Anyone who’s ever started their own company will tell you that setting up a small business is one thing, but knowing how to advertise it is something else entirely.
Your new venture might be the best thing since sliced bread, a real million-dollar idea, but if you don’t know how to get the word out… That’s going to be a real roadblock to your success.
“Aaaah, but I spent all my time becoming an expert in my industry, not an expert in marketing! I have no idea where to even begin with all that!”
I hear can you shouting, and I get it!
Lucky for you, I had to write a blog this week, and I know exactly where you need to begin (if I didn’t, I’d need to pick a new career). That’s why I’m sharing some of my best small business marketing tips to help you get started.
Take a look through my top 10 tips below and learn how to get the ball rolling for your small business with Duck Digital Marketing!
1. Work Out Who Your Clients Are
Okay, I know this first tip can hardly be classed as “revolutionary advice” when it comes to marketing a small business, but hear me out for a second…
While it might seem obvious that you should know who your clients are, I’ve watched many of my own clients struggle to answer when I’ve asked who their target audience is. Usually, their answer is either much too vague (“anyone who wants to buy what I’m selling!”) or way too far-fetched (“I want to sell to absolutely everyone!”).
If you don’t know who your customers are, you’re going to have a hard time finding them. By narrowing things down until you have a clear definition, you’ll have a much better idea about where to look and how to capture their attention.
If you’re not sure where to start, I’d recommend studying your existing customers first. Are there any similarities between them? How and where did they find you? Why did they seek you out in the first place? Which ones did you enjoy working with the most?
Alternatively, if your business is brand spanking new and you don’t have an existing customer base, I’d suggest asking yourself the following questions and going from there:
Which age group do you expect the majority of your customers to fall into?
This can strongly influence your digital marketing strategy for multiple reasons. Gen Z aren’t using the same social media platforms as Gen X, for example. They also have different slang, jokes, budgets, interests, and ideals, all of which greatly affect how and where you should advertise your business.
How much expendable income are your customers likely to have?
On a scale from “high-end” to “inexpensive”, it’s good to know where your business falls. After all, it’s no use trying to appeal to people on a budget if you’re trying to sell luxury goods or services at premium prices, and vice versa!
Where do your customers live?
At a minimum, you should know whether you plan on serving people locally, nationally, or internationally.
Additionally, certain businesses (e.g. gardeners, tradies, real estate agents, etc.) would also benefit from knowing the types of properties their customers live in (e.g. units, townhouses, detached homes, acreage properties, etc.) and whether they are renters, investors, or owner-occupiers.
What problems/interests do your customers need help with?
If you’re a gardener, you’ll likely be working with people who need help with yard maintenance. If you’re a dog walker, it’ll be pet parents looking for a trustworthy animal lover to help with pawrental duties. If you’re a digital marketer (helloooo), it’ll probably be business owners who want help expanding their online reach.
Whatever kind of work you do, it’s important to know who you’re helping and how.
2. Understand What Makes You Unique
Chances are, your business is not the first of its kind. There’ll be plenty of others out there who are already doing what you’re doing. If there aren’t, by all means let me know; I’d love to conjure up some small business marketing strategies for something completely new.
Now, for the remaining 99% of people reading this blog who do have existing competition, you’ve got work to do. When your customers are spoilt for choice, you have to fight for their favour, so it’s important to know what sets your business apart from the rest.
At Duck Digital Marketing, we did this by taking a long, hard look at our business and our industry as a whole. We knew we were hardly the first people to start a digital marketing agency in Brisbane, so why were we doing this?
Could we offer something new to our customers and do things our competitors couldn’t, or would we just be the latest addition in a long line of “digital marketing whizzes” looking to “shake up the industry”?
Clearly, we realised we did have something new to offer, or you wouldn’t be here reading this blog right now.
You’ll find our five main selling points on our home page. While they aren’t the only ways we differ from our competitors, we figured we’d spare our readers and limit ourselves to the five selling points we believe best represent our brand and communicate our values.
With your own business, I’d suggest coming up with three to five unique selling points to set yourself apart from your competition. Once you have them, make sure to display them clearly on your website, discuss them on other online platforms, and channel them into your work to really solidify them as part of your brand.
3. Build an Informative, User-Friendly Website
First impressions mean everything, and when it comes to your business, a good website is the online equivalent of a confident smile and a firm handshake. At a minimum, your website should load quickly, be easy to navigate, and provide clear, insightful descriptions of your business and its products/services.
Why is this so important, though? Do all business owners really have to worry about this? Is having a website even really necessary for your particular brand?
I hear you, I really do, but I also think this particular piece of advice is one of the most vital marketing tips for any small business. Building and maintaining a good website is a lot of work, and there are plenty of businesses that seem to cope just fine without one. However, hard work pays off, and coping is very different to thriving…
I truly believe there’s not a business out there that wouldn’t benefit from having a good, informative website. Even if it’s just a simple landing page, it can make a heck of a difference (and I’m not just saying that because we offer web design services).
To prove it, I’ll ask you one simple question: When was the last time you made a planned purchase without consulting the internet at least once beforehand?
Personally, I can’t remember the last time I did that, and if you really think about it, I bet you can’t either.
Whether it’s asking relevant online communities for first-hand recommendations, searching for specific products/services, investigating local businesses to ensure they have what you need, checking customer reviews, or confirming opening hours… There are so many touch points between a business and its customers that now happen exclusively online.
While I don’t know exactly how much the internet contributes to the economy, considering the multiple ways it’s used throughout the consumer journey, I’d guess it’s a duck-tonne. If your business doesn’t have a website or any sort of online presence, you could risk losing out on a crazy amount of trade.
Similarly, if you do have a website but it fails to load quickly, doesn’t provide clear information, or offers a poor user experience, that can be just as detrimental as having no website at all.
It’s tantamount to visiting a shop for the first time, waiting outside for ages before anyone lets you in, realising the owner only speaks in riddles, and eventually noticing that actually… You’re not in a shop at all; you’re in a labyrinth.
That’s no way to run a business (unless you’re the Minotaur, maybe), but it is a great way to scare people off and have them take their business elsewhere. If that’s how your website works, that’s not exactly ideal.
People should enjoy being on your website. They should find it welcoming and insightful and easy to use. They should want to return to it at some point. Done properly, your website should help you find your target audience, emphasise your expertise, convert more leads into sales, and grow your business.
Build a good website. Don’t build a labyrinth.
4. Be Yourself and Let Your Personality Shine
Look, I know (most) people aren’t doing a deep dive before every purchase just to make sure they’re not giving their money to CEOs who suck. However, your personality and your values really do matter when it comes to shaping your brand, especially as a small business owner. It’s one thing to dislike the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar tech company, but it’s quite another to clash with your green grocer.
As a customer, it’s nice to know who you’re buying from, and spending your money with good people is always a bonus. As a business owner, when you allow your personality to shine through your brand, it will become much easier to find your people, and you’ll no doubt enjoy working with them a lot more. It’s a win for everyone!
At Duck Digital Marketing, for example, we know we’re a little eccentric, and we love any kind of project that encourages us to think outside the box and push ourselves creatively. We also knew our ideal customers would be the same sort of far-out thinkers who enjoy doing business a little differently.
That’s why we built an extremely punny, duck-filled website that tells any like-minded business owners exactly who we are from the get-go.
It’s why our branding is so brightly coloured, and all our business cards have little shiny duck feet running along the back of them.
It’s why we always vow to be ourselves at every networking event and business meeting we attend, because how else will we find the type of clients we want to attract?
Sometimes, the best way you can market your brand is by marketing yourself. Not just in person, but online, too.
Some of you might balk at the thought of stepping in front of the camera, but if you’ve got the knack for it, it can work a treat. People love to support people they like, so much so that they’ll often throw money at products and services they’d otherwise never need, just because they want to champion the person behind them.
It’s why we buy band t-shirts even when we don’t need new clothes. It’s why makeup brands collaborate with beauty influencers and famous drag queens on so many eyeshadow palettes. It’s the reason so many YouTubers scored book deals back in the day, because publishers knew fans would buy a novel for the author’s name alone.
Whether you’re promoting your business in person or online, people love a big personality. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re talking at networking events or on TikTok; it always helps to put your best foot forward. Just be yourself, and the rest will follow.
5. Connect With Your Customers
Are you struggling to come up with fresh new marketing ideas for your small business? Would you like an engaged target audience that actively promotes your work online? Do you want loyal clients? Well… You’d best start yapping!
Your customers are your biggest asset, and if you’re not doing everything you can to connect with them, you’re missing out big time.
You should be emailing them about new products and upcoming deals, responding to their reviews (both positive and negative), replying to their comments on your socials, and making posts asking what else your business can offer them.
Your relationship with your customers doesn’t cease to exist the moment they complete a transaction. While you don’t want to bombard them with messages, you also don’t want them to forget about you, either.
Remarketing is a huge part of advertising; it’s way easier to appeal to someone who has engaged with your business before, rather than someone who is entirely unfamiliar with your work.
That said, if you don’t yet have an existing client base, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do here. Your customers are still hanging around online somewhere.
The internet is a big place, and if they haven’t found you yet, then all you need to do is put yourself out there and find them instead. Join relevant groups on Facebook, scour online forums like Reddit, browse specific hashtags on TikTok and Instagram, and find your target audience through the power of social media.
Then, once you’ve found them, there’s only one thing left to do: start yapping!
Ask what people want from businesses like yours, see if they bring up any gaps in the market that you could fill, and start chatting to them about how your business can help. Reply to public posts and put your business forward when people ask for recommendations, offer your expertise whenever someone has a question about your industry, start your own discussions, and get your name out there whenever you get the chance.
6. Create a Marketing Calendar and Commit to It
When you run your own company, it’s pretty easy to get bogged down in the finer details and lose sight of the bigger picture. When you can’t see the wood for the trees, it’s good to have a solid roadmap to help you get back on track. If you ask us, a detailed marketing calendar is one of the best roadmaps you can create as a small business owner.
Planning out your year with key business dates, goals, and milestones will remind you where it is you’re headed, doing wonders for your motivation and focus. We’d recommend starting by adding key business dates like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, the end of the financial year, national holidays, and your business’s birthday.
From there, I’d recommend adding more specific “national days” that you can use to run sales, promote your products/services, and celebrate your work.
There’s an oddly specific holiday for just about everything (for example, did you know there’s a National Duckling Month and a World Marketing Day?), and they’re extremely useful to have on hand when you’re struggling to come up with new small business marketing ideas.
Trust me; if you do this, you’re bound to max out your calendar very quickly with a whole bunch of weird and wonderful marketing events.
7. Collaborate with Other Businesses
No, I’m not suggesting you get chummy with your competitors. However, getting to know other small business owners in your area is a great way to expand your reach, especially when you’re first starting out.
Finding clients can be tough, so if you can gain exposure by collaborating with other businesses that already have an established customer base, then go ahead and do yourself a favour.
The trick here is finding other businesses that have similar/identical target audiences to your own, but wouldn’t be classed as competition, which, honestly, isn’t as difficult as it might seem.
Say, for example, you own a vineyard. You wouldn’t be looking to collaborate with other vineyards, but if your main target audience is “people who want to buy wine”, then who else is there to collaborate with?
Well, most online flower shops often advertise chocolates and wine as added treats before their customers check out. Corporate gifting companies regularly include a bottle of wine when they’re making up their fancy hampers. Heck, maybe you have a local cheesemonger who’s desperately searching for the perfect Pinot Grigio to pair with their new feta. Who knows?
The point is, “people who want to buy wine” rarely do so by going straight to the vineyard. There are a lot of other places they’re more likely to try first. The same principle can probably be applied to your own business, no matter what you sell or who you’re selling it to.
Own a bakery? Reach out to wedding venues and party planners. Work as a painter/decorator? Start talking to other tradespeople in your area and see if you can refer one another. Have absolutely no idea where to start? Hop online and start researching local business meetups in your area, and attend the next one. I can almost guarantee there’ll be at least one person there worth talking to.
8. Sell the Solution, Not the Product
In 2001, Apple launched the first iPod, and it did so with a slogan so effective, so memorable, that countless marketers still use it as an A+ example of advertising to this day. The slogan? Just five words…
1000 songs in your pocket.
It was so simple, but so genius. Nobody knew what an iPod was. Quite honestly, nobody cared. Apple knew this, so they decided they weren’t going to focus on selling the product. Instead, they decided to sell the solution.
There were so many things they could have mentioned when advertising their fancy new device. It had 5 GB of storage, 10 hours of battery life, a sleek, compact design… but they didn’t talk about any of that. Why? Because it’s boring! It means nothing!
Maybe it seems like important information at first glance, but in reality, it does duck all to explain what the iPod actually offers people.
1000 songs in your pocket, on the other hand…
Well… When you put it like that, suddenly you’ve got everyone’s attention. That’s something people can visualise. That’s something people want.
Ultimately, you’ve got to remember there’s a stark difference between how you view your product and how your customers do. That can be hard when you’re trying to sell something you’re so familiar with, but remember, you must!
The moment you lose yourself in the nitty-gritty details is the same moment your customers lose interest. To you, your product is everything, but to your customers, it’s just another tab in their browser, another post in their feed, another billboard on the street…
If they don’t get it, they won’t buy it.
The most successful companies all know this, and it’s reflected in their advertising. Apple didn’t sell iPods; they sold convenience. Renowned beauty brands don’t sell makeup; they sell confidence. Great digital marketers don’t sell paid ads and SEO; they sell success.
Want people to care about your product? Don’t sell the product. Skip the backstory, go straight to the happily ever after, and sell clarity, not confusion.
9. Invest in Your Strategy
I’m not just talking about investing money here (though that’s certainly part of it), I’m talking about investing time as well. Any strategy worth its salt is going to cost you both, and you should be extremely wary of any “marketing expert” who claims otherwise.
Let’s be real; if there was some miracle marketing strategy that cost mere pennies and could grow businesses into multi-million dollar success stories overnight, everyone would be doing it. Sadly, there isn’t, and until such a strategy is found, we’ll just have to stick to doing things the old-fashioned way. Sorry!
I’ll be honest, this tip is the one I see business owners struggle with the most. Phrases like “you get out what you put in”, “no pain, no gain”, or (god forbid, everyone’s least favourite) “you have to spend money to make money” are all ones people refuse to listen to when they really need to.
However, the sooner you get over that hurdle and commit, the sooner you can actually realise your own success. It might not happen overnight, but with the right people behind you and the right strategy in place, it will happen eventually. Which brings us quite nicely to our final marketing tip…
10. Believe in Your Business and Trust the Process
As we just discussed, there’s no secret recipe for success, and there’s certainly no shortcut. However, if you want to walk the path towards success without tripping up and scraping your knee, you won’t go amiss with the following three things:
- A business idea with potential
- A solid marketing strategy
- A whole lotta trust in the process
Sometimes, you don’t have to wait very long at all before elements of your marketing strategy begin to work. Other times, it’s slow going. Sometimes, your business will have an absolutely fantastic month with a great return on investment. Other times, things will just steadily plod along. Sometimes, marketing is really exciting. Other times, it’s really not.
When it comes to business success, there are so many factors that can play into it and influence outcomes. Sadly, things cannot be exciting all of the time. In fact, you’ll probably find that things won’t be exciting most of the time, but slow and steady wins the race. True success is often boring, but that’s consistency for you.
During the quieter times, when success doesn’t feel quite as thrilling as you want it to be, it can be tempting to veer off course.
There’s probably a little voice in your head telling you to change your strategy on a whim, or pull the plug on marketing altogether, or sell your business and get a safe 9-5. Don’t listen to the voice! That’s the evil little goblin in your mind talking, and they cannot be trusted with business decisions.
Instead, just take a deep breath, remind yourself that you believe in your business, and trust the process. Your ideas are sound, your company has potential, your marketing team knows what they are doing, and if things seem boring, that just means you’re safe.
Don’t give up before things take off. Great things are coming your way!
Contact Our Team for More Small Business Marketing Tips and Hatch a Plan Today!
Want to learn more about how to create the perfect marketing strategy for your small business? Look no further than Duck Digital Marketing!
Contact us today to organise a free consultation and discover how we can help you find your audience and grow your business online.