 people are brand loyal .

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has described a company’s branding as “what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

In other words, your brand is people's feelings and emotions when hearing your company name. It combines your brand name, logo, aesthetic, and the design of all your assets, plus the values you support, which is becoming more important to consumers .

2. Identify your buyer persona.

When you imagine a customer searching for your product or service, what are they like? What are their pain points? What is their job? Creating a buyer persona that tells the story of your ideal customer can help you optimize a website for them.

By learning more about your target customer through creating a buyer persona, you can better figure out what types of things they may be searching for so you can include those terms on your website.

3. Design a logo and other assets.

To start getting the creative juices flowing, consider your color scheme and peruse palettes with Adobe Color or Coolors . You can create your own or look through pre-made or customized color palettes.

To create a logo, I’d recommend checking out Upwork or Freelancer .

There are free and less expensive options for designing your own logo online, although using a freelancer or agency can give you a higher quality product and connect you with a designer who can change and update your brand assets as your company grows.

4. Build your website with a CMS template.

If you’re a tech-savvy small business owner, you’ll probably want to build your own website. A content management system (CMS) makes the process simple.

Most CMSs offer customizable templates for your site that you can get for free or for a small fee. There are templates for various skill levels — from beginner all the way to advanced.

Once you’ve created your website, most CMS platforms offer plugins to help you optimize your content for search (look for SEO plugins). This will help you rank better in Google — which we’ll discuss more in-depth in a bit.

5. Draw up a go-to-market strategy.

Once you’ve activated all the tools you need to promote your product or service, you’ll need to create a promotional plan that aligns with the customer journey.

Consider which content will attract, engage, and delight your prospects and how you will convert them into a customer.

To help you plan out this process, use this template.

6. Hire a freelancer to help you scale your content.

If you need help creating regular blogs or promotional content, consider hiring a freelancer over investing in a full-timer. Try Upwork for a freelance blogger, videographer, or photographer.

You could also consider hiring a marketing agency for a larger project.

7. Consult agencies or freelancers for web design help.

If you aren’t technical and want a website built for your small business, you can use a freelancer or a marketing agency specializing in web design.

This is a great option for businesses with an existing website that needs to be updated and revamped for SEO to help improve your Google ranking.

To find a freelancer or marketing consultant in your area, you can use Upwork (filtering by design/creative), Codeable (for WordPress experts), or Freelancer .

8. Track your site with analytics tools.

If you’ve never made a website and aren’t entirely comfortable with the technical elements, many free tools and services can help you get started.

When you create your website, implement Google Analytics or HubSpot Marketing Free (both of which are free products) so you can easily track who’s looking at your site.

9. Boost your Google ranking with SEO.

If you already have a business, have you ever searched for yourself or your product/service online? If so, did you think, “Why isn’t my website showing up on Google?”

If so, you probably thought, “How do I rank on Google?” or “How can I improve my Google ranking?”

There are a lot of factors that play into why a certain site or page appears in the top spots on the Google (or another search engine) search engine results page ( SERP ).

Backlinko reports some of Google’s top factors, which include having relevant keywords (and their placement on your site), the length of your content, having high-quality content, how fast your page loads, how often you post content, and more.

When it all boils down, Google tries to find the best content to present to the person searching.

For example, if I’m searching for the best salon in Newport, Rhode Island, it wouldn’t be helpful for me to find a web page of a salon that has closed down and is located in Newport, Kentucky.

It would, however, be helpful for me to find a salon in my area with great Yelp reviews, an easy-to-navigate website, and contact information readily available.

Google always wants to surface the most relevant, highest-quality piece of content.

To rank higher on Google, you can leverage the power of SEO . To start learning everything there is to know about this powerhouse marketing tactic, check out The Ultimate Guide to SEO.

HubSpot explains SEO as “techniques that help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

This makes your website more visible to people looking for solutions that your brand, product, or service can provide via search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.”

In other words, it’s the basic concept of structuring your website and blog posts to be in the best shape for appearing first on search engines.

SEO strategy usually consists of a few things. These include buyer persona research , keyword research, and on-page SEO research.

These three areas can help you learn how your target market is searching online and position your business to get discovered by the right people.

10. Research keywords opportunities.

Keyword research is an extension of buyer persona research. You can use the personas you’ve created to search for the best keywords for your brand, then use a tool like KW Finder to find related keywords for your target audience.

Then, you can do some on-page SEO research and optimization. This is where you put those keywords in the correct places on your website — like in the meta description, page titles, and H1 tags.

11. Optimize your website for mobile devices.

Most Google searches are done on mobile devices , so it’s important to have a site that looks clean and is easy to navigate when someone enters it on their smartphone.

A mobile site can also be beneficial for SEO, with search engines like Google, which reward you with a higher ranking if you have a mobile site.

You don’t have to be a tech expert to build a site that looks good on mobile. In fact, most CMS platforms like HubSpot already offer mobile-optimized templates.

12. Write optimized blog posts.

Content and blogging are extremely important for your search engine ranking. The more often your desired keywords appear in your high-quality and helpful content, the more likely you are to appear in search results.

A great way to become an authority on your topic, product, or service is to blog.

Make sure you’re writing with SEO in mind — use these SEO tips for bloggers or leverage a WordPress plugin like Yoast .

13. Experiment with photo and video content.

According to HubSpot Research , more than 50% of consumers want to see videos from brands. Additionally, most social media apps, like Facebook and Instagram, are embracing more visual layouts.

To keep up with these trends, it’s a good idea to make a few marketing videos. If you use these tips , producing a few can be quite inexpensive.

14. Launch business pages on Facebook and Yelp.

If your business is focused on a local area, the most important accounts for you are Facebook, Yelp, and Google’s business feature.

Having high Yelp reviews improves your authority online and helps your search ranking. You can claim your business on Yelp for free, customize your profile, add pictures, and ask for reviews.

The same thing goes for registering your Google business page. You can register your business with Google (for free) and add pictures.

If you’ve ever searched for your business in Google Maps and been disappointed not to see it, it’s because you haven’t claimed it yet!

On Facebook, you can create a Facebook business page so that people can find your location and hours.

For any business, having up-to-date social media accounts will help you be found and engage with prospects.

Create a Twitter account , Facebook page , learn how to use Instagram , create a Pinterest page (if relevant), and use them to discover new clients.

15. Build out your social media strategy.

While Facebook and Yelp will be great tools for local searches and reviews, platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter will offer you even more opportunities to share your posts, content, and promotions.

If your customers can purchase your products or services online, these platforms will also give them another way to find you.

Be sure not to spread yourself too thin by joining too many platforms at once. To make strategizing easier, here’s a guide to the five types of social media platforms and the pros and cons of each.

16. Use social media for customer service.

Once you’re on your chosen platforms, be sure to answer customer or follower questions when they ask them through post comments or direct messages. This will make your company look responsive and credible.

Here are some great examples of how brands have used Twitter for customer service.

If you have the means, consider hiring a social media manager with community management experience.

On top of posting content on a regular schedule, community managers are charged with responding to questions or concerns of followers.

Interested? We published a guide on what it takes to be a great social media community manager.

17. Build interesting landing pages.

A landing page offers your potential customers a free resource in exchange for filling out a short contact information form.

When they receive the resource, they might be even more pleased by your company and more interested in buying the full product.

Because landing pages raise your chances of customer conversion, you want yours to look enticing. To get started, read this landing page guide to learn more about what makes this strategy successful.

Then check out these free and professionally designed templates .

18. Plan an email marketing strategy.

Once you start creating regular content and building out landing pages, you’ll want to share them with the prospects who seem most interested in learning more about your product.

For this reason, we suggest building an email marketing strategy.

While you want to be careful not to bombard those who sign up for your email list with too many emails, you want to send just enough to keep your prospects informed and engaged.

Here’s how our metrics improved when we streamlined our email marketing strategy.

If you’ve never sent regular newsletters before, you can use HubSpot or a number of other affordable tools to create and send an email with a professionally designed template.

Many email tools also offer basic analytics that allow you to track open and click rates.

19. Offer coupons in newsletters or on landing pages.

Placing a coupon in your marketing emails can engage and delight your audience. After buying a product or service at a discounted rate, they might also be more willing to pay full price.

If you have a subscription service, offering prospects a code for a free trial can also be helpful so they can test it out.

20. Share your distribution channels on your website.

Once you have a few social media accounts and a newsletter, connect them to your website so your visitors can follow you.

One way companies do this is to display all of their linked social icons and a newsletter sign-up CTA on all pages of your website. A good place to include these is on the top right corner or the footer of each page.

This way, they’re visible but aren’t distracting from any content.

21. Offer a free webinar.

A webinar allows potential customers to sign up for a short online course hosted by you. These courses are usually between 30 minutes to an hour and allow you to give tips and answer questions related to a topic your brand is familiar with.

While this strategy can help you boost your credibility in your field, it can also offer you potential leads and sales opportunities .

22. Try co-marketing.

Is there a local business in your area that isn’t a direct competitor but offers a product or service to a similar target audience?

Consider working with them on a cobranded campaign where you promote each other on social media, via email, or in your blog.

While you’ll give your partnering company added promotion, it will also allow their fanbase to learn more about you.

23. Encourage happy customers to share their experiences.

When a happy customer talks about how great your company is on social media or a review site, your product or service looks like a good investment.

Even on social media, word of mouth is still a huge factor in someone’s purchasing decision .

If a prospect sees a friend raving about your business on Facebook or if they post a photo of a meal from your restaurant on Instagram, they might be more likely to go.

After all, 71% of consumers are more likely to purchase based on social media referrals .

If customers tell you they love your product, encourage them to share the experience on Yelp, Google, or social.

If you have a physical business, you should place signs up with your account handles so customers know who to tag if they post a picture of your product.

24. Try out marketing experiments.

If you’re interested in a new social platform or a new marketing trend, don’t be afraid to experiment. If an experiment goes well, you could be ahead of the game, and it never hurts to be a thought leader in your industry.

When you experiment with a new marketing strategy, have a solid hypothesis or question in mind. This will keep you focused on the end goal and reduce the desire to chase the next big thing as it comes along.

Also, prepare for your next steps if you get good or bad results. Here’s a quick guide to leading a successful marketing experiment.

Small Business Advertising Ideas

Now that we’ve covered some marketing strategy basics, let’s look into how you can put your advertising dollars to work. Below are some ways to tackle advertising for small businesses.

• Set up Google My Business.
• Consider PPC ads with Google & Bing.
• Run social media ads.
• Sponsor products on Etsy & Amazon.
• Leverage user-generated content.
• Develop a referral program.
• Advertise with your local chamber of commerce.

1. Set up Google My Business.

Creating a free Google My Business profile is a simple first step to helping potential customers find your business. It only takes a few minutes to add your business contact information, business hours, photos, and a list of your services.

Another perk of having a Google business profile is that you don’t need a storefront to create one. Your profile also comes with analytics that can help you better understand how customers are connecting with your business.

Additionally, you can check out and respond to customer reviews and learn what keywords brought them to your business page.

2. Consider PPC ads with Google & Bing.

Using pay-per-click (PPC) ad programs like Google Adwords or Microsoft Advertising can also help drive customers to your business. If you’re working hard on SEO, but are still looking for an extra boost, consider PPC advertising.

With this search engine marketing technique, you use Google AdWords or Microsoft Ads to show up as an advertised listing in search results.

Before you dive into PPC, you’ll want to make sure your landing page is as optimized as possible. If you are paying by the click and those who click on the page don’t convert, you will lose advertising dollars.

To help you get started, read this Ultimate Guide to PPC . Then, use this PPC planning template to create an optimized campaign. You can also use a few handy tools and software to edit, track, and report on your campaigns.

3. Run social media ads.

Most major social media platforms offer affordable advertising options that can help you target your posts to a specific audience.

While many small businesses have been advertising on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for years, Instagram now allows brands to advertise through its Shoppable tool .

Pinterest is also an excellent option for small businesses to advertise. In fact, Pinterest users say the platform has more influence on their purchasing journey than other platforms.

Shopping ads on Pinterst drive three times the conversion of other competing platforms.

4. Sponsor products on Etsy & Amazon.

If you’ve already set up shop on Amazon, you can boost your products by participating in their sponsored products program.

This cost-per-click ad program generates ads from your product listings and automatically targets your ads, making it a great option if you’ve never created a campaign before.

If you’re a maker and sell your wares on Etsy, consider using Etsy Ads to advertise your products. Similar to Amazon, this is a cost-per-click model with a default minimum daily budget of one dollar.

With Etsy Ads, your products will stand out in Etsy Search, category pages, and marketing pages.

5. Leverage user-generated content.

Some of the best advertising you can get is from existing customers. Happy customers can vouch for your brand and add social proof to your marketing campaigns.

Ask your customers to leave reviews, or if they’ve already created content on social media involving your brand, ask permission to share it.

6. Develop a referral program.

Speaking of enlisting the help of your existing customers, you can incentivize them by using a referral program . Offer a discount, free gift, or other perk in exchange for them bringing in new customers.

Referred customers are 18% more loyal than those who aren’t and spend 13% more on purchases. Since these new customers will have been referred to you by someone they know, they’re more likely to have a positive customer experience.

7. Advertise with your local chamber of commerce.

If you have a storefront, advertise with your local chamber of commerce.

Each city is different, but you can typically be featured on their website, promoted on their social media channels, and included in their email newsletter for an annual fee.

It’s a great way to get your brand out there and an excellent opportunity to network with fellow small business owners.

Start Marketing Your Business Today

Small business owners looking for a way to track ROI and brand awareness need digital marketing.

Not only is digital marketing a must-have for promoting your products or services, but optimizing your online assets is also critical to your business’ overall success.

You may have a long road ahead to build your online presence, but any steps you can make will have a huge impact on your business.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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10 Effective Marketing Strategies For Business Growth

Developing a successful marketing strategy is a critical task for overall business success. But knowing what marketing strategies to employ to grow your business can be tricky. That’s where we can help. 

First off, let's debunk the myth that marketing operates in a vacuum. It's not a single, fleeting act but rather an intricate dance of multiple moving parts. Each plays its role at different stages of your journey, from long before a transaction even occurs to the grand finale of converting your customer and everything that’s required post purchase. 

To do this well, you need to have an in-depth understanding of your target audience and offer them something of value. And you need to be offering this at the right time, in the right places and in the right way in order to grow your business. Of course, the activities used to do this effectively will vary between business and industry, but to get the most from your marketing and to reach a wide audience, it’s vital to consider and test out a number of different strategies. 

Here Are 10 Effective Marketing Strategies For Business Growth:

1.social media .

Yes, it’s an obvious one, but it can’t be ignored considering the majority of people are on social media - 60.6% to be exact . Social media marketing presents an opportunity for businesses to get their product or service in front of their target audience and find new customers. Your existing customers will also expect a social presence, whether it’s to answer their questions or show them who you are as a brand. And now more than ever, people use social media like a search engine , so it’s imperative you don’t get left behind. 

Before you jump onto every social media platform going, you first need to figure out what are the right channels to use. Do some research and find out where your target audience hangs out. Is it on TikTok , Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn? Once you know this, then you can research the best types of content to post on each. Whether it’s product-focused, customer testimonials, behind the scene, company culture, or industry-relevant news, make sure you regularly analyse what content works well and what doesn’t. Top tip - an analytics dashboard is a great way to do this. 

Related reading: The 11 Social Media KPIs You Should Really Be Tracking

Top Tips to Grow Your Business Using Social Media 

Show the human side of your brand.

With the emergence of AI tools now, it can be tempting to throw together a social media content calendar using chat GPT. The problem with this is though that you could risk sounding robotic and impersonal. The point of social media is to be social (the clue is in the name) so make sure your brand comes across as authentic and relatable, injecting personality into your posts and comments where possible. 

Use your social media as a useful resource, not a sales channel 

Nobody wants to be sold to constantly. While it’s still useful to post some of your special offers and product-focused content, make sure you don’t overwhelm people with constant sales and pushy offers. Social media is the opportune place to build brand awareness, but this doesn’t happen by shoving your product in people's faces. It happens by sharing valuable, relatable and relevant content that resonates with your target audience. Your social media channels are also the first touchpoint for many potential customers, so you want to entice them in with useful resources, rather than dozens of posts screaming “sell, sell, sell”. 

Be consistent 

Research suggests that consistency is key for social algorithms. Those who have engaged with your content in the past or who follow you, are more likely to be shown your content in future. Maintaining a consistent posting schedule will allow you to increase your followers and engagement, leading to a broader reach for your content. 

2. Get The Most Out of Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool for nurturing and converting leads and still remains one of the most effective ways to reach customers and generate revenue. In order to make the most of email marketing, you need to ensure you have a list of prospects to email in the first place. 

Top Tips to Growing Your Email List:

• Make signing up easy - Ensure there are clear email CTAs on your website or app, landing pages, social channels and anywhere else your customers are to make it easy to sign up. 
• Offer an incentive - People are more likely to sign up for your emails if they are getting something of value in return. Consider giving discounts, vouchers, ebooks or downloadable guides as a reward for signing up. 
• Don’t be too pushy with sales - Just like we mentioned above on social media, don’t spam people with sales emails constantly. Provide value in your emails, sharing top tips, how-tos, industry news and anything else that would be of interest to those on your email lists. 
• Segment your lists - Create different lists based on a range of criteria for example interests, behaviour or demographic information and send different emails to each list. For example, you might make a list of people who have purchased a specific product, then email them to recommend another product that they might be interested in. This type of email will only be relevant to a specific subset of people in your overall list, so there is no point in sending that email to everyone. Another example could be if someone clicks on a specific link, they've clearly expressed an interest in something in particular. Mark that person as a subscriber, so you may market to them later. If someone makes a purchase, mark them as a buyer. Identifying your buyers' and subscribers' interests is critical for segmentation.
• Automate your emails - Any good email service provider (ESP) will have the ability to set up automated email workflows and sequences, which will form part of any good sales and marketing funnel, helping create strong relationships with subscribers. You could set up welcome emails for new subscribers, re-engagement emails for those who haven’t opened your email for a certain period of time, winback emails for those who haven’t bought from you in a certain period of time or feedback emails for those who have bought a product from you. While these are automated, be sure that they sound human and include personalisation tokens such as first name or company name. 
• CTAs - Make sure each campaign has a clear and compelling CTA. This doesn’t always need to be a sale, it can be a website visit, ebook download, social media follow or read more button. Encouraging people to click CTAs within your emails will increase engagement, keeping potential customers interested and more likely to continue opening your emails in future. 
• A/B testing - Split test everything because you never know what will be the most effective until you put it to the test. This can help you better understand what your audience responds to, allowing you to communicate more effectively and sell to your customers.

3. Take Advantage of Co-branding, Affinity, and Cause Marketing

What is co-branding.

Co-branding is a marketing strategy in which two or more companies collaborate to promote and sell a new product or service. The result is that consumers are often prepared to spend extra because the brands give their collective credibility to raise the impression of the product or service's value. 

You also have the opportunity to use the other brands' existing customer base, meaning you can grow your market share by gaining a new demographic of customers in new locations and regions. Co-branding can be an expensive strategy, however, when the costs are split across both brands, it can be a much more achievable and worthwhile strategy to grow your business. You will also be presented with a great learning opportunity as you will be doubling your resources, which means double the knowledge base to help you both grow.  

A great example of this is when BMW partnered up with Louis Vuitton to design an exclusive, four-piece set of suitcases that fit perfectly into the BMW i8 sports car's back parcel shelf. 

Source: Louis Vuitton

What is Affinity Marketing?

Affinity marketing, on the other hand, is a collaboration between complementary brands and businesses and brings together people who share similar interests. Examples include coffee shops that sell goods from a local bakery, car repair shops that offer a discount on local car insurance companies or an airline company partnering with a hotel to offer package deals. 

Red Bull and GoPro are both associated with high-adrenaline adventures, so it seems only fitting that they have a partnership together. The GoPro brand gains access to more than 1800 Red Bull events across more than 100 countries and includes content production, distribution, cross-promotion and product innovation. The partnership works because both brands share similar interests in high energy, extreme sports so they are a natural fit for each other and their target audiences. 

Source: GoPro

What is Cause Marketing?

Cause marketing is a partnership between a for-profit company and a non-profit organisation. The aim is to promote and benefit social and other charity causes, leveraging and improving brand reputation. It offers several benefits to both parties including increased brand loyalty, positive PR, getting ahead of competitors and building trusting relationships with customers. Marketing relationships like these give customers the feeling that you share their goal to make the world a better place. 

Bandcamp Fridays is a great example of cause marketing. On designated Fridays, online music distributor Bandcamp waives its artist fees in order to support the independent artists who use their platform. 

4. Start Blogging For Your Business

Anyone can start a blog, but If you're going to blog (especially as a business), be sure you're doing it effectively. Similar to what we said about social media, you should consider how you can add value for your customers. The goal with business blogs isn’t selling, it’s providing useful content that will position you as a thought leader. This is one of the most effective marketing methods for any company and comes with a heap of benefits. 

Benefits of Starting a Company Blog:

Driving traffic to your website: .

By regularly posting and updating relevant content to your blog, you can attract more visitors to your website. It’s vital however that you create content that attracts your target audience and you utilise SEO methods to ensure your blogs are getting in front of the right people. Focusing on keywords with a high search volume but low competition from other content creators will increase the likelihood of your content ranking highly on search engine results pages (SERPs). In fact, blogging leads to 55% more website visitors . 

Lead generation: 

Once you successfully have visitors to your blog, you can use this opportunity to capture them as leads. By adding pop-ups or gated content like downloadable ebooks or guides, you can capture basic information like the names and email addresses of your target audience in return for the free content. 

Reusable content: 

You can repurpose your blogs as a valuable source of content to share on your social media channels and email campaigns, creating a valuable opportunity to create engagement with your target audience.

Cost effective marketing: 

Blogging is a relatively inexpensive method of inbound marketing compared to some other forms of marketing, and once published can always be updated and used in future, providing long-term marketing value. 

Establish authority: 

If you consistently post high-quality, useful and educational content on a specific subset of topics within your industry, you can establish credibility and demonstrate your expertise. This helps to create trust with your audience. Share your articles on networks like Medium, Quora, Reddit and LinkedIn to reach as many people as possible. 

5. Use Videos as Marketing Tools

Video is a quick and effective way to get your message through to your audience. 86% of marketing professionals reported that they used video as a marketing tool, and 78% of those say that video has directly increased sales for their business. 86% said videos helped to boost traffic to their website. Video is a great way to demonstrate to your customers exactly how you can solve their problems. It is also extremely effective for brands with complex ideas, concepts or product features - the adage is "show, don’t tell" for a reason However, not every video needs to be pushing your product. Think outside the box and make entertaining videos that both inform and entertain i.e. how-to videos, customer reviews, behind-the-scenes, tutorial-style videos or even animated videos. 

Where you host your videos is also important. You can't ignore YouTube's visibility and reach - it is the world’s second-largest search engine . That’s because YouTube is used in the same way as Google, where people search for solutions and answers to their questions. Use your videos to answer these questions by offering valuable, useful information, and solving a problem for your audience. The more value you provide, the faster you will be able to increase your visibility, and as a result, your sales. Not only will this help to market your business and establish a great social presence but also help you earn money through YouTube. Once you’ve started with this strategy, you can diversify further and add content to various platforms so that you can market as well as  monetize your videos even without YouTube and are not dependent on any specific platform.

Like blogs, your videos can be repurposed across your social channels to increase visibility and embedded directly within the blogs themselves. 

Video production doesn’t have to be an expensive task. All you need is an idea, a camera and an online video editor to help you put everything together. Video marketing doesn’t have to be limited to just YouTube. If you’re not considering TikTok, you probably should. In 2022, TikTok was the second most downloaded app globally, so there’s a pretty high chance that your audience are using TikTok. We’ve written a full blog dedicated to starting a company TikTok channel, so check it out here .  

6. Start Creating Podcasts

Podcasts are an excellent marketing tool as they are generally a low-cost way to reach new audiences, engage with customers and build brand authority. They can be used to position your company as a thought leader while disseminating information about your products. 

We think the best way to do this is to engage in brand storytelling, a well-known communication structure to engage customers emotionally. Rather than simply regurgitating statistics and data, storytelling allows you to tell a compelling story about your business, what it does, what it values, what you value as a business leader, how you engage and contribute to your community, and how you resolve issues and problems. Adding that sort of human impact to your brand stories will emotionally affect your target audience, helping them engage with your business.

Podcasting  offers a much more personal way to engage with audiences. Listeners often feel a stronger connection after hearing someone's voice, their stories and get a sense of their personality. Podcasts present a great opportunity to create a loyal base of listeners, who are most likely to trust and recommend your brand to others. Just remember to create high-quality, engaging content that your target audience will be interested in. Identify their pain points, interests and goals, and create content that is specific to each. 

Collaboration is also a great strategy for podcasting. By collaborating with other brands and inviting guests on to your podcast, you can also reach new audiences. Fans of your guest speaker are likely to tune into your podcast, giving you the opportunity to expand your audience, similar to affinity marketing as mentioned earlier. 

7. Understand the Power of SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) might be intimidating, but it can also be extremely effective. And when you know how to master SEO properly or you have the help of an SEO agency, the sky truly is the limit. 

SEO is the process of improving your website so that it performs better on search engines like Google and Bing. The thinking behind it is, the better your visibility or ranking on these search engines, the better your overall website traffic will be. 

There are generally two types of SEO:

• Technical SEO: This is optimising the technical aspects of your site like load time and URL structure.
• On-site SEO: This is what people most often think of, and refers to the content on your website. Think of keywords and blog content. 

One of the reasons people are hesitant to engage with SEO beyond not having the right knowledge, is the shady history of some SEO tactics. Previously, some companies focused on how to "trick" Google with dubious private blog networks ( PBNs are websites that exist only to provide backlinks ) and other link schemes. These are known as black-hat SEO tactics, and while they may produce short-term results, it will get you in hot water in the long run.  Using these types of strategies can actually get you banned from Google, essentially tanking any SEO chances you may have. And it’s not easy to rectify. 

So how do you implement SEO properly? Prioritise your audience. Google specifically has updated its algorithm to prioritise helpful content, so make sure you are publishing quality content. And don't overuse keywords - this is one of the most common blunders people make. While they are important, it’s more important to create content that is readable and not stuffed with repetitive words and phrases. Also, create material that is both human-friendly and search engine-friendly. This is especially important in the world of generative AI. While Google won’t specifically punish you for using AI, human-centric content is generally thought of as better. Most importantly, be sure that whatever you're saying is entertaining, informative, unique and it delivers value to your audience.

Remember that search engines will direct your content to a user's search result page if you optimise the content you offer on your website, blog, or YouTube channel. SEO allows you to increase organic traffic to your website and improve your ranking in search results.

9. Use AI 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will know that AI seems to be more popular than ever, and for good reason as when used effectively, it can help businesses grow substantially. While integrating AI into your strategy might seem daunting, it can offer several advantages to help grow your business. Here are just some ways AI can improve various processes in a business, freeing up valuable time and resources to be able to focus your efforts on growing your company.

Benefits of AI for Marketing:

Accelerated decision-making: AI algorithms possess the capability to quickly process and analyse large volumes of data, far outpacing human capacities. This means business leaders can quickly make data-backed decisions, increasing operational efficiency and minimising periods of inactivity.

Effective personalisation: Through the analysis of customer data, AI can better understand customer behaviour and preferences, and suggest the most relevant products and offers, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

Enhanced customer service: AI-powered chatbots can provide instant customer support 24/7, answering frequently asked questions, guiding users into making a sale, reducing wait times and improving overall customer experience. This reduces waiting times, improves customer experience and frees up valuable time for your customer support team to focus their efforts on more challenging or complex customer support enquiries. 

Content generation: AI can help to create blog posts, social media captions and even your email campaigns. Just remember that relying completely on AI to create content can be risky. It doesn’t always understand the context of the prompts you give and can make your brand sound very robotic and impersonal. Always proofread and edit content generated by AI to fit your brand. 

Accurate demand forecasting: AI models can analyse historical sales data, market trends, and external factors to provide accurate demand forecasts. By predicting future demand accurately, businesses can optimise their inventory levels, reduce the costs they have tied up in unused stock, and minimise the risk of stockouts or overstock situations.

10. Referral marketing  

If a friend recommended a brand to you, chances are you are much more likely to purchase from them, rather than if you just saw an ad for that brand, right? That’s what referral marketing assumes anyway. The concept of referral marketing is that existing, satisfied customers recommend your company to their friends and family, with the aim of generating new customers for the business. You can’t rely alone on the good intentions of your existing customers, however, so you need to actively encourage the referrals, usually by incentivisation. This could be by rewarding them with cash back, discount codes, vouchers or service upgrades. For example, online cloud storage company Dropbox rewards customers who have referred someone else with 1 GB of extra storage space.

Source: Nielsen

In the ever-changing world of business, mastering effective strategies is critical for sustainable growth. From harnessing the power of social media to embracing the personalised touch of AI-driven campaigns, the strategies explored in this blog provide a comprehensive toolkit to get you started. By adapting these approaches to your unique goals and industry, you can create a compelling brand presence, foster meaningful customer relationships, and seize opportunities for business expansion. Remember, the key lies in continuous adaptation, experimentation, and analysing your results. All the information you gain from analysing, tracking, and measuring will help you find areas for improvement. This will also help you understand the ROI of your marketing strategies. One of the best ways to track this is by using a Hurree dashboard. Get started with your free trial today . 

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10 Small Business Marketing Strategies That Actually Work Avoid the pitfalls of small business marketing and achieve long-term goals by choosing the right strategies.

By Christian Nwachukwu • Feb 21, 2022

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

As a small business owner, you know your vision and plan matter. To start a successful business, you'll need an ironclad business plan that includes financials and a marketing plan.

If you're a small business owner, then you know that marketing can be tough. It seems like everyone is competing for attention, and it's hard to stand out from the crowd.

Related: How To Write A Business Plan | Entrepreneur.com

Whether you handle marketing yourself or you have a marketing department, some strategies can increase visibility to boost awareness for your brand. Ready to learn more? Keep reading for 10 small business marketing strategies that work.

1. Know how to target your audience

When it comes to marketing your small business, it's essential to target the right audience. By developing a strategy that focuses on your ideal customer, you'll be able to reach more people who are likely to be interested in what you have to offer. So how do you go about doing this? Here are some tips for targeting your audience effectively:

• Know your target market
• Define your niche
• Research your competition
• Create buyer personas
• Use in-depthdemographic data
• Segment your audience
• Tailor your marketing messages
• Don't forget offline marketing

Related: 6 Ways to Market Your Small Business for Less Than $100

2. Leverage cold email marketing

When it comes to small business marketing, cold emailing is one of the most effective strategies. It's a great way to connect with potential customers who may not be familiar with your business. Here are a few tips for using cold email to market your small business:

• Start by creating a list of potential customers.
• Research the companies you want to target and find out who the decision-makers are.
• Draft a personalized email that introduces your business and explains why you think the contact would be a good fit for your products or services.
• Send the email and follow up with phone calls if necessary.
• Keep track of your results and adjust your strategy as needed.

Related: Email Marketing - Entrepreneur

3. Advertise your business online

When it comes to advertising your business, there are several different strategies that you can use. However, not all of these strategies will be effective for your business. To find the best digital marketing strategy for your small business, you need to do some research and try out a few different tactics.

One of the most popular online marketing tactics is social media advertising. This involves using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote your business. You can create ads that target specific demographics, or you can simply post about your business on your social media apps.

Since most people are on their mobile devices frequently, using social media posts or Google Ads to promote your brand may be a better marketing idea than using direct mail efforts. The internet also functions as the hub of word-of-mouth marketing, with in-person experiences being reflected on review and referral sites like Yelp.

Related: 4 Free Small Business Marketing Tools

4. Use influencers to build brand awareness

When it comes to marketing your small business, you can't afford to overlook the power of influencers. Influencers are individuals with a large online following who can sway the opinions of their followers. In other words, if an influencer promotes your product or service, their followers are likely to take notice.

There are several ways to work with influencers to build awareness for your small business. One option is to reach out to them directly and ask them to join a marketing campaign to promote your product or service. Another option is to partner with an influencer marketing agency that can connect you with influencers who are a good fit for your brand.

Related: What to Know About Influencer Marketing in 2022

5. Connect with local businesses

One of the best ways to market your small business is to connect with local businesses. When you partner with other businesses in your area, you can share resources and promote each other to your customer base. You can also collaborate on marketing initiatives and events.

To connect with local businesses, start by networking with other business owners in your community. Attend business events and join online forums and groups that focus on local business collaboration. You can also reach out to local businesses directly and offer to collaborate.

6. Offer incentives and discounts

This can be in the form of a percentage off your products or services or even a free item with purchase. You can also offer loyalty programs, which give customers rewards for continued patronage. Whatever incentive or discount you choose to offer, make sure it's something that your customers will find valuable.

7. Build an email list

Building an email list isn't hard. It doesn't take much time or any special skills to do, and once it's done, it saves you a lot of time in the future. Here are some ideas for building your initial newsletter subscribers:

• Offer something valuable (and usually free) like a white paper, eBook, free webinar, or coupon code for joining your mailing list
• Ask people who complete certain forms on your website to opt-in to receive updates from you via email
• Use social media platforms to post about how excited you are about launching your new products/services and share where to sign up for them using links that lead directly to the sign-up form
• Include a sign-up form on all of your website pages and blog posts

8. Automated marketing

Running a small business can often be an all-hands-on-deck situation, especially as you start up. Because you and your employees have so much to juggle, automation might be just what you need to boost efficiency and increase communication consistency.

Automation can also help you and your team take back your time, as it can provide more freedom for job tasks, collaboration, and creativity.

Consider automation platforms for:

• Social media content calendars
• Email marketing (eCommerce shopping carts and abandoned carts, and email list blasts)
• SMS notifications (loyalty program, discounts, and shipping notifications)

9. Invest in search engine optimization ( SEO )

Another popular online marketing strategy is search engine optimization (SEO). This involves optimizing your website so that it appears higher on search engine results pages. By investing in SEO, you can improve your website's ranking in search results and attract more visitors.

There are many different SEO techniques that you can use, and it's important to choose the right ones for your business. If you have a limited budget, you may want to consider using online marketing tools like Google AdWords or Facebook Ads. These tools allow you to target specific audiences with your ads, which can help you save money on advertising costs.

If you have a small marketing budget, check out these five affordable small business SEO softwares:

10. Blog about the latest trends and events related to your business niche

Blogging is a great way to connect with customers and share information about your business. When you blog about the latest trends, news stories, and events related to your business niche, potential customers can learn more about you and what you offer. This can help you attract new customers and build trust with existing customers.

Related: Top Social-Media Marketing Essentials for Small Businesses

Ready to build your small business?

As you continue to grow your small business, your marketing efforts matter. You need to understand your target audience, create multiple marketing channels, maintain consistent content marketing efforts, and follow a messaging system that aligns with your brand's mission.

Visit Entrepreneur today for more marketing tips , customer experience ideas , and how to analyze your marketing platform metrics .

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Writing a marketing strategy and plan

Marketing strategy and planning set the foundation for everything you do. Doing it right enables you to focus your time and budget on the right marketing programs to reach your goals.

Video: Writing a marketing strategy and plan

Watch our video to help you understand why a marketing strategy is the key to what your business stands for.

Topics include:

• why it's important to write or update your marketing strategy
• why strategy must come before tactics
• the 7Ps of marketing and the marketing mix
• a step-by-step model to create a marketing strategy.

Effective marketing should be:

• based on your business plan and goals and shaped by your business strategy
• guided by a clear process and practical know-how.

Marketing strategy and planning set the foundation for everything you do. Start with your marketing strategy, then develop a marketing plan to make it real.

Your marketing strategy outlines the why and the what:

• why you're in business
• what you want to achieve.

It sets out your long-term marketing approach.

Your marketing plan describes the how and the when. It:

• is the tactical roadmap to make your strategy happen
• describes your short-term initiatives in the current year.

Having a clear marketing strategy and plan delivers significant benefits for your business. It will help to:

• keep your marketing efforts focused
• connect with the right customers
• make the most of your investment
• measure and improve your results.

Templates for developing your marketing strategy and plan

Choose one of these downloadable templates to customise and complete:

• a one-page marketing strategy template (a concise option, pictured)
• the Marketing Strategy and Plan section in the business plan template (a more comprehensive option).

Develop your marketing strategy in 6 steps

Your marketing approach influences the way you run your business, so it's important to consult your internal team and external partners.

As you work your way through the steps, capture your insights and findings in the relevant templates.

Know your market

Start by capturing insights about your industry and customers.

Market research is an essential part of your marketing strategy. It:

• involves gathering and analysing information about your customers and industry, such as size, growth and trends
• helps you to know more about your customers and the current and future demand for your products and services.

There are 3 main ways to do research:

• desktop research—accessing existing information that is readily available online from credible sources
• quantitative research—using questionnaires to get responses from a specific audience and interpreting the data
• qualitative research—using interviews, discussions or focus groups to explore themes in more detail.

You can do the research yourself or hire an external agency to carry out the research. Find out more about researching your market .

Know your business

Next, you need an honest appraisal of your business from an internal perspective.

A SWOT analysis can be a useful way to assess where you stand in your market relative to competitors. It highlights the major obstacles and business drivers and provides the direction necessary to:

• build on s trengths (S)
• minimise w eaknesses (W)
• seize o pportunities (O)
• counteract t hreats (T).

This diagnostic tool can help you uncover foundational insights to guide your marketing strategy.

Learn more about SWOT analysis and complete the template .

Based on your business plan and goals, the next step will be to define marketing objectives that are:

• measurable.

These objectives will typically have a financial or communication focus and may cover different areas, such as:

• building brand awareness
• shifting customer perception
• generating business leads
• increasing sales volume
• improving customer retention
• boosting customer satisfaction.

It's important to be as clear as possible so you can effectively measure the outcomes. Make sure that each of your marketing objectives meet the SMART criteria:

• Specific—state clearly what you want to achieve.
• Measurable—you must be able to measure and monitor your results and progress.
• Achievable—take your skills and resources into account.
• Relevant—focus on areas that will improve your business.
• Time-bound—set a timeframe to achieve the outcomes.

To measure and report your progress towards your marketing objectives, you should identify and define key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs are quantifiable metrics (indicators that can be measured) that are meaningful for your business, such as:

• cost per acquisition
• customer lifetime value
• unique website visitors
• social media engagement.

Read more about tracking your digital performance .

You'll know when your marketing objectives are right when they:

• motivate you and your team
• enable you to track your business performance.

Review regularly

Review and adjust your marketing objectives based on your progress.

A classic and effective marketing framework is commonly known as STP:

• segmentation
• positioning.

To become a customer-focused business , you need to find ways to get and use insights into your market.

As a starting point, summarise the findings from any customer research you've done. This will reveal:

• customer attitudes and behaviours in your industry
• current and future needs for products and services.

Based on this analysis, follow these steps to define your target segments:

• Choose the most appropriate way for you to segment the market (e.g. demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioural).
• Prioritise target segments based on relevant criteria for your business (e.g. potential value, brand differentiation, ability to serve).
• Document a profile for each of your preferred target segments and then create personas to bring these to life in a meaningful way.

Action item: segment your market

• Discover more about market segmentation .
• Download and complete the customer profile chart .

Your business most likely operates in a competitive market. Customers are typically spoilt for choice. That's why it's essential to establish your brand positioning in a way that achieves sustainable competitive advantage.

As part of your marketing strategy, you should maintain a profile of your key competitors. You can:

• talk to people who might have relevant information, for example, your sales teams and business partners
• review their digital presence, for example, website, social media
• collect readily available marketing material and price lists
• read online ratings and reviews from their customers
• purchase products and services at their premises or online.

If you don't know where to start, find out how to do market research .

Find information about each of your key competitors':

• products and services
• pricing model
• customer service
• supply chains
• brand difference
• marketing approach.

Use this information to help identify what sets your business apart.

• How do you meet the current needs of your customers better than the competition?
• How can you better meet the future needs of your customers?

Competitor profile chart

An easy way to better understand your competitors is to complete a competitor profile chart.

• download the print-optimised version of the competitor profile chart to fill out and save for future reference
• use the online template to profile your competitors .

Legal obligations

Make sure your business complies with competition laws .

Brand positioning is much more than just your name or logo. This is your business purpose. It's why you exist. It’s about making sure that your communications, culture and customer experience are all working together in harmony.

The ambition is to build a distinctive brand. This is about what you want to:

• be known for
• want to own in the hearts and minds of your customers.

It will guide everything you do and don't do.

Work through the guidelines to help build your business brand .

It's also beneficial to define your value proposition. In simple terms, it's a statement of the benefits you provide in exchange for payment. Think of this like a win-win for your business and your customers. It explains:

• the promise of value you will consistently deliver to customers
• how your business model meets the needs and wants of customers.

Your value proposition will look closely at the problems you are solving for customers.

Remember to look at your value proposition in terms of the current situation and the ideal future. This will help you to prioritise future improvements.

Discover more about how you can bring your value proposition to life.

You can identify your high-priority marketing programs based on your:

• marketing objectives
• target segments
• brand positioning
• competitive analysis.

Think about these as your strategic themes.

For example, imagine you're running an innovative online store. Based on your analysis of the current situation and assessment of future opportunities, you might identify 4 marketing programs you need to drive growth:

• review and relaunch the brand
• increase new customer acquisition
• grow value though cross selling or upselling
• boost customer loyalty and advocacy.

These work packages will then direct your marketing actions and determine where you'll focus your marketing efforts. Be focused and consistent. If you're doing something outside of these themes, ask yourself why.

Checklist: from strategy to planning

Make sure you've completed the 6 steps discussed above before moving on to your marketing plan:

• I know my business and the current market.
• I've set clear, realistic, and measurable marketing objectives.
• I've defined meaningful target segments.
• I've defined my business's distinctive brand.
• I've completed an analysis of my competitors.
• I've identified the marketing programs I need to focus on.

Translate your strategy into your marketing plan

Once you have a marketing strategy, you can extend it into a marketing plan. The marketing plan reflects and builds on your thinking. It's your roadmap to get where you want to be.

A marketing plan:

• is a practical and detailed document
• sets realistic and measurable activities.

It's about the execution of:

• tactics (methods)

A structured and documented marketing plan has many benefits. It:

• takes the guesswork out of your marketing
• keeps your marketing activities targeted
• ensures that you can monitor your success.

Don't try to do everything at once. Adopt a phased approach based on the skills, time and staff you have available.

Your marketing plan will be implemented repeatedly and change over time. There are different stages to this process:

• Write your marketing plan.
• Implement marketing tactics.
• Measure against key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Refine your marketing plan.

To successfully achieve your marketing strategy, you'll need to:

• identify the tactics (methods) you want to use
• be able to describe these tactics
• be clear on why they're appropriate.

Remember: your tactics should address the needs and wants of your customers.

If you need inspiration, you can:

• read about the right combination of the 7 Ps of marketing
• look at the results of your SWOT analysis to identify opportunities.

Follow this 3-step process to guide your thinking:

• Select a marketing program (work package) from the ones you previously identified.
• Refer to the needs of your relevant target segment to make sure you will be addressing these needs.
• Document specific projects you will deliver.

Repeat this process for each of your high-priority marketing programs.

For example, you may have identified the need to increase awareness of 1 of your products amongst young adults aged 18 to 25 who live within 10km of your business. An appropriate tactic could be to implement a geo-targeted marketing campaign:

• across social media, online advertising and local publications
• with a dedicated website landing page to promote the offer.

Don't be scared to test and learn. Test some ideas on friendly customers, partners and employees. Using the right tactics over time will connect with your target segments and ultimately improve your sales results.

Once you've worked through your tactics for each marketing program, you need to turn this into an action plan . The action plan must capture all the actions you need to perform.

For each marketing tactic, list the specific steps required in as much detail as possible. (You can download and use the action plan template below to guide you through the process.) This can include the following fields:

Regularly refer to, and update, your action plan. This will help you to:

• keep track of your work in progress
• manage the implementation of projects.

Great marketing requires great people. The people in your business will determine how successful your marketing is. They need to be involved throughout the process and believe in what they are doing.

Your marketing approach will also inform your sales techniques . Marketing and sales need to work together. Link your marketing KPIs and sales targets.

Make sure you have assigned responsibility for each of the actions in your action plan.

This is the process that allows you to track and report on your marketing performance and make the necessary changes if needed.

Based on your business plan, you have developed a set of SMART marketing objectives. These will most likely be based on the following outcomes:

• financial (e.g. sales numbers)
• communication (e.g. brand awareness).

Within each of your high-priority marketing programs, you have assigned specific KPIs for each tactic. For example, these KPIs could be:

• responses to a targeted direct mail
• number of leads generated from an event.

Before you run your marketing programs, you need to know how you'll measure and evaluate the results. A review of each activity will then help to:

• identify how well your marketing has worked
• show what areas need to improve
• check if the activity gave a positive return on your investment (ROI)
• establish benchmarks that you can strive to outperform in the future.

Continue to review and revise your marketing. For example, on a quarterly basis, you should ask:

• How are we tracking with budget and timing?
• What tactics are working and not working?
• What has changed in the external market?
• What adjustments do we need to make?

Marketing action plan template

Download and complete the marketing action plan template .

This plan also forms part of your larger marketing strategy and plan.

Implement the marketing plan

To implement your marketing plan successfully, you need to confirm you have everything you need to implement it.

Resources and expertise

Ask yourself these questions about your skills and capacity:

• Have you allocated the right budget?
• Do you have the right knowledge and skills in-house?
• Will you need to upskill your current staff or employ new staff ?
• Should you consider engaging an external marketing partner based on your internal gaps?

Depending on the type of business and your marketing strategy, you may need to prioritise training and development. For example, with an online business, this could include website and social media management.

Communication and collaboration

Your staff need to be engaged and committed to make your marketing efforts to work.

• Make sure your staff understand how marketing fits in with your business plan and goals .
• Involve your staff throughout the marketing strategy and planning process.
• Mentor employees who are enthusiastic about marketing and provide opportunities to increase their skills.
• Keep communicating—your business marketing will always be changing and growing.

Also consider...

• View our marketing strategy and planning webinar for information, tips and resources from our Mentoring for Growth mentors.
• Read about how you can expand and retain your customer base by becoming a customer-focused business .
• Find advice on advertising your business .
• Learn more about branding your business .
• Read more about managing public relations and the media .
• Find tips and advice on using direct marketing .
• Learn more about strategy planning with free, online courses .
• Last reviewed: 29 Aug 2022
• Last updated: 22 Mar 2023

The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Strategy: How to 10X Your ROI

It is more important than ever to create and maintain a powerful marketing strategy. Here are the 10 main steps to help you create the ultimate marketing strategy.

Marketing is a dynamic and ever-changing field. The top digital marketing strategies change with the consumer and technology trends of the day. This is why every company needs a good marketing strategy that's well planned and has well defined milestones and objectives. Once you have the right map, the chances you’ll reach the goals you’ve set to your business, are much higher.

That means, that while most of us are eager to start launching our marketing efforts the minute after we decide to start a business, we actually need to invest in planning so we won’t waste our limited budget and energies on the wrong things.

If you're a company / startup owner or marketer you need a good digital marketing strategy to hit your goals.

In this guide, we've put together the 10 main steps that you need to follow to build the ultimate marketing strategy for your business. We will take you step-by-step through the process, so you won’t miss a thing and get your digital marketing strategy all figured out.

We have some very useful tips and examples that will make it easier to understand.

If you want a quick summary of our post, check out this video by Adam Erhart, where he goes over the 4 basic principles of marketing strategy.

And if you want to read up on marketing strategy check out our list of the best marketing strategy books.

Now, let's define some of the basic terms.

What is marketing strategy? 

Marketing strategy is a long-term, forward-looking approach and an overall game plan of any organization or any business with the fundamental goal of achieving a sustainable competitive advantage by understanding the needs and wants of customers.

A marketing strategy is a broad strategy that encompasses everything from how a company positions itself, to the creative, the strategic partners, the media relations, the marketing mix, and the channels and tactics.

A marketing strategy refers to a firm's overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services. It also contains the company's value proposition, key brand messaging, data on target audience and customer demographics, and other high-level elements.

The broad marketing strategy is what used to fall under the term "branding" back in the more ambiguous days of marketing. It's a practical summary of the key details of the strategy and some of the broad goals and methods used to achieve them.

Looking for a top-notch marketing strategy consultant ? We've got the top marketers, vetted by us, hand-picked for your business. Get started today .

What is the difference between a marketing strategy and a tactic? 

Marketing strategies are broader than specific tactics. For example, a business could have a content strategy for their social media channels or for search engine optimization, and then they could have specific tactics they execute for each channel.

Here's the correct order to follow:

Overall marketing strategy -> Digital marketing strategy -> Specific tactics

For example, here's a great video that introduces specific marketing tactics. These aren't strategies, these are very specific ways you could grow your sales, which would all be included as part of a larger set of marketing strategies inside of your marketing plan.

If you're looking for specific tactics head over to our Ultimate Guide on Digital Marketing .

What is the importance of marketing strategy? 

Sometimes marketers and eCommerce owners get lost in the weeds, in the bits and bytes. They lose track of the overall vision of the business and the large goals. They lose track of the target audience and the main pain points that their product solves for the customer. When that happens, the specific tactics that the business employs can lost their effectiveness.

So, a marketing strategy is not some dusty old document that you put on the top shelf and forget about it. It's a vital process of discovering your company's top goals and objectives, and ways to achieve them. That becomes a blueprint for everything you doconsul to better market your product or service.

Let's jump into it.

1. Define your brand value and offering

Your brand strategy is about defining the core values of your brand to make sure that they align with what your prospect and existing customer find important, that they align to your industry trends and competitive environment, and to what you actually offer ie your product.

That’s not an easy task, but without it, all the other marketing tasks become much more difficult.

Here are some good marketing strategy examples from data-driven brands that succeeded in doing it right:

AllBirds - Sustainable, transparent, comfortable

AllBirds began as a darling brand in Silicon Valley in 2014 and quickly grew to a $1.4B valuation in 2018. The shoe company set out to create the world's most comfortable, and they overshot their goal. Their products are fully sustainable, and made out of wool and bamboo, and their branding is impeccable. Their mission statement reads - "Allbirds is on a mission to prove that comfort, good design, and sustainability don't have to be mutually exclusive".

In just four years they became the market pioneers of sustainable footwear. It all started with a launch on Kickstarter, in fact, here's their Kickstarter video:

The brand has a really quirky brand voice, and its values are transparency, sustainability and comfort.

Here's an email with an order confirmation:

You can see the same quirky humorous brand voice in their social media posts.

Besides the humor and the spunky brand personality, the brand has really taken advantage of this concept of transparency. They display the materials they use in a creative way and get down to the fine details.

And that ties really nicely with their overall mission and their third brand value - sustainability.

Ultimately, the quirky brand voice and the incredible brand values of sustainability and transparency lead Allbirds to build a super engaged audience online that has contributed the most to the brand's growth. Yes, it is a really comfortable product (the NY Times called it "the most comfortable shoe in the world"), but without a strong brand and a focus on the user experience, Allbirds would not have been the giant that it is today.

Casper - "here to awaken the potential of a well-rested world"

Casper is a mattress company that has completely revolutionized the industry. They were the first direct-to-consumer mattress company and quickly grew to a $1.1B valuation in 2019.

Casper's brand values are all about dreaming big, innovation, and bringing joy to a tired industry.

Look how they merge the "dreaming big" brand value with a pun about sleeping, in their purchase receipt email.

And here's another great email asking for a review.

Casper's strong brand helped it launch other successful products, like the Casper Glow, which is an innovative bedtime light that changes its light temperature and brightness automatically and can be remotely controlled through an app.

There are a lot of big and abstract words thrown around when talking about brand value creation, so here's a simple way to think about it.

A simple formula to find the right values that define your brand is this:

• Think about the main pain points/needs/frictions your brand is solving
• Translate it into a value-based language
• Make sure it fits your beliefs and motivations

2. Identify customer pain points and expectations

"People don't want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!" - Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business School Professor

One of the top reasons why products or services fail is when their makers fail to identify the customers' pain points. In other words, they don't meet the customer's need or they don't solve a vital problem in their lives. Also, those needs may change over time so it's important to continue examining the customer journey and solve your current customer challenges.

One of the classic examples is the Segway. It was a device that was said to eliminate walking. It could go up to 12.5 miles per hour, had a lithium battery, and made you look like a dork. It was hailed as the device that will make walking obsolete and it failed miserably.

It's a sad story but the creator of the device actually drove it off a cliff and died. The problem with the Segway is that no one wanted to stop walking, people love walking, people loved running, so it failed to meet the customer's need and to identify a pain point.

What are the different types of customer pain points? 

the most basic pain point is financial. Does your product help your customers save money? Is it more cost-effective than the alternatives? Are the savings short-term or long-term? And if your product is cheaper than the alternatives, does that price difference create enough value for the customer? 

These are some of the important questions you should ask yourself. An example of this is Target's launch of the brand Smartly with hygiene/cleaning products all under $2 (approximately 70% less than similar products by other brands).

Convenience

Another really important pain point is convenience. Does your product make your peoples' life more convenient? The classic example of this is Netflix, a brand that became a household name because it was incredibly more convenient than it competitor Blockbuster.

Instead of having to shlep to Blockbuster, for example, and pay all of those late fees customers could now get DVD's straight to their doorstep. Fast forward to 2020, Netflix is worth $203 billion and Blockbuster is is out of business. The company that made me more convenient for people won.

Service is another major factor in solving a customer's pain point. Service refers to the entire customer experience and includes things like - warranty, maintenance, replacements, customer service , and ease of use. A really good example of this is the solar company SolarCity, which was acquired by Tesla in 2016. SolarCity's solar panels weren't cheaper than the competitors they simply had a better warranty and maintenance on them and that's why customers preferred them. This is one of the major drivers that helped SolarCity become the nation's largest residential solar provider.

5 easy steps to identify your customer's pain point

Ok, so we've talked about the type of customer pain points that there are, but how do you identify it for your own company and product? Here are some helpful suggestions that will get you on the right path.

Create a customer journey map

Identify what makes your customers buy your product and how they arrived to your physical or online store. This should include the channels that they visited - a search result, a Facebook ad, a social media post, an email, and other online and physical media. At each stage identify possible pain points and uncover the customer's motivation of using your product. This will also help you evaluate your marketing mix and see if there are any channels that you need to add.

Survey your customers

Another good way to find the customer pain point is by surveying your customers. Ask your customers what they like and don't like about your product and what are some of the factors that led to their choice. There are a ton of survey tools you could use like Typeform or SurveyMonkey .

Look at customer reviews

If you are thinking of launching a new product you should look at the customer reviews of your existing products. These will tell you a lot about your customers' preferences, expectations and pain points. What's particularly powerful for eCommerce sites are visual reviews - photos or videos that customers post alongside the text of their reviews. You can use tools like Pixlee, Yotpo, or Loox to collect and display visual reviews.

Ask your sales team

Another good way to find your customer's pain points is to ask your sales team. After all, your sales people are the ones that hear and have to respond to the objections of your prospects and customers, hence they are the most aware of what people are looking for in your products or services. Sit down and have a discussion with your sales team. Try to find out what your customers like/dislike about your product, what are the issues that they bring up the most, and what makes them turn down the product. If your marketing team interfaces directly with your customers you could also ask them for feedback.

Study your competitors

It's super important to conduct a competitor analysis to analyze the competitor landscape, in any industry. That's how Netflix and Apple began, when they strove to make a product that's better and more innovative than the status quo. Identify where you are, what your market position is . Look at all your competitor products, their marketing mix, the type of promotion and media they publish, and their strategies. Identify the pain points that they are solving and ones that are still unresolved. One strategy is to try to solve the same pain points just better. Another strategy is to go after pain points the remain unresolved, to create something that people haven't seen before.

Use the STP framework

Another effective marketing technique is to use the STP framework. STP stands for segmenting, targeting, and positioning.

Segmenting is where you divide the market into distinct groups (or target market segments). Targeting is where you determine which customer segment you want to focus your marketing efforts on. And positioning is the creation of the brand position, the marketing mix, and other various marketing strategies in order to appeal to your potential customers in your target market and try to influence them to make a purchase decision.

The STP framework helps brands identify the types of marketing channels and strategies that will be required to successfully market their product or service to their customers.

3. Identify market trends and competition

That brings us to our next topic - creating a competitive analysis. This is a crucial step in the marketing strategy plan creation because this is where you will identify what differentiates your product or service from the competition. You can do this through a simple SWOT analysis to determine your brand's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Without this step it's going to be very difficult to create a product that provides unique value to the consumer and stays competitive with the market trends of the day. So this analysis is crucial and this is how you go about it:

Identify your competitors

The first step of any competitive analysis is to find out who your competitors are. Find out all the different companies that have similar products and services. Look at their social media content, search in related or niche online communities, news mentions and product reviews.

Categorize your competitors

Now that you have a detailed list of all of your competitors it's time to categorize them. Put them into different groups - primary, secondary, and tertiary competitors. This will help you get clarity on which of your competitors are directly competing with you and which ones you should focus on in your analysis.

Take a look at their social media and branding

The next step of the competitive analysis is to find out all you can about each competitor. Look at all the various social media pages, the content and the branding that they use on their site and email campaigns. This will give you a visual understanding of their brand positioning and how your product or service differs from theirs. Be sure to check out their influencer marketing campaigns to see the kind of branded image that they try to portray online. Look at their display ads (owned media) and UGC(earned media).

Conduct a site audit to look at traffic sources and positioning

This part is the more technical side of the branding audit. Use a tool like Ahrefs , SimilarWeb , or Alexa to check the keywords that each competitor ranks for and their various traffic channels. This will give you the precise search terms that the user searches for and the specific needs that your competitors meet.

For example, you might discover that a competitor is using a type of media or content that you're not using yet, or a traffic channel that you haven't expanded into. This is super valuable information to have for your online marketing strategy.

Look at their pricing

Use a tool to track competitor prices and see how you compare on various products, categories, and by season. Your cometitors may be using different pricing strategies on holidays, weekends, or busy seasons (depending on your niche) and you can get ahaed just by using a few dynamic pricing rules and tweaking your strategy a bit. So this part of the research is critical.

4. Create your value proposition

Now that you have your story right, it’s time to build the right strategy for your marketing. That means making business decisions about what are you delivering and to whom.

Your product or service tells the most about your brand.

This is the actual hands-on experience prospects and customers have with your brand, and it can affect their perception about it the most.

Use your values to make sure you walk the talk and implement what you said about yourself in your offering.

Here are some examples to help you get the hang of it:

Walmart - translating brand values to service language

IKEA - Brand values & design

Most people will know right away this is IKEA’s products - humble, simple and functional.

5. Identify your target audience

Deciding on your target audience could change the way you present your brand and even the language you use to do it.

We love to use simple models for complex decisions.

We found it is much more effective and fun.

Use this model to map the different target audience groups that you have, and prioritize them accordingly in your audience analysis.

(This is actually one of the models we used to determine our target audiences)

You would want your first tier target audience to have good market potential for business growth and that it wouldn’t be a Via Delarosa to convince them to buy what you have to offer.

This is not the only tool you need to characterize the people you are going to invest most of your marketing spend to reach out to.

The second tool we recommend for you to use is defining your personas - or in other words, asking who is your ideal customer, your target customer, to the smallest details.

To define your main persona you can use this question list:

• Who is my persona? Is he a male or is she a female? What age is he or she? Name your persona and attach a photo so it will be easier for you to plan your messaging accurately.
• What is my persona initial state of mind? - his or her emotions and thought before starting the decision-making process?
• What are the different stages of his or her decision-making process until purchase?

If you’re about to launch a new service or product that prospects or customers are not used to using or buying, you might consider applying this psychology of change model. After all, you’re trying to change people perception here.

Each stage represents a psychological state of mind of people until they reach a decision to take action. You can use the needs that are listed below to create your marketing creative tools that will effectively move your persona to take action.

Identify the following for each stage of the buyer's journey:

• What are your persona’s expectations? What are his goals?
• What process does she go through in this stage? Where does she look for information? Who do they speak with?
• How would you describe the customer's experience at each point of the customer journey?
• What is your objective for each of their decision-making stages?
• What actions can help you achieve these objectives?

Now that you've identified your ideal customers, how are you going to reach them?

That brings us to the next step.

6. Identify partners and potential collaborators

Identifying your potential partners or collaborations is a critical step of reaching your ideal customer. It may be that there are online communities that already exist where your customers hang out. It could be that you need to work with a distributor or get a marketing partner to help you reach them.

This is a critical point to consider before you execute your inbound marketing strategy. Sometimes finding and working with the right partner could give you access and help you achieve 10X the results. This could be through revenue sharing or an affiliate program . It could also be done by social networking at industry events or online conferences.

We’re on the digital marketing portion of our guide and it contains 3 parts - deciding on your creative & messaging, selecting the marketing channels that you’ll be using, and deciding on a strategy and a marketing budget for each channel. 

Let’s dive in.

7. Decide on the messaging and creative of your brand

Most businesses (and especially startups) can’t afford to hire a digital marketing specialist in-house so they use the services of freelancers or digital agencies .

From now on, you have a critical job of guarding your brand’s values and strategy in the messaging and creative you’ll create and the different tactics you’ll use.

That’s what storytelling is about .

Make sure that the service provider you hired is aligned with your brand and the various marketing strategies that you want to employ, so they can apply your strategy to the actual marketing communication you’ll have with your potential customers.

Here are two brilliant brands that keep to their authentic brand strategy throughout their messaging:

National Geographic - how to create the “wow” and “wonder” visually

National Geographic know how to present stunning photography and help us discover the wonders of our world. They constantly keep the language they use on their ads (paid and earned media) to be aligned with these brand values.

8. Define your marketing channels

Now that you have defined your value proposition, your partners, and your creative assets and messaging it's time to select the right marketing channels for your marketing mix. This is one of the most crucial steps of the process of creating your marketing strategy. Each digital marketing campaign will vary greatly based on the marketing channels that you'll pick.

You need to select those marketing channels that fit your brand and your product. Let's cover a few of the main marketing channels and their best practices.

Social media

Social media marketing is a vital part of any digital inbound marketing strategy and there are certainly a lot of things that you could do. Also keep in mind that successful social media campaigns can help you get more traffic from search. Organic social media is used for the awareness stage, or the lead generation stage, of the marketing funnel while a Facebook ad is used for the last stage, or the conversion stage. There are a lot of various platforms and strategies you could use and it's important to pick the right channel for your product. 

Here’s a breakdown of the some of the best and most effective social media channels to use for different type of companies: 

For visual eCommerce products - use Instagram and Pinterest, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter

For B2B companies - use LinkedIn, Instagram, ProductHunt, and Angellist

For B2C companies - use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest

For written content-heavy companies - use Medium, Quora, and Reddit

For GenZ-focused companies - focus on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok

Red Bull is a great example of a brand that has a brilliant social media marketing strategy. Early on they realized that if they wanted to connect to their target consumer they couldn’t just use the traditional marketing and sales campaigns that all the other beverage companies were using. They decided to create videos of athletes breaking world records and doing unthinkable things like jumping off airplanes and falling 23 miles and skiing down the Himalayas. To date, the Red Bull YouTube channel has garnered more than 10 million subscribers and more than 2.5 trillion views. 

This is obviously a very expensive strategy and won’t make sense for most brand marketing budgets, but it’s a good example of a brand sharing success stories and targeting their consumers the right way on social media.

Social advertising 

Ads are becoming more and more popular on social media platforms because the recent algorithm changes continue to favor them and decrease organic reach. After all, that’s how the social platforms make their money so you have to use paid media to get anywhere these days. 

Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram are the most popular platforms for advertising. For B2B you can use Quora, Reddit or LinkedIn. 

Top Advertising Tips:

• Create a lookalike audience on each platform and for each type of campaign that you're running
• Organize your campaigns based on the marketing funnel (top, middle, and bottom)
• Match your copy and designs to your target audience
• Retarget your audience and site visitors on Facebook, Pinterest, and Google.

Paid Advertising

Social media advertising is just a subset of online advertising. Other digital advertising can include native advertising, Google ads, Google shopping, banner ads, and much more. Each ad requires thorough strategic planning to make sure that the messaging and creatives match your market segments to help attract new leads and retain current customers.

If you want to start using ads and are just not sure where to start, we have over 500+ top experts here at Mayple so definitely reach out!

PS: that's our expertise, so don't be shy. Click here to get started.

Influencer marketing

Working with influencers is one of the most lucrative marketing channels you could go into. Studies show that businesses make $5.20 for every $1 that they spend on influencer marketing. And 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations for their purchase decisions. That’s huge. 

That means that on average about half of your customers are going to be searching for influencer posts so it is essential that these people are recommending you and your product online. Now, influencer marketing is different than when your users post image of your product. Influencer shots are called paid media (just like ad campaigns) while user-generated content (UGC) is called earned media.

Top Influencer Marketing Tips:

• Pick influencers based on the type of audience they have, and their level of engagement (not the size of their following)
• Run giveaway campaigns with groups of influencers
• Run stories on Instagram because they are clickable
• Conduct competitor research to see which influencers they are using on all the relevant platforms
• Use YouTube influencers to create videos about your product or service
• Use real data to determine which influencers are your best performers

Email marketing 

This is going to surprise you but the ROI of emails still remains among the highest in all of the different digital marketing channels and platforms. Studies show that email marketing provides a $42 return on every $1 you spend , which is terrific. 

Top Email Marketing Tips: 

• Use UGC or earned media in your campaigns
• Set up email campaigns and email flows (cart abandonment flow, welcome flow, sunset flow)
• Create campaigns with educational content, don't just send constant product promotion
• A/B test different copy and formats based your data to better match your campaigns with your audience

That is not to say that the other channels don’t help or assist the sale, it’s like the functions of the various team members in a soccer match. There could have been 5-6 players that touched the ball before it reached the goal post. Same thing happens in marketing.

A user could interact with a brand on numerous channels before they buy their products or services. Which is why it’s really important to have an effective “omnichannel” strategy, a strategy that includes many marketing channels. 

Here are a few examples of channels that work really well when combined with email marketing: 

Push notifications 

Push notifications are those messages you get on your browser on a desktop device or on your mobile screen. They work really well when combined with emails. You could send off the email in the morning for example, and then follow it with a push notification 30-60 minutes later, to remind the user to check out your deal of the day. 

Push notifications have a click through rate that’s 7 times higher than emails , so when sent after the email they increase your chances of getting a sale that much more. 

Chatbots and messaging

One of the quickest and most effective ways to communicate with customers is through text messages and this has become its own marketing channel. You can set up automated messages and flows that gets sent to a customer or even a chatbot that is able to bring them from product discovery all the way to purchase, without any human involvement. You can also use this channel to send people a product promotion, a cart abandonment flow, or a content promotion.

Text messages are much more personal and that’s what makes them so powerful for brands. According to Social Media Today , chatbot messages get open rates of over 80% and click through rates of over 50% so these messages provide an additional and very effective way to augment and boost your email marketing performance. 

Search Engine Optimization

One of the most overlooked strategies is Search Engine Optimization, especially for eCommerce. It involves optimizing a site's content to make it easier for search engines to find it and display it. There are numerous new ways to get displayed on search engines than ever before - in the images section, as videos, quotes, products, how-to's, Q&A, and much more. SEO is a super effective marketing channel and can bring a lot of targeted and high-quality traffic to any site.

Top SEO tips:

• Use Google Search Console data to find the keywords and searches that you get the most traffic from
• Optimize your on-page content with a tool like Ahrefs or Moz
• Build a comprehensive backlink strategy based on competitor data and best practices

Now remember, not all SEO best practices will fit your needs or make sense. It's a delicate balance between SEO and the user experience (UX) and that requires some tough decisions sometimes. So always learn from your data and keep your audience as first priority and you will win.

Content Marketing

Last but not least, let's talk about your content marketing strategy. Content provides a way for users to find your product or service online. Use content to target your ideal buyer persona, acquire new customers, and delight and retain your existing customer base. In order to use content marketing successfully, brands have to create different content for each part of their marketing or sales funnel. For example, a company might put out educational content for the top of the funnel, for first-time visitors, and more promotional content for those shoppers that are ready to buy.

Top Content Marketing Tips: 

• Write long-form blog posts for organic search traffic
• Publish comparison and shopping guides for the middle of the funnel visitors
• Use UGC, video content, and longer descriptions on your social media posts to tell your story

Public Relations (PR)

Last but not least, there's PR. Public relations is one of the most effective growth strategies that can help solidify your brand images and expand your digital presence.

Now that we’ve covered the various marketing channels that you should consider to grow your business, let’s talk strategy.

9. Select a strategy and budget for each channel

It’s now time to select a specific strategy and a budget for each of the marketing channels that you’ve chosen for your brand. Here are a few helpful steps: 

Identify your business goals

What are your goals? Pick a few strategic business goals or KPIs to focus on in the short-term. A really helpful rubric for this is what’s called SMART goals . Smart stands for: 

S pecific - describe clearly what you want to accomplish

M easurable - set goals that you could measure

A chievable - these goals have to be achievable and not way out of reach

R elevant - set goals that improve the specific aspects of your marketing, so no vanity metrics.

T ime-bound - pick objectives that you can achieve within a certain time frame. 

Now that you’ve set up your goals it’s time to look at your market.

Here's a fantastic video from Hubspot to watch about setting the right marketing goals for your business: 

Conduct market research

Gather information about your market - the size, growth, social trends, search trends and demographics of your target market. Find out what is possible and feasible to accomplish and which channels, content types and media, are used to reach your target customer, and which you should add to your marketing mix. You can use a PEST analysis or a SWOT analysis to help you with your market research .

A PESTEL analysis is a marketing framework or management method that helps businesses assess major external factors that influence its operation, in order to become more competitive in the market. PESTEL stands for political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal. For example, legal factors could include a new regulation that significantly limits a brand's ability to sell their product in a particular region. Political factors could include new trade restrictions, tarrifs, or a new tax policy. Environmental factors could include weather conditions, seasonality, an even natural disasters.

Align your strategy with your ideal customer

Go back to the customer personas that you’ve created in the beginning of this process and make sure that your strategy aligns with your personas. Look at the trends, at the type of customers that you are going to be able to reach and tweak accordingly.

It’s performance time!

At this point, you have your brand story and values, your go to market strategy and a professional to run your marketing efforts.

From this point forward, you should focus on a much more tactical management. That means iterative testing of your content and creatives, of your target audience segments and even of the words you use on your ads CTAs (call-to-action buttons).

Which brings us to the last step of the process: 

10. Analyze your results

This is one of the most crucial steps in anything you do in marketing. Once you test something you have to analyze the results and continue testing. Data is crucial in every aspect of marketing and the omnichannel data you get from testing marketing strategies is the best kind of data to have. Smart marketing managers use data to continue iterating and optimizing their growth strategies.

Once you have the results of your strategy you can then make the changes you need to make and A/B test various aspects to get even better results.

BONUS : Examples of Marketing Strategies Templates

There’s no one size fits all marketing strategy, and if you’ve read this entire guide to this point - you’re probably eager to implement some of the various strategies we talked about. And you’ve probably discovered a lot of topics that you should learn more about to really perfect your marketing strategy. 

Here are some of our favorite resources + marketing strategy examples + templates. These are really effective and comprehensive. They cover a really broad range of channels and use cases so you can find some value regardless of which business you’re in. Choosing the right marketing strategy template is the secret behind creating an effective marketing strategy.

How to Plan Your Marketing Strategies in 12 Steps ( CoSchedule )

This beautiful strategy guide has everything you need to know to create the perfect strategy. The best part is that it shows everything visually in each section, and has a really simple marketing strategy template to follow to create your own strategy. Plus, CoSchedule started off as a content marketing tool for inbound marketing teams (they are now much more than that), so they go into a brief history of content marketing, inbound marketing, and how it all started.

The best part about CoSchedule is that they have a feature where that allows you to divide the tasks among your team members. For example, if you're a content team manager you can use this to visually display who writes each piece of content, who edits it, and who publishes that piece of content on the team. This is a crucial and super effective step that gets missed pretty often. Once a brand makes their strategy, it’s important to delegate the work and get started on the execution. 

10 Marketing Strategies to Fuel Your Business Growth ( Entrepreneur )

This is an old one but when we read it we thought it has the perfect sequence of some of the most effective marketing strategies for an eCommerce business. It has literally everything you need to market successfully. We’re talking influencers, email marketing automation, content marketing, video content, Facebook retargeting and search engine optimization. This post is an excellent broad overview of eCommerce marketing at its finest. 

The Essential Guide to Marketing Strategies ( Hurree )

Hurree is one of the best marketing blogs ever. This post in particular gives a really good detailed overview of each step of creating a marketing strategy. It also has a variety of videos sprinkled throughout the post that explain concepts deeper, and the best part - they have a whole section of marketing automation. Hurree is a marketing automation platform so you know to expect some talk of automation in every single one of their posts. This is a segway from traditional marketing principles to present-day automation and beyond. 

The 11 Best Marketing Strategies We Tried This Year ( WordStream )

This post is for the more advanced marketer that wants to really hone in on the top strategies that work in 2022. It’s written by Sujan Patel, the one and only, and he goes over things like webinars, reaching out to other tools in the industry, brand partnerships, search marketing, evergreen content, SMS, and non-traditional social media channels. Check out this post, even though it was written in 2018, it remains one of the best lists of marketing strategies on the web.

The Ultimate Digital Marketing Strategies Guide ( HubSpot )

This is a classic resource from HubSpot and we like about it is how clearly they define every term, every type of content and marketing tactics that you should develop. They also include 5 examples of marketing ads and dissect each one. It’s a great read and you will get a lot of value out of it.

Here's a great video they include in the post.

That’s it folks. 

Now that you have a better idea of how to craft the ultimate marketing strategy for your business or startup it’s time to go out there and absolutely smash it. 

PS: we're here for you if you are an eCommerce brand and you want to grow your business. Just click here to get your free marketing audit.

Omer Farkash

Omer is the Co-Founder and COO at Mayple

The 5 P's of Marketing are - Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People. These are key marketing strategies that are used to position any business strategically.

Marketing strategy is a long-term, forward-looking approach and an overall game plan of any organization or any business with the fundamental goal of achieving a sustainable competitive advantage by understanding the needs and wants of customers. A marketing strategy is a broad strategy that encompasses everything from how a business positions itself, to the creative, the strategic partners, the media relations, and the channels and tactics.

The 5 C's is a technique used to help marketers better position their business and make more informed business decisions. The "5 C's" stand for Company, Customers, Competitors, Collaborators, and Climate. It's a type of analysis that helps marketers look at the whole picture as an ecosystem in which the business lives in.

Marketing strategies are broader than specific tactics. For example, a business could have a strategy for their social media channels, and then they could have specific tactics they execute for each channel. Here's the correct order to follow: Marketing strategy -> Digital marketing strategy -> Specific tactics

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Marketing is essential to any business. It tells the world who you are and helps to define your purpose.

Purposeful and targeted marketing will help you focus on actions that reach the right customers and achieve your business goals – saving you time and money.

Define your marketing strategy

An effective marketing strategy will help you to define the overall direction and goals for your marketing. Your strategy will articulate how you're going to deliver your products or services in ways that will satisfy your customers.

The first step is to define your customer or target market.

Next, you need to come up with ways to carry out your strategy and reach your target market.

Reach your market with the marketing mix

The following 7 tactics are often referred to as the 7 Ps of marketing:

• product (or service)
• physical environment

You can use any number of these to achieve your marketing strategy. The combination you choose make up your 'marketing mix'.

Consult your marketing plan to work out which will work best for your strategy.

What are the 7 Ps of marketing?

1. product or service.

This tactic is about your product or service and how you can use it to your advantage. Think about:

• the branding, packaging and ongoing product or development
• the features and benefits you offer
• your unique selling points – what makes your product or service different from others?
• what potential spin-off products or services might be

2. Pricing of your product or service

Price is a critical part of your marketing mix.

Choosing the right price for your products or services will help maximise profits and build strong relationships with your customers. By pricing effectively, you'll also avoid the serious financial consequences that can occur if you price incorrectly:

• too low – not enough profit
• too high – not enough sales

3. Place or position in the marketplace

'Place' is the channels and locations where you distribute your product, related information and support services – basically, where a product can be purchased. Your distribution channels might include:

• a physical place such as a retail store
• an online shop like a website or eBay
• social media

The right location can be a deciding factor in whether a customer buys from you.

Market research can help you find out where your ideal customer is buying from.

4. Promotion of your product or service

Promotion is how you promote and market your business. Regardless of how good your business is, if you don't promote it and tell people you exist, it's unlikely you will make many sales.

Promotion is about attracting the right people to use and reuse your business.

There are several promotion techniques that you can combine and use in different ways to create the most cost-effective strategy for your needs. For example:

• public relations
• advertising

5. People in your business

The people you employ in your business can influence the marketing of your products and services. For example, knowledgeable and friendly staff can help to create satisfied customers and can provide the unique selling experience that an organisation seeks.

If an outstanding team gives a competitive advantage, then quality recruitment and training will be essential to you achieving your marketing objectives. Make sure you have processes in place and training systems to get the most out of your team .

6. Process (the buying experience)

Process is the buying experience the customer gets when they buy your product or service. This can include things like:

• the way someone presents and serves a fine bottle of wine in a restaurant
• how a business reacts to a complaint
• the speed of delivery in a fast food outlet

A poor process can undermine the other elements of the marketing mix. For example, budget airlines might offer competitive headline prices, but customers might feel they've been taken advantage of if the final price is inflated by extra charges and fees.

Try to document your key processes and procedures so your staff and suppliers know what to aim for. You can record these details in documents that are accessible to all staff, such as:

• accounting and financial procedures
• information technology policies and procedures

7. Physical environment

The physical environment where your products or services are sold and delivered can have a significant impact on how your customers experience your business. The physical environment can be the:

• quality of the furnishings in your consulting rooms
• design of your reception area
• appearance and function of your website

Creating a positive physical environment doesn't have to be costly – a vase full of fresh flowers or a creative window display can make a big difference.