Small businesses have always been struggling to get noticed online.
It is caused by a high level of competition within the niche first of all. And the second problem is that no one has ever heard of your brand before.
How to help your business out in this case?
In this guide, you will find out how to create an actionable plan to market your business.
Let’s get the ball rolling.
1. Identify the place of your product in the market
Marketing starts with understanding whether your product meets the requirements of your target audience. Here are four pieces of advice that will help:
- Answer the question – what problems does your product solve?
- Identify what top features your product has
- Transform these features into benefits both for your customers and your business
- List top features of your product on the separate landing page (it will help you get feedback from your existing customers)
To get you a better idea of how it works, here are three product-fit examples from different business niches:
1. SaaS
A “Software as a service” type of company offers services that help businesses in a certain way. Thus, one of the leading SEO companies Moz illustrates all the SEO features it suggests right on the homepage.
2. Services
A “service” type of company doesn’t offer physical products. These companies sell services to clients and charge by the hour of work.
For example, a company Preview Construction offers a few services for customers who want to reconstruct their homes somehow. These services can be seen on the homepage as well.
3. Ecommerce products
Ecommerce companies don’t sell services. They offer various goods like apparel, different equipment, etc.
For example, the company Ibanez sells guitar-related products. If you visit their homepage, you will see their main guitar lineups.
2. Work on a pricing model
A pricing model is a crucial part of marketing for your small business. It depends on what type of products or services you offer.
For example, if you run an eCommerce business and sell some equipment, your pricing model will include shipping and delivery costs.
On the other hand, the pricing model of SaaS companies differs. Let’s review two examples:
- Respona is a software that helps businesses with their outreach needs. It suggests two pricing plans – $99 and $499 per month. The main difference between these plans is that the one for $499 offers an unlimited number of credits and accounts to use.
- Cash Flow Portal is a real-estate syndication software that suggests only one pricing plan but the price depends on the total funds under management.
Nevertheless, analyze the pricing model of your competitors. Also, see what customers want to pay for your service or product.
3. Work on setting a monthly goal
To structure your marketing activity, you need to work on setting a goal. Keep in mind that the overall marketing goal consists of three intermediate goals:
- Acquisition part (to acquire new customers)
- Uspelling (to sell your product to customers)
- Retention (to make sure your existing customers don’t drop)
Let’s review each intermediate goal one-by-one.
1. Acquisition
Right before you get new customers, you will have to pass through four main stages of the marketing funnel:
- Awareness (the aim is to attract your target audience)
- Interest (raise the problem people have and show the solution)
- Consideration (convince people that your product is the only solution to their problem)
- Conversion (help them find a reason to buy from you)
Decide the number of customers you want to acquire per month and what income you need to make eventually.
2. Upselling
There are cases when businesses forget about their existing customers chasing for new ones. Don’t do this if you don’t want to experience customer churn.
Keep your existing customers engaged with your brand. And still, continue attracting new customers as well.
How to do this?
The most actionable way is to offer extra features or services to your toolkit. It allows you to satisfy loyal customers and spark the interest of potential customers at the same time.
3. Retention
You can’t deny the fact that existing customers may leave. If your customers are not happy, they won’t pay you anymore.
For example, your customer database counts 5K customers. Each customer pays $100 for your service monthly.
5K х 100=500K
But if 5% of customers leave your brand, you will get $25,000 of money loss.
Therefore, you must prevent customer outflow for all costs.
4. Decide where you want to sell your product
It depends on the business type where you can sell the product – online or offline.
For example, if you sell physical products then you can do this via your site, socials, eCommerce stores (online and offline), partners, etc.
When it comes to a SaaS business, it is more about selling via a website mostly.
Let’s say, your service helps users increase the number of followers and shares on Instagram. People can’t buy Instagram followers offline. However, people can visit your site and pay money for this option.
5. Promotion
Any product needs promotion. Otherwise, nobody will know about its existence. And no one will buy it eventually.
Here are five directions on how to promote your product:
1. With the help of your site
In a modern-day business world having a website is a must. The final destination of a buyer’s journey is your site’s homepage.
The homepage illustrates products, services, or tools your business offers. What’s more important, your potential customers may find a final nudge to test the product right off the bat.
2. Search engine optimization
You know that the only way to get new customers online – drive more traffic to your site. To help yourself with this you need to apply SEO practices.
SEO is tightly connected with content marketing. The purpose of content is to raise the problem of your target audience and suggest your product as a solution.
The first thing you should do is run keyword research. Keyword research helps figure out business queries your potential customers may use to find your product.
Afterwards, start creating content that would target collected keywords. Then, work on building backlinks. It helps rank content higher across search engines.
3. Email marketing
Email marketing is a powerful strategy to reach two goals – build an email list and convert leads into customers using emails.
How to build your email list?
Create a newsletter subscribe form and place it on the page of your site. The form should be engaging and invite people to subscribe. However, people won’t do this if they don’t get anything in return.
For example, you can offer some discounts, free shipping, or whatever you may work.
Now, your email list is ready for the next step.
How to convert leads by emailing them?
Run an email marketing campaign that includes sending welcome emails to subscribers.
The type of your welcome email can include different information and form. It is up to you. Nevertheless, it gives more chances to get a conversion.
4. PPC
Paid advertising is a must for companies with a solid budget. PPC is the first-to-go strategy that promises a boost in traffic in a blink of an eye.
You can launch ads on Google, Facebook, and other social media platforms. You can use Adobe tools to create Facebook ads and make your original advertisement design.
Remember that ads work till you pay.
5. Sponsorship
Sponsorship is a great way to promote your product to new audiences. You can build cooperations with niche-related businesses, work with influencers, or run an affiliate program.
Building cooperation should be based on a “win-win” basis. Hence, you need to discuss the details of the partnership beforehand.
Influencer partnership requires finding an influencer who would be interested in promoting your product. Plus, you will have to agree on the reward for the influencer’s help in promotion.
The affiliate program stands on the fee you’re willing to pay for the conversions you get from partners. If the commission satisfies your partners, then they will work with you.
To Conclude
Small business representatives can rely on the tips suggested in this guide.
In a nutshell, to market your small business:
- Identifying the place of your product in the market
- Create a pricing model
- Set a monthly goal
- Choose the platform where to sell
- Promote your product
If you think this guide lacks more tips, feel free to share your ideas in the comments.
