One of the most important factors in whether or not a small business is successful is marketing. A marketing plan can be as simple as find a store front with a good location and having a bright sign to attract customers or can become extremely complicated with multiple streams driving sales. Most small businesses rely on traditional marketing methods which are slowly dying off and thus have hurt these "mom and pop" stores. With the internet boom of the last 15 years, small businesses not only have the ability to find customers, but they have recently found themselves competing with large companies that spend millions of dollars each year.
The problem with small business owners is that they are unable to wear the multiple hats that they need to and they do not have enough capital to supplement their shortcomings with a Marketing Director or a Chief Financial Officer who can specialize in what they are not good at. When it comes to marketing, there are so many possibilities that small businesses can take advantage of, that it will not matter where they are located!
Build a Website
I know that many small businesses have figured this out, but most of them have not built them out correctly or do not do much with them. It's not enough anymore to simply have a website, you need to build it and add content to it constantly. Make sure that it is clear what your business does, what it offers, and if you sell merchandise, you should pay a web developer to install an online shopping cart for you. One that I have found that is excellent and has a free and paid version is Magento. This will allow you to be selling items to people that you have never met and that didn't have to see your store while driving by.
Incorporate SEO and Pay-Per-Click
To show up on Search Engines such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo, you will need to either do a Pay-Per-Click campaign where you show up on the first page and every time someone clicks on your ad, you pay a certain agreed upon price to the Search Engine or you need to perform Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is basically tactics where the Search Engines such as Google will recognize you as a premium site for a certain team. For instance, say you are a plumber and you love when your customers have a toilet that floods at odd hours because you can charge them three times the amount, then you may want to optimize your website for the keyword "Emergency Plumbing" or "Emergency Plumber". By doing this, when someone is in desperate need for plumber and it's an emergency, hopefully they'll see your ad first and call for your services.
Get Social
Social Media is playing a larger and larger role everyday in not only our social lives, but in business. Sites like Facebook and Twitter have exploded in popularity and are very powerful tools if used correctly. If you are a realtor, make sure to create a Fan Page on Facebook and mention to all of your friends and fans when you get a new listing or found someone their dream home. Make sure that they mention your name to all of their friends when you have done something good for them.
Constantly Learn
The web is constantly growing and changing, so it is important to stay up to date with different marketing tactics. If you have kids or a neighbor that may be more tech savvy, employ them to handle this task. I have spent a lot of my time learning from MarketingProfs. They have an Online University and you can sign up for them for I think $279 or $299 and have access to all of their webinars, but I just signed up for free and I get articles sent to me just about every other day that is offer a TON of information.
With the power of the internet and its ability to market, your vitamin store or flower shop can literally QUADRUPLE its revenues. That's right, I said QUADRUPLE! It's worth changing the way we think and do business to welcome the new business world and stay ahead of the curve.
For more business tips find us at Money Catapult!
For the past 13 years I have been an entrepreneur investing and being active in real estate projects, private businesses, consulting, and small-cap public companies. I have made a living by making investments in different areas that I have felt would yield me the best return on my investment as well as utilizing investors to have projects come to fruition. I often have friends of mine ask me for advice on buy ing their first home, where I think the next business opportunity will be, and even how to get started. I have written endless business plans and am what some would construe as a "deal junkie". I love coming up with new ideas, putting a plan together and putting the pieces together to execute them. We are still in a recession and I felt that this would be an excellent time to give my two cents to whoever wants to listen. I have started a blog for business and investing call Money Catapult so Google it and check it out.
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