Words: Belinda Connolly
Any small business owner will tell you about the never-ending to-do list: budgeting, invoicing, payroll, sales strategy sessions, customer service interactions, supplier negotiations, hiring, training, and maintaining a motivated team. No wonder marketing strategy can get lost in the mix, or be thrown together in a slap-dash fashion.
The truth is, marketing serves as one of the first touchpoints with your target customers, so making the investment in getting that channel right is vital for success. Here are the five most important things every business owner should know about marketing.
1. Authenticity is key
By sharing your honest journey, values and purpose in your marketing you can create deeper connections with your audience.
Try:
- Sharing your brand story: Communicate your brand’s origin, mission and values through a dedicated (and optimised!) ‘About’ page on your site, or storytelling in your marketing or social media posts that reflect your brand’s journey.
- User-generated content: Encourage your customers to share their experiences with your brand through reviews, testimonials or social media posts to add authenticity to your brand.
- Transparent communication: Be open about your business practices, especially regarding sustainability, sourcing or any other aspect that your target audience cares about. Address any issues or challenges your business faces openly, focusing on solutions to improve customer experience.
2. Your marketing should be data driven
Understanding data and knowing how to use it can help your business in so many ways. By using data analytics, you can gain invaluable insights into customer behaviour, preferences and trends. Every digital tool – from MailChimp to WordPress – has analytics in some shape or form that provides so much information, allowing you to refine your strategies. A data-driven approach ensures your marketing efforts are targeted, efficient and effective.
For example:
- Google Analytics: Use these tools to track website traffic, user behaviour and conversion rates to understand what’s working and what’s not.
- Social media analytics: Use the tools provided by social media platforms to monitor engagement rates, best posting times and demographics of your audience, tailoring your content strategy accordingly.
- Ask for feedback: Use surveys or feedback forms to ask your customers for feedback. Use this data to improve your products or services and tailor your marketing messages.
3. You can’t start without a strategy
Think of a fully developed marketing strategy as a version of your phone’s Map app that guides your brand through the digital wilderness. Every brand needs to know the path they are taking to reach their goals and meet their KPIs. Step one: what is your reason for digital marketing? Are you wanting to enhance your visibility online, drive more targeted leads, or convert leads into sales? Saying you want to do everything all at once just isn’t realistic.
You should:
- Have clear goals and objectives: Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads or boosting sales, knowing your goals will help your marketing and better measure success.
- Conduct market research to understand your target audience’s needs, preferences and pain points to gather insights.
- Regularly review what your competitors are doing with their marketing to identify gaps that you can capitalise on.
4. You need to be flexible...
With the digital landscape constantly evolving, it’s important to stay aware of new trends and figure out which trends are worth following to help you achieve your business objectives. Being ready to pivot your strategies can make the difference in staying relevant and competitive.
Some things to bear in mind:
- Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to be active on every social media platform. If you’re a conservative B2B brand with premium offerings there is probably no need to focus heavily on TikTok as that’s not where your target audience will be.
- Tools and technologies, such as AI-driven analytics or using chatbots for customer service, can automate time-consuming tasks while increasing personalisation.
- Signing up for free marketing newsletters and reading blogs can help you keep on top of changes and trends that you can use in your marketing.
5. ... And have patience
You’ve probably seen the meme of a business owner demanding that a digital marketing agency gets them on page one of Google tomorrow. If it were that easy everyone would be doing it. Instead, it’s important to be Zen-like in your approach to digital marketing, especially when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
SEO is a long-term strategy and it might take months to see significant improvements in search rankings. Remember:
- Focus on long-term social media engagement: Consistently post quality content, engage with your audience and gradually grow your follower base without resorting to quick fixes like buying followers.
- Regularly A/B test: Experiment with different aspects of your marketing campaigns (such as email subject lines, landing page designs and ad copy). Don’t forget to give each test enough time to provide meaningful data before making decisions.
- Ensure your web copy is up to date and update regularly with case studies, reviews or insights. Doing so indicates to search engines that your site is active, which can help your SEO rankings.
