The 20 Essential Small Business Marketing Strategies

Pinpointing and implementing effective marketing strategies is essential to building a sustainable small business.

In fact, it can be the difference between succeeding for many years or failing within just a few months.

Marketing strategies are valuable initiatives you can adopt to efficiently and successfully connect with your target audience. Moreover, they help you remain focused on your growth goals!

Consider these two types of business owners who are on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to utilizing marketing strategies.

The first business owner is passionate about the services he offers. He passively relies only on just word-of-mouth to attract new customers.

Business owner #2 also loves what she does and believes in the quality of her services. However, she takes a more active role in connecting with her business’ target audience.

Which business owner do you think is more likely to achieve their short-term and long-term goals?

Don’t be like the thousands of small businesses that fail each year from lack of direction and strategy.

Rather, take a mindful approach to running your business and reap the benefits of following a surefire approach!

The Marketing Struggles Small Businesses Face

While first brainstorming and establishing their business, most owners have the end goal of creating an entity that will grow and last.

With fewer resources than larger corporations, small businesses often are held back from reaching their goals.

From the lack of resources to a small budget, there are a variety of barriers that can hold a small business back.

Common Barriers Small Businesses Face

• Low Budget
• Small Team
• Time Crunches
• Lack of Resources
• Absence of Know-how
• Difficulty in Finding Quality Employees
  

The art of growing a small business is to know how to leverage your existing budget, resources, staff, and expertise.

That is, you can’t rely on the excuse of a small budget being the reason your business fails.

Although it would be nice to have the financial backing that many larger establishments have, it isn’t necessary in this day and age for small businesses to succeed.

Since you are a smaller business, you have to take a different approach than larger corporations. Typically, small businesses cater to a certain niche or audience.  

This is contrary to huge box stores such as Walmart or Target, which are known for having something for everyone.

To overcome common small business hurdles, you must focus your attention on proven marketing strategies.

First, review these essential online marketing strategies for small businesses. Then, gradually incorporate these marketing strategy examples into your common practice to boost ongoing sales.

1. Build an Aesthetic Business Website

Did you know that around 76% of purchasers check out business sites before they make a purchase or visit a location (Cision PR Newswire)?

That’s why it is so important for small businesses to have a visually pleasing website and exceptional user experience.

Take a hard look at your business site and make a note of any aesthetic changes that may need to be made.

Are the color choices on your website appealing? Are the fonts easy to read? Is your business call-to-action clear to the audience?

Having a website that looks professional can make a huge difference in your sales and retained business!

If web development isn’t within your comfort zone, consider hiring an online freelance professional to assist!

Websites such as Legiit are home to thousands of freelance experts who are ready and happy to help you turn your business site dream into a reality.

For example, freelancers such as Legiit’s MonkeyBusiness has services designed specifically to help you Fix Your Website!

2. Optimize Your Business Site

One of the most crucial small business marketing strategy examples is to optimize your business site.

If you’re not familiar with the many avenues of SEO, you may be wondering what this entails.

From using appropriate title tag sizes and meta description lengths to increasing your website’s load speed, there are many boxes to check when it comes to on-page optimization.

Don’t worry! You don’t have to become an SEO expert to optimize your business site! You can hire an online freelance pro to help you with this task.

Instead of keeping a web developer on payroll, you can opt to hire experts for one-time or even regular projects.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) freelance experts such as JayLucy specialize in fixing websites for increased traffic and ranking.

Even after your website is optimized, you can check in with your go-to freelancer from time to time for maintenance site checkups!

3. Included Polished and Engaging Content

Consider hiring a freelance copywriter who can write amazing website content. Of course, the right content can work wonders in helping you establish a prominent online presence!

Professional website content writers are experienced in incorporating well-placed keywords, strategic titles, and engaging content to drive more traffic to your site.  

Save money by hiring freelance content writers to help you write emails, sales copy, website content, press releases, and even blog posts!

Deboxe, an expert freelance writer, is well-versed in writing SEO blog posts to funnel more potential customers to your business site.

Do you need to rework the homepage, about us page, services page, or product pages of your website? SEOAmber will transform your content to entice customers to “click,” shop, and buy.

There is a plethora of benefits your business can reap from maintaining an ongoing blog. Check out this article listing the 6 Benefits of Blogging for Business!

4. Get to Know Your Audience

Although we would all like to cater our services and products to every person in the world, that just isn’t the reality for all small businesses.

Every business, small and large, has an ideal customer. As a small business, your target audience may be a bit smaller than that of a larger corporation’s.

That’s okay! Actually, having a target audience is excellent for your business.

By using this information, you can cater everything about your website to attract that type of person.

To help you begin your marketing research, consider the following questions:

• Where does my target audience live?
• What type of lifestyle does my typical customer have?
• What is the age range of my target audience?
• Is there a certain gender that typically purchases my products or services?
• Are my customers typically single or married with children?
• What industry do my typical customers work in?
  

You can also take a close look at your past customers to help you pinpoint your target audience.

5. Lean into Email Marketing

It has been proven that a consumer needs to see or hear an advertisement up to seven times before the message “sinks in.”

That is, they need to see the same (or a similar) message in order to remember any given brand, product, or service. To reach the same consumer seven times is quite the challenge!

As it turns out, email marketing is one strategy that has been quite effective in getting business messages across.

By sending your target audience regular emails, you are exposing them over and over again to your products and branding.

The power of this strategy is heightened if your emails include something the consumer wants. Discounts, coupons, special offers, or informative content are all wonderful strategies to add in!

Message email marketing expert freelancer SearchMarketPro to begin the process of developing your successful email marketing strategy.

Our article, the 7 Benefits of Working With Freelancers, will tell you all you need to know about what you can look forward to when choosing freelancers for your everyday business tasks!

6. Create a Social Media Presence

Utilizing social media is, by far, one of the best marketing strategies you can use to build a long-lasting small business!

By building a presence on a handful of social media accounts, you will open the door to effectively engaging with your target audience.

Now, many small businesses are under the misconception that “engaging” means posting once or twice a month.

In reality, this strategy is much more involved than just posting content!

To strategically use social media as a marketing initiative, you will need to also like, reshare, and comment on the posts of others.

Furthermore, you’ll need to monitor your own page to make sure you are replying to comments left on your page or sent in direct messages (DMs).

Check out the Effective Social Media Marketing For Small Business article for more helpful details!

You may also contact freelancer SuperstarSEO to help you launch your small business social media SEO campaign.

7. Pay Attention to Emerging Social Media Platforms

It’s no secret that the businesses that perform best on the most popular social media platforms are the ones who got to the trend early on.

For example, TikTok is now one of the most renowned social media platforms in the world. You can’t scroll through this app without seeing entrancing content posted by businesses and individuals alike!

The businesses that began posting regularly and strategically on TikTok shortly before it exploded are now benefiting from profitable accounts.

It isn’t impossible to grow as a small business on TikTok. However, it is much more difficult to build a following now than it was just a few years ago in 2019.

Pay close attention to emerging social media platforms. Instead of creating fresh content for just those new apps, you can recycle what you’ve already posted on other more popular platforms.

This way, you can create a presence on new platforms without having to invest too much time!

8. Connect with Your Customers

As a small business, you have the luxury of really getting to know your customers! Unlike larger corporations, you can get on a first-name basis with some of your avid followers.

Closely connecting with your customers will heighten your chances for return business.

Also, customers who are made to feel important are more likely to spread that news about your magnificent products or services through word-of-mouth!

Don’t be afraid to send a personal email to your customer asking for feedback, follow them on Instagram, or even “like” some of their pictures.

Want to know more about how to further connect with clients or customers? Review our Effective Client Communication guide!

When they see that you view them as more than just a paycheck, your previous clients will serve as advocates for your services or products.

9. Be Smart About Online Ads

While it is important to build an organic flow of customers to your business site, there is a way to jumpstart those numbers.

Investing in ads through Google and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok is a great marketing strategy when done correctly.

Before you launch into social media ads, it is a great idea to familiarize yourself with what generates attention for your business on those platforms.

After all, it is likely that your ad will only do as well as your most engaging posts. If you haven’t figured out what hits home with your target audience, what is the point of buying ads?

Many small businesses connect with outside professionals to assist them with developing a solid plan of action for ads.

Legiit freelancers such as AmitKumar are an excellent choice to help you bring awareness to your brand and develop a failproof ad strategy!

10. Become the “Face” Of Your Business

Step out from behind your business’ logo and let your customers see your face and hear your voice!

From Facebook and Instagram to TikTok and YouTube, consumers enjoy devouring content created by the talent behind their favorite business.

Produce compelling content showing off your products or services and interacting with your viewers. Then, you can sit back and watch how much your business’ following grows!

Don’t forget to show your face in your images and actually speak in your videos. There’s something about getting personal that attracts a crowd.

Respond to your followers, show off your deliverables, and don’t shy away from giving away free products or services every so often.

Take a peek at our article about How to Engage Customers for more details on the subject!

By implementing these strategies and being willing to become the “face” of your business, you’ll see significant growth in sales.

11. Gather Site Visitor Information

We’ve all visited sites that require our email to access information. Or, at the very list, a pop-up window appears requesting our email.

Although they are sometimes annoying, email collection is important for small businesses—and your business is no exception!

When first visiting your site, it isn’t likely for a first-time customer to make a purchase right away. Oftentimes they’ll browse, add to cart, and then click out of the window to return another day.

Maximize a potential customer's first visit by gathering their contact information. This way, you can make sure to add them to your email marketing list!

There are a variety of ways you can choose to entice your target audience to type in their email.

Top Ways to Gather Emails:

• Giveaway Incentive
• Coupon Incentive
• Newsletter Signup
• Quiz or “Results”
• Email Pop-Up
• Landing Page Email Requirement
  

Once you have a potential customer’s email, you can send them reminders of the items they or services they loved. In addition, you can encourage them to return to your shop by offering discounts or coupons.

12. Embrace Coupons and “Deals”

Many small business owners are hesitant to offer coupons, deals, or discounts. This is very understandable!

After all, when you’re just getting your business up and running, it can be difficult to imagine giving discounts when you really need every penny of that sale.

However, we live in a world where large corporations are offering extreme discounts and even free shipping. In this realm, small businesses have to find a way to stand out amongst the crowd.

Remember, coupons and discounts are oftentimes the push that people need to actually make a purchase.

When used strategically, giving your customers an enticing deal can be pivotal for your business!

Review your pricing and pinpoint where you can offer a coupon or even a percentage off if more than one product or service is purchased. People find it hard to turn down a good deal!

13. Join Forces with Other Businesses

Of course, you’ll want to avoid partnering with brands that would be considered your competitors. Instead, brainstorm all the types of businesses you can partner with to support your niche.

For example, a small online slime business could partner with a local company that organizes parties for children. This would be an example of a reciprocating partnership.

That party company can sell the slime products as fun party favors. Likewise, the slime business could offer to promote the party company on their popular website.  

Or, even better, they can offer the other company a cut of the profits on slime sold as party favors!

A business specializing in creating trendy wedding decor could partner with quite a few event-related companies.

Wedding planners, floral shops, dress shops, etc., could all serve as great business partners for a wedding decor company!

Remember, a business partnership is a two-way street. You’ll be expected to either pay or trade services to ensure the other business is also benefiting from the connection.

14. Reach Out to Influencers

Similar to partnering with other companies, a great small business marketing strategy is collaborating with influencers.

Before you put time and effort into reaching out to just any influencer, it’s important for you to approach this marketing strategy with a plan.

According to SimpliLearn, there are many tiers of influencers ranging from nano-influencers at 1K-10K followers all the way up to mega-influencers that have more than one million followers.

Connect with lifestyle influencers in the nano, micro, and mid-tier levels. By partnering with influencers, your business will be exposed to more of your target audience.

Influencers of all levels will expect to receive some level of pay for your collaboration. Keep in mind that, by working with an influencer, you have a chance of seeing more sales than with the use of ads!

15. Become the Authority in Your Niche

Businesses that strategically post on a YouTube channel or an instructional TikTok are ahead of the game!

By posting, they bring awareness to their brand. The type of content these small businesses post can also position them as an authority in their field.

Most customers or clients would prefer to work with a small business that has posted content to consume.

This digital content serves as proof and reassurance that the business is reliable and knowledgeable.

So, consider embracing the short and long film options of social media platforms! You can create videos showing off your products or even niche-specific advice clips.

16. There’s No Need to Reinvent the Wheel

Take note of what small business marketing strategies really work for your business. Observe what methods work for other small businesses within your niche.

Then, continuously perfect those methods as your business grows. There is no reason to always be on the lookout for a cutting-edge strategy that no other business has uncovered yet.

Always looking for the next best thing can be a huge time and money waster at the detriment to your business.

If you happen to discover a new marketing strategy, that’s great! Otherwise, it is perfectly acceptable to wrap your arms around the proven methods.

17. Create Streamlined Branding

From the profile picture on Instagram to the color scheme on your website, it is important for you to create a consistent brand.

Businesses that have cohesive imaging throughout their online presence are more memorable. On the flip side, businesses that do not have consistency tend to be easily forgotten.

Streamline branding will help people recognize your business and remember your products or services. This will also encourage consumers to make a purchase or even become return customers.

Connect with Legiit’s expert freelance designer, InspireLoop, to create an engaging business logo!

From there, they can assist you in making sure your branding is coordinated across all platforms and sites.

18. Maximize Your Valuable Time

As a business owner, your time is valuable. Your expertise should be geared towards growing your business and doubling down on effective marketing strategies.

However, many small business owners fall into the trap of trying to do it all.

Sending customer service emails, organizing appointments, or posting content on social media are all duties that take you away from the more pressing matters.

To free up your time, we encourage you to consider hiring a virtual assistant (VA). A professional VA can complete those menial tasks while ensuring everything runs smoothly.

In addition, they can handle many of your established marketing strategy initiatives. Social media posts, mass emails, and website management are just a few tasks VAs can handle!

Freelance virtual assistant, Amitlrajdev, is celebrated for his years of experience in serving small businesses and his attention to detail!

Review these 5 Virtual Assistant Statistics Business Owners Need To Know for more insight on how an assistant can help you grow your business.

19. Set Attainable Business Goals

It is important to the future of your growing small business for you to set short-term and long-term goals.

Short-term goals are the items you want to accomplish within the next few weeks or even months. On the other hand, long-term goals are those loftier missions that could take a year or more to achieve.

It has been proven that those who set goals and actively work towards those objectives are more likely to succeed than those who take a more passive approach.

As such, a great marketing strategy is to set attainable short-term and long-term goals for the growth of your business.

In addition to setting goals, it is important for you to analyze the steps you need to take. This will help you better achieve the desired results for your business.

By taking measurable steps towards your goals, you will set up your implemented marketing strategies for success.

20. Ask for Ratings, Reviews, and Testimonials

Don’t be shy! Once you have sold a product or completed a service for a customer, it is perfectly acceptable to take ratings and reviews.

In fact, social proof that other consumers enjoyed your products and services is an outstanding small business marketing strategy.

Make sure potential customers can see your glowing reviews on your website and social media.

While receiving feedback from your customers, it is important for you to celebrate the positive testimonials.

Instead of becoming discouraged by negative reviews or constructive feedback, learn from them.

Moreover, a couple of lower reviews can help legitimize your small business in the eyes of your customers.

That is, a few negative reviews sprinkled into a sea of positive reviews will show potential customers that your testimonials aren’t fake.

Bonus Tip: Save More Money and Time!

Small companies don’t have to hire professionals as full-time staff members on payroll for every task that needs to be completed.

Virtual assistants, social media managers, copywriters, and web designers, amongst many other professionals, can easily be hired to complete specific tasks.

Furthermore, these professionals are ready on the Legiit freelance platform to utilize their expertise for the betterment of your business.

To save money on hiring full-time staff members, sign up on Legiit. Here, you will have access to thousands of reliable freelancers.