20 Marketing Best Practices for Small Business Owners

Marketing remains essential for small businesses. It allows them to compete with others. But it also allows them to sell products and services. And it enables them to become profitable and grow. But the ways to market your small business seem endless.

So how do you know which small business marketing tactics will be right for you?

Marketing Best Practices

Fortunately you’ll find some help below. Check out these 20 marketing best practices for small business owners.

Set Attainable Goals

In starting your marketing efforts, it’s vital to begin by setting attainable goals. This serves as a roadmap that guides your business towards desired results. To do this, you need to:

• Start by determining your current position in the market. This involves understanding your current market share, identifying your strengths and weaknesses, and examining the competitive landscape.
• Next, decide what you want to achieve. These goals could include expanding your market share, introducing new products or services, or enhancing customer satisfaction. The key is to keep your goals realistic, measurable, and time-bound.

Shanelle Mullin, Director of Marketing at Onboardly, tells marketing guru Neil Patel:

“The key to setting achievable marketing goals is to spend time evaluating your current position. Many startups set lofty, unattainable goals and end up discouraged, which can be detrimental in the early days. On the other hand, some startups set easy, insignificant goals and end up missing out on growth potential.”

Define Your Target Market

Successful marketing is dependent on reaching the right audience. Prior to starting any marketing strategy, it’s crucial to define your target market. To establish this, consider these key factors:

• Age: Different age groups have varying preferences and purchasing behaviors.
• Gender: The needs and wants of males and females can greatly differ.
• Interests: Understand what hobbies, activities, or topics your target audience is interested in.
• Location: Geographic location can influence consumer preferences and purchasing habits.
• Consumer habits: How frequently and why does your target market purchase your product?

Establish a Clear Brand Identity

Your brand identity is the representation of your business’s values, services, and personality. As such, it’s important to establish a clear brand identity before initiating any marketing campaign. This includes:

• Selecting the right name that resonates with your brand’s mission and vision.
• Designing a suitable logo that’s memorable and aligns with your business.
• Choosing appropriate colors that evoke the emotions you want associated with your brand.
• Using relevant imagery, which can significantly enhance the visual appeal of your brand.

Have a Website

We are now firmly entrenched in the digital era where website are the window to virtually any type of business.

In fact, with nearly two-thirds of small businesses relying on website to connect with customers, if you haven’t already got one, now’s the time to make designing a website a key marketing practice priority.

Use Facebook Advertising

With more than three million businesses advertising of Facebook, this method of marketing is a practice no small business can afford to ignore. Facebook advertising excels at target marketing, so you’ll need to have defined your target market before setting up Facebook advertising.

Use More Than One Channel

Despite the importance of Facebook advertising, when it comes to marketing avoid ‘putting your eggs in one basket.’ Instead use multiple channels, both online and offline, to extend the reach of your brand to as many people as possible and to determine which channels are most effective for your business.

Use Google My Business

Small businesses should not ignore Google My Business as an effective marketing practice. By listing your business on this free marketing channel you’ll enjoy better search visibility, gain customer insights and be able to display useful information to help customers find you.

Prepare for a Google Ads Campaign

Google Ads is a tried and tested marketing method for small businesses, hailed as one of the “most productive and quickest methods for bringing huge traffic on the verge of converting.”

Launching a Google Ads campaign can be highly effective in driving targeted traffic to your site. However, you should adequately prepare for it by:

• Setting a proper budget: Define how much you’re willing to spend on ads and ensure it’s sustainable for your business.
• Finding the right keywords: Use keyword research tools to discover the terms your target audience is searching for.
• Creating significant landing pages: These pages should be relevant to the ad and offer a clear, engaging call to action for your visitors.

Be Mindful of SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of creating a website to help businesses rank higher on the search engines, which, in turn, brings more potential customers to their site, eventually increasing conversion rates.

When designing a website or other online portal such as social media profiles, you should therefore be mindful of SEO and the benefits incorporating relevant keywords into online marketing portals is likely to bring to your business.

Don’t Discount Email Marketing

Email marketing has long been a simple, cost-effective way to drive revenue for small businesses. Every time you add a new subscriber to your email list, they are a potential paying customer and therefore time and effort should ideally be put into developing email marketing campaigns.

Make Emails Mobile-Friendly

With a whopping 66% of emails now being opened on mobile devices, to optimize the success of email marketing campaigns, you will need to make your emails mobile-friendly by using mobile responsive templates that automatically adapt emails to mobile formats.

Prioritize Content Marketing

Research shows that in 2016, 18% of marketers said content marketing had the greatest commercial impact on their business.

Content marketing plays a crucial role in attracting and engaging your audience. As such, it should be a key component of your marketing strategies, and can include:

• Blogs: Regularly updated blog posts can boost SEO, build relationships with customers, and position your brand as an industry expert.
• Social media posts: These can help you connect with your audience on a more personal level.
• Videos: Video content is highly engaging and can improve comprehension of your products or services.
• Infographics: These can simplify complex information and make it easier for your audience to understand your message.

Combine Online and Offline Marketing Strategies

Again, avoiding putting “all your eggs in one basket” by concentrating solely on online or offline media. Instead, combine online channels like blogs and social media with traditional, offline marketing practices such as newspaper and radio advertising to help extend your reach as far as possible.

Share Your Knowledge

Don’t be afraid to use your expertise to your commercial advantage by sharing your knowledge of your particular business or niche through the likes of YouTube tutorials, webinars, blogs and more.

Promote Free Consultations

Another effective marketing strategy for small business owners is to promote free consultations of your services that enable prospective customers to effectively ‘try before they buy.’

Network Online and Offline

Attending networking sessions, both online on portals like LinkedIn and offline by attending networking sessions in person, is an effective marketing practice for small business owners.

Join Local Business Groups

One effective way to physically network and to showcase your business is to join local business groups where you’ll have the opportunity to meet like-minded people and share common business stories and goals.

Send Out Surveys

Customer feedback is a powerful tool for small business owners, as WordStream writes, “Look for feedback, because the best companies are constantly improving.”

Make Applications for Awards

You might be a small business but that doesn’t mean to say you can’t win a fantastic business award. Being an “award-winning business” can be one of the most effective ways to boost your business’s credibility and success.

Be Different and Stand Out

In a saturated market, standing out from the crowd is essential for attracting and retaining customers. To ensure your small business gets noticed, consider:

• Taking a controversial stand on industry trends and issues: While this should be done judiciously, it can spark conversation and engagement.
• Publishing striking content that nobody can resist: This could be unique insights, compelling stories, or high-quality graphics and videos that capture attention and encourage sharing.

Hers a handy summary of those marketing best practices for your reference:

Marketing Practice	Digital/Offline	Cost Involved	Engagement Potential
Setting Attainable Goals	Both	Low	High
Define Target Market	Both	Low	High
Establish Clear Brand Identity	Both	Medium	High
Having a Website	Digital	Medium	High
Facebook Advertising	Digital	Medium	High
Multi-Channel Marketing	Both	Medium	High
Google My Business	Digital	Low	Medium
Google Ads Campaign	Digital	High	High
SEO	Digital	Medium	High
Email Marketing	Digital	Low	Medium
Mobile-friendly Emails	Digital	Low	Medium
Content Marketing	Both	Medium	High
Combine Online and Offline Strategies	Both	High	High
Sharing Knowledge	Both	Low	High
Promoting Free Consultations	Both	Low	Medium
Networking (Online and Offline)	Both	Low	Medium
Joining Local Business Groups	Offline	Low	Medium
Sending Out Surveys	Both	Low	Medium
Applying for Awards	Both	Low	Medium
Being Different and Standing Out	Both	Low	High

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