Small Business Marketing Strategies

Many small business owners engage in marketing their small business with out first developing a small business marketing strategy.

Unfortunately, marketing your small business without first developing a small business marketing strategy is a lot like leaving on vacation without a destination in mind.

If you leave for your vacation without making plans – without planning your route – and without making reservations – you may have a lot of fun if your trip takes you off the beaten path. However, if you happen to wind up in – oh – say southeastern Florida in the middle of March – a time when college students flood the state for Spring Break at the same time as baseball fans head south for Spring Training – well, then expect to sleep in your car or on the beach – because it’s times like that when planning is essential.

The same is true for developing a small business marketing strategy. If you’re off the heavily beaten path – if competition for customers is light – then you might do quite well marketing your small business without an overall marketing strategy.

However, if you’re in heavy competition for customers – if your business is literally fighting to stay alive – then a comprehensive marketing strategy may give your small business the competitive edge you need to succeed.

Creating a small business marketing strategy doesn’t HAVE to be complicated. Creating your strategy is simply a matter of defining

where you are
who your target customer is
what exactly it is you offer your target customer.

The book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results takes you step by step through these essential steps and explains how not only to define who your target customer is – but also how to create marketing messages that break through the clutter and really reach out and grab prospective customers.

Developing a comprehensive small business marketing strategy will not only help you to create more compelling and selling marketing messages – it will also help you to effieciently allocate your marketing funds so you get the greatest return on investment.

Don’t spend a single dollar on advertising without first developing a small business marketing strategy.

Tags: attracting customers, attraction marketing, niche marketing, sales marketing strategy, small business marketing, small business marketing strategy

Developing a small business marketing strategy

small business marketing strategies Creating a marketing strategy for your small business is like planning a trip… you have to know where you are – where you want to go – and how you want to get there.

However, in the case of developing a small business marketing strategy – something else comes into play – the most important element of all which is frequently overlooked. You’re going to have some very important passengers accompanying you on this trip and they’re your customers, and it’s important to keep them in mind as you develop your marketing strategy. Because without your customers – it’s going to be a short trip!

Have you ever flown with small children? Even if you haven’t experienced it yourself, surely you’ve seen others at the airpor “living the dream”…. or should I say nightmare! If you watch the young parents at the airport with their small children, you’ll never see the parents sitting and leisurely reading a book. Parents who are flying with small children have their hands full – anticipating their children’s needs.

Developing your small business marketing strategy is a LOT like that. The best marketing strategies will literally anticipate your customer’s needs.

However, in order to ANTICIPATE those needs – you have to KNOW your customers.

One huge advantage that you – a small business owner – has over larger companies is you have the ability to KNOW your customers.

While the “big boys” hire a market research team to jump on the phones and begin making random phone calls – the small business owner needs to only walk up to a customer and strike up a conversation.

At this point, I’m going to make a disclaimer. If you walk up to your customers and try to take a “formal” survey – you’re not going to mine the nuggets of information you desire.

So what nuggets of information do you want from your customers?

In essence, you want to find out WHY they’re in your store. What are they REALLY looking for there on the shelves?

You may be selling auto parts – but that gentleman at the counter isn’t just buying brake pads – he’s buying safety for his wife and three sons.

That customer is buying a safe trip to and from soccer practice.

When you pick up those golden nuggets – that’s how you create marketing magic. After your conversation with the brake buying customer – instead of having the announcer read your telephone number four times and spell your web address three times – now you can have the copywriter create some really engaging copy… about how you understand that you’re not just selling the best damned brake pads – you’re someone your customers can TRUST with their family’s safety.

When you create marketing messages like that- well, the big box auto store’s got NOTHING on you!

If you’d like to learn more about creating marketing messages that deliver results, pick up a copy of my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results.

In the book, I take you step by step through the process of getting INSIDE your target audience’s mind to create an effective marketing strategy for your small business.

Who knows- your small business may not stay small for long after reading the book!

Tags: small business marketing strategy