Growing your small business through marketing

by ADEMOLA ALAWIYE 

   

By being painstaking in marketing, experts believe that a small business can compete favourably with large ones in the same sector. ADEMOLA ALAWIYE writes on how to achieve effective marketing.

 Experts say that you don’t need huge outlay of capital before you can roll out a successful marketing campaign. They say with research and hard work, you can develop ways to market your small business while spending a reasonable amount of money. When you start a new business, you need to develop a customer base through marketing.

Marketing, according to Wikipedia, is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling the product or service. Simply put, it is a critical business function for attracting customers.

Marketing consists of branding, advertising, promotions and public relations. Marketing is also sometimes talked about in relation to the four P’s, which are product, pricing, promotion and placement.

The essence of marketing is to understand your customers’ needs and develop a plan that surrounds those needs. Anyone that has a business has a desire to grow their business. The most effective way to grow and expand your business is by focusing on organic growth.

The experts say business owners can increase organic growth in four different ways. They include- acquiring more customers, persuading each customer to buy more products, persuading each customer to buy more expensive products and persuading each customer to buy more profitable products. All four of these, they say, increase revenue and profit.

They state that by being diligent in your marketing and creating an easy strategy such as holding yourself accountable to contact ten customers or potential customers daily five days a week you will see your business grow at an exceptional rate. The great thing is it will not take a large marketing budget to make it happen.

Experts say the following instructions should be followed for optimal marketing campaign

Carry out marketing research

 Through interviews, questionnaires, surveys and focus groups, analyse the market for your small business. Figure out what demographic group is most interested in your product or service, and focus your initial marketing and advertising efforts on that particular demographic. Also through market research, you will be able to figure out if your pricing model is feasible.

Fix a marketing budget

Allocate funds for packaging, promotions, advertising and publicity. Even the smallest business needs to have funds for flyers, business cards and other promotions.

Market your small business through word of mouth

 The cheapest way to promote your business is word of mouth. Tell all your family and friends about your new business venture and encourage each of them to tell their friends. Hang up flyers at local establishments and give out business cards to everyone you know. Attend local events, charity functions and civic meetings to network with potential customers and fellow business people. Getting your name, your face and your business name out to as many people as possible is the best way to start marketing your new company.

Create a website for your small business

 If you cannot afford to hire a web designer, enlist in a friend or family member to help you start a business website. Even if the site is very basic, make sure that it is free of typographical errors, broken links or anything else that will make it seem unprofessional. Use a reliable web host–nothing is more frustrating than to visit a website that is slow or does not load.

Use online display ads

Market your small business using online display ads. Place banner ads on popular websites that are related to your business.

Involve the press

Find ways to be interviewed by local newspaper writer or broadcasters. Make yourself easily accessible. Promote yourself as an expert in your field, and be available for interviews at anytime.

In addition to the instructions mentioned above, experts say that acquiring more customers through marketing, the following steps must be followed.

Spend time researching and create a strategic marketing plan.

Guide your product development to reach out to customers you aren’t currently attracting.

Price your products and services competitively.

Develop your message and materials based on solution marketing

Importance of a target market in small business

When it comes to your customers keep in mind the importance of target marketing. The reason this is important is that only a proportion of the population is likely to purchase any products or service. By taking time pitch your sales and marketing efforts to the correct niche market you will be more productive and not waste your efforts or time.

It’s important to consider your virtual segmentation by selecting particular verticals to present your offerings to. Those verticals will have the particular likelihood of purchasing your products and services. Again, this saves you from wasting valuable time and money.

Small business marketing and large business marketing are different

The most effective way to market a small business is to create a well rounded program that combines sales activities with your marketing tactics. Your sales activities will not only decrease your out-of-pocket marketing expense but it also adds the value of interacting with your prospective customers and clients. This interaction will provide you with research that is priceless.

Small businesses typically have a limited marketing budget if any at all. Experts say that does not mean you can’t run with the big companies. It just means you have to think a little more creatively. You can do one of the following to unveil your marketing campaign-

-         Call your vendors or associates and ask them to participate with you in co-op advertising.

-        Take some time to send your existing customers’ referrals and buying incentives.

-         Have you thought about introducing yourself to the media? Free publicity has the potential to boost your business. By doing this, you position yourself as an expert in your field.

When you do spend money on marketing, do not forget to create a way to track those marketing efforts. You can do this by asking prospects where they heard about you. This enables you to notice when a marketing tactic stops working. You can then quickly replace it with a better choice or method.