Small Business Marketing Strategies

Marketing is the heart of every business. Marketing is your business. Marketing is everything and everything is marketing. You can also describe marketing as Advertising and Advertising as Marketing. If your marketing strategy is not written down, extensively planned, structured, and executed, your business will probably fail. Having the right product or service at the right price is not enough to succeed: the right people have to know about your product; why they specifically need your product and not that of your opposition. Customers do not want you to tell them what to buy; you should tell them why they should buy your product.They do not want you to tell them that a specific product is the best; you need to tell them why it is the best. You need to tell them what the product can do for them; provide the customer with the benefits of the product. Your business is about what your customer wants, not about what you want them to have!Always focus your attention on specific customer groups. Example: If you are a wholesaler of food, you marketing group would be the owners of supermarkets, shops, etc.If you are a manufacturer of household cleaning products, your focus would be every person that has a home to clean. It also has to be in the language and tone that suits the target market. It must be sold by people who use it every day and can personally vouch for the effectiveness of the product. In the case of cleaning products, physically show them how it cleans a dirty carpet, stove, etc.Make sure that people are not confused when you market your product, your product must leave a clear picture in the customer’s mind as to the benefit of using it.Make sure that your customer experiences your business as professional. Your customer’s first impression of your business and product must be a lasting impression.It is a proven fact that about 95% of people do not complain about a product, they just never buy it again. It is also said that it takes 6 times more money to attract a new customer than to keep a current customer happy.Satisfied customers generate new customers for your business. The following example explains market strategy:There is much hype about all the powerful cleaning products on the market. When advertising a product, manufacturer’s state that no single product can provide optimum performance on all surfaces and soils, a broad range of products must be used to clean efficiently and easily.This is not always true. This is only an attempt from the manufacturer’s side to get a greater slice of the market and to increase profits. A lot of products have many uses. However, the name, label, look, colour and smell of the products are changed so that it seems that the same product is a totally new product.What people are really buying is the advertising hype that surrounds the product as well as the smell and packaging of the product.

Local Business Marketing Benefits

There are multiple reasons why local business marketing can play a significant role in almost any type of business. For starters, getting the word out there can help increase the customer base, which will ultimately drive up sales. However, many owners feel as though this is something they really don’t need. They may feel as though advertising costs are too high and that the techniques used for promotion just won’t be that effective. However, this train of thought is incorrect. In many cases, the cost of local business marketing pays for itself and then some.What Types of Businesses May Benefit?Contrary to popular belief, all sorts of establishments can reap the benefits offered by these programs. Whether it is a small, family owned and operated business or a larger establishment; local marketing tactics can make a positive impact on the bottom line. While some see a significant increase in the number of local customers, the exposure doesn’t stop there. Due to the influx of customers, some have even been able to expand on their establishment, by opening other locations and offering more services.What About Costs?This is an affordable solution to the needs of several different kinds of businesses. Although costs do vary, depending on the exact nature of the service and the company, there are reasonable rates and some companies may even offer discounts and other incentives for using their services. However, the owner should keep in mind that price is not indicative of quality and the most or least expensive agency may not always provide the best service. The entrepreneur should always take the time to know what kind of services are being paid for and for how long.Types of Marketing TechniquesThere are several different local marketing techniques that may be utilized to the business owner’s advantage. This can include advertising in the telephone book, online and the regional newspaper, for example, and these are only a few of the options which may be available.When it comes to the health of a business, local marketing can provide the resources for success. Hiring a service to handle these needs can save money, time and frustration. In addition to this, additional services may be offered to assist the customer. This may include free updates, reports and other promotional perks. There are too many benefits of utilizing local business marketing to simply dismiss the opportunity.

Tips For Effective Local Business Marketing With Mobile

Developing an effective marketing strategy for your local business has actually become a lot simpler these days, especially with the integration of mobile marketing in to your local marketing plan. If your marketing process is planned out correctly and implemented, keyword implement, you can expect to see some pretty amazing results. Not only will you get better results in terms of more customers but at a lot less investment will be required.How Can Mobile Marketing Help My Local Marketing EffortsWith the explosion of smart phones and smart devices across the globe the online marketing strategy for every local business owner that wants to stay ahead of the competition must seriously take a look at how they can integrate mobile marketing into local marketing plans simply for the fact that mobile is a lot more targeted. About eighty percent of mobile searches are by someone that has a desire to find something locally. This can be a coffee shop, museum, movie theater, restaurant or pet store. These are people that have a need, they have money and they are want to spend that money to fulfill that need, if your business does not show up on their mobile device, chances are they are going to take their business to your competitor.Local Marketing and Retail Are Changing QuicklyMore and more companies are developing ways that will help local business marketing plans and local retail, brick and mortar business will get more people in the door and it all has to do with a concept called incentivized commerce. The idea is by no means new, in fact anyone that has spend fifty two dollars and fifty cents to get a free cup of coffee ($5.25 times 10), you have participated in incentivized commerce. With local business marketing using mobile marketing it’s the same concept only digital. Companies such as Shopkick.com have increased revenue for local business to the tune of 50 percent to 70 percent.Local Business Marketing Together With Mobile Is Critical For Local SearchIf your business has a website and you have been optimizing it or hiring someone to optimize your site for SEO, you may have noticed that getting your website to the top of Google has become a little difficult. That is because there is paid ads and local places pages in the way and sometimes the local places will take up eight of the ten potential positions on the first page of Google. So here is why mobile is critical for your local business marketing plan. When you take control of your local listing on the search engines you will also be able to take found on mobile devices.