In a previous blog post, we talked about how social media is taking over the marketing game for small businesses. This comes with the fundamentally changing world of marketing, and that is a good thing for small businesses. With the rise of digital marketing, and more people responding to this technique than others, more and more marketing avenues are becoming accessible to small businesses.
At this point, you have probably already dipped your toes into tactics such as social media, SEO, and content marketing – but it doesn’t have to stop there! Here are six marketing trends that will give small businesses results:
- Mobile optimization
The best way to figure out your customers’ behavioral process is personifying them and putting yourself in their shoes. Mobile marketing might not be something you feel is important for your small business right now, but think about it: When was the last time you checked your phone? There’s a pretty good chance you’re reading this on your smartphone right now. When you were trying to figure out where to eat dinner the other day, what was the first thing you checked? Your phone. The fact of the matter is, more people visit websites on mobile and more people conduct searches on mobile. Mobile optimization is all about being accessible to your customers through the device they use the most.
If you have a website (which you should), make sure it’s a mobile friendly one. If a customer goes through your website through their phone and they have to zoom in and out to access through it, there is a good chance they will leave your website. Make use of the other different ways you can utilize mobile as well, such as mobile payments or a mobile app for your business.
- Get more personal/authentic
The very core of small businesses and why it differs from the big companies is its ability to form meaningful relationships with its customers. Don’t take this advantage for granted, use it and portray it in your marketing efforts, as well.
Increase the amount of time that you interact with your customers yourself. Emphasize to your employees the importance of having good relationships with customers, create a culture around it. Ask them questions, have conversations, thank them for their support – remember: engagement is key.
On the marketing end, it’s not very different. Engage in social media, and not just with the one with good things to say. Learn how to deal with bad reviews with good customer service, and ask them what you can do to be better. Use story-driven content to tap into your clients’ emotional side. Humanize your brand with your marketing – humans relate with humans, not businesses.
- Loyalty programs
Very much related to establishing good relationships with customers, creating a loyalty program is one of the best ways of customer retention. By capitalizing on this strategy, small businesses will be able to strengthen relationships with their most profitable customers while also attracting casual customers. With the rise of internet access to absolutely anything, competition is even tougher than usual because customers can easily access their information as well. Challenge this by presenting excellent customer retention programs.
If you already have a physical loyalty card, why not try going digital? As mentioned above, mobile is taking over and it’s where the people are. Set up a loyalty program that customers can access through their phones.
- Video marketing
As mentioned on our blog post about the importance of social media to small business marketing, social media is taking over modern day marketing… and videos have taken over social media. According to a study done by Cisco, 75% of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2020. More than 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook every day. This is even more amplified by the recent rise of live videos. How can your small business capitalize on this?
The good news is, this platform is highly accessible to small businesses! Utilize the live video option for any live events, sales, behind the scenes action, finishing projects. The video doesn’t have to be live either, make instructional videos, tell your customers a story through a fun company video, or feature your customers and how your business has helped them. Align a message fit for your business and translate it into video. You can get better results if the videos are short, informative, and easy to watch.
- Infuencer marketing
While this technique is more commonly used by the big companies through Instagram and Snapchat, Influencer Marketing can still prove to be very beneficial to small businesses. For this kind of marketing, you pay an influencer to try your service or product and have them talk about it to the community through events or, most commonly, their social media channels. The more following they have, the more effective they will be. However, make sure to not base your decision based solely on this, the person/s you pick should have credibility in your industry/community as well. On a local scale, there are always people with huge following in certain niches. Get to know your audience, your local community, and find out who they listen to in your industry.
- Email marketing
Yes, e-mail marketing is nothing new and has been around for a while now. However, most small business owners seem to think that, with the rise of more targeted tactics and approaches, that e-mail marketing has become outdated. This could not be any more false – it’s all about the strategy. By implementing a more personal and authentic touch to your e-mails, this marketing tactic can produce amazing results. Create an e-mail list, if you don’t already have one. Do your market research, figure out what type of e-mails, what kind of wording, and what e-mail approach your audience engages in.