You have a great product at a solid price, offer memorable customer service experiences, and are located in prime real-estate. So why aren’t customers flocking in to your place of business?
Investing a lot of money into marketing can be seen as a gamble. Will a billboard drive customers through the door? Did that TV ad see a return on your investment? While marketing is a vital aspect to growing your business, it doesn’t have to be done with an excessive budget. The great thing about marketing in the 21st century is that it no longer employs a ‘fishing with a shotgun’ approach – and that is key for small business owners.
We’ve reached an age where we can segment so specifically that you are bound to reach your target demographic. If your campaign isn’t creating the results you hoped for, you have the ability to tweak it at any time. Facebook offers in-depth targeting based on likes, demographics and interests. Adwords gives you the ability to advertise on YouTube, Google Search, Google TV – the best part is that Google Adwords often offers new customers coupons to get started ranging from $50 to $100. Start small and give it a shot. Just make sure to analyze your results and improve with each campaign.
2. Run a small contest
Word of mouth in the online world is just as effective as the old school word of mouth. In fact, the ability to share thoughts and links gives you the ability to amplify your message beyond what traditional marketing could ever do – and since it’s coming from them and not you, people are more likely to engage. Running a small contest gives you the ability to craft a message, offer something interesting, and broadcast your message to your brand ambassadors.
Get some graphics done on the cheap, put forth an offer that would entice your customers and ask them to share it. You won’t regret it.
3. Recruit Brand Ambassadors
Have you ever asked a friend for a referral? Do you see value in asking how someone else’s experience was before ‘taking the plunge’? Referrals are the most convincing way for your business to gain new customers because it come across as organic and genuine. Speak with some of your best customers and ask them if they can refer others to your business should they see a fit. Entice your brand ambassadors by giving them special coupons for the people they refer. They get to help out a friend, the friend gets a discount, and you get the business. Triple win.
4. Piggyback Marketing
Ultimately, reaching out to your target market costs money. If your cash flow is tied up in other projects and activities, you still need to market your business to remain fresh in your customers minds. Piggyback marketing helps alleviate some of that pressure by finding synergistic relationships to help boost your marketing reach. That means two businesses that offer complementary – but non-competing – products or services can represent each other’s offering in their respective markets.
Take for example a butcher who recommends eating at one of his favourite restaurants in the city. That restaurant in turn displays the logo of the butcher and the waiters boast about the local butcher cuts on the menu.
Or how about a flower shop that tells its customers about the home-made greeting card store down the street for an added touch of sweetness.
These represent effective, personable and real engagement that wipes the floor with costly television ads.
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There are many ways to operate your small business marketing on a shoestring budget. If you need to focus your cash flow on other projects, keep in mind that your marketing efforts keep new customers coming in. And that continuous flow is vital to your business’ longevity. With a little bit of creative thinking and positive outreach, you can find what efforts work for you.
April presented the second-best small business confidence reading for the year amidst a modestly growing Canadian economy. With each province accounting for its own share of challenges, the general consensus is that local businesses are feeling optimistic.
- Business owners in Alberta and Saskatchewan continue to be the most optimistic in the country. The surge in optimism in Ontario in March was partially corrected in April, but the region remains above the national average.
- 44 % of business owners expect their businesses to strengthen in the next three or for months, compared to only 16 % who expect a weakening—a balance of opinion of +28 per cent.
- Planned hiring took a big swing to the positive in April. Twenty-one per cent of business owners plan to increase full-time staffing levels in the next three or four months, while only 12 per cent plan to cut back.
- Overall, 42 per cent of business owners describe their state of business to be in ‘good’ shape, almost three-times the 14 per cent who say it is in ‘bad shape’.
- Concerns about customer demand levels have been trending down as the economy gradually strengthens.
- About one business in five, appears to have significant difficulties in finding necessary credit.
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With a general upswing in optimism and consumer confidence, it pays to be on top of your businesses cash flow needs. With a large segment of Canadian small businesses recognizing the busy season ahead, they are pro-actively preparing by making new hires and training their staff to account for an increase in sales and customer traffic.
Have I positioned my small business to have a busy, profitable summer?
Consumers spend more time outside, time shopping and ultimately, time spending. This is a huge opportunity for you to spend money on marketing your small business and improving the awareness of your offerings to a larger customer base.
Regardless of your industry, these 4 tips provide you with vital questions to ask yourself, as well as what we like to call ‘Idea Seeds‘ that get you on the path to improving your marketing and driving more customers to your business.
The most important thing is to not let cash flow issues be the reason for ignoring marketing and advertising this summer. By spending money on these effective strategies, you’re building the blocks for your future success and continued traffic through your business’ doors.
4 Small Business Summer Marketing Tips
1. Promote Social Sharing
Give your customers tools and tips for them to succeed and make the content shareable. Introduce or revamp a newsletter that provides great tips that are relevant to your business and promote the sharing of it on social networks and through ‘old-fashioned’ handouts.
Your customer are on social networks, and you should be too. Especially if your website is not as well-serving as you’d like it to be, a Facebook Fan page can provide a fantastic outlet for news, feedback and discovery of new potential customers. Ask your employees what they prefer to see from the brands they ‘like’ on Facebook. See if there’s a parallel with your business and get crackin’!
2. Run a Contest
Everyone loves contests – well, mostly winning them, but participation can be fun and engaging. The summer provides a fresh setting for great publicity, so brainstorm with your employees and see what kind of creative ideas you can come up with that helps advertise your product/service, while incenting customer to frequent your business.
Restaurants can hold a taste-testing competition to sample the new summer menu, auto-shops can give customers the opportunity to ‘spin the tire’ to see what prize they’ve won – like a free oil change. The possibilities are endless, and adding a touch of comedy can really lift your customer’s spirits and promote your business in a positive light.
3. Advertise In New Spaces
If your business is seasonal or in a tourist area, taking the mobile ad route is a great way to increase your business’ awareness. Think about gaining new customers by asking yourself who your customers are, where they shop, what they read, how they live. Is your business visible in these areas? How can you get more eyeballs to see your business?
Explore local advertising online, hot check-in services like Foursquare, and local review sites. Experimenting with different advertising spots will you give great insight and learnings that you can improve upon year after year. Break out of your current promotional bubble and make things happen.
4. Reward Your Existing Customers
It’s a well-known fact that keeping existing customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones – although it is equally important to invest in both. With that said, rewarding your existing customers with additional quality time, a small gesture of gratitude or even a simple thank you phone call can be the difference between them choosing your business over the competition.
Given that strong personalized service is rare these days, it’s surprising that these simple, yet often forgotten methods of keeping people happy is not being done on a more regular basis. This is a great opportunity to do so, as it’s vital to helping maintain a strong relationship with your customers, while increasing their satisfaction and the buzz surrounding your business.
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If you want to learn more about improving your business and preparing it for summer, get in touch with one of our funding specialists. They’ll provide you with increased insight into your industry as well as some fantastic revenue-generating tips to help you reach the next level.
May 17,
2012
