Market Strategy Archives - The Elliott Group

5 Small Business Marketing Tips

April 2, 2015 by Michele Elliott

While the responsibility of owning your own small business can be overwhelming, it can also be very satisfying. It’s no wonder that small businesses continue to be the backbone of America’s economy. Almost 28 million small businesses employ 50% of the nation’s workforce and have created 65% of the country’s new jobs since 1995. Small business success doesn’t happen overnight — and it doesn’t come without a lot of work and worry. Small business owners are extremely skilled at providing their services or making their products, and usually, that’s what they like to spend their time on most. Dealing with other aspects of the business, such as accounting, HR or marketing can be either daunting or a drag. But, if you don’t send out invoices, you won’t get paid, and if you don’t do marketing, you won’t have anyone to invoice. Here are a few basic tips to get your small business marketing program underway.

1. Set a marketing budget. This is critical, because without a somewhat firm marketing budget, you run the risk of either spending too much or too little. Spending too much can leave you extremely dissatisfied when the results don’t measure up. Spending too little can stunt efforts that show promise. Ideally, your marketing budget should be about 7-8% of your projected annual revenues; but up to 15% if you’re running a start-up.

2. Develop a marketing strategy. With your budget in hand, map out your goals and plan the strategic marketing efforts that will help you achieve those goals. Identify your primary and secondary markets and research how those markets shop or search for your products and services. Are they mainly using their phones to search for your business? Do they still read the newspaper every day? Do they use social media — and if so, which outlets?

3. Be part of the community. Your small business marketing plan should include ways to demonstrate your commitment to your community. Whether it’s through sponsorships, educational offerings, social media, donations or volunteer work, take an active interest in the people, businesses and happenings around you and your business will be rewarded. Remember, people do business with people they like.

4. Solve problems. A key component of your marketing strategy should be helping your customers solve problems — or get answers to their questions. Rather than using all of your marketing budget on hard-sell tactics, be sure to include some soft-sell techniques, like content marketing. E-newsletters, blog posts, webinars and instructional videos can all help you establish expertise, form relationships, get more referrals and increase search rankings — all while you’re providing a valuable, relevant service to your customers.

5. Be consistent. Part of your marketing plan should be a carefully timed schedule of all of your activities along with who is responsible for accomplishing each step along the way. Be sure to keep track of the plan’s progress. Lack of consistency and ill-timed promotions will kill the best of marketing plans.

BONUS: Don’t do everything yourself. As a small business owner, I can guarantee that you already have enough on your plate. Marketing is not an aspect of your business that you can afford to let slide, no matter how pressing your other priorities are. Delegate marketing tasks to other capable employees and hold them accountable for staying on track (and on budget). If you can’t delegate the implementation of your marketing plan to others in your organization, consider using an agency. Best wishes for small business success!

5 Online Strategies for Every Small Business

March 18, 2015 by Michele Elliott

5 Online Strategies for Every Small Business

How Small Businesses Benefit from Content Marketing

January 10, 2015 by Michele Elliott

While it’s not a new strategy in big business, content marketing is still a somewhat foreign concept to many small business owners. Many small businesses aren’t quite sure what content marketing is exactly, and how it could benefit their bottom line.

What is Content Marketing?

Social media, articles on your website (blog posts), e-newsletters, case studies and videos – all of these marketing strategies can be classified as content marketing. Each serves to provide content that educates your target market and provides them with relevant, valuable information that appeals to their specific interests and needs. This sharing of information with your potential and existing customers helps develop a deeper and more trusting relationship with them than you could with traditional advertising methods. Because content marketing is more of a conversation, it allows your target market to learn how they can benefit from your business without them even realizing it. It’s a soft-sell technique that positions you and your business as an expert in the trade who is willing to provide free helpful information.

Benefits of Content Marketing

Besides helping you establish your brand and grow your customer base, content marketing (when done correctly) can help you build a positive reputation in the local community. Content marketing can also help you increase your website’s search rankings. The goal of Google and other search engines is to provide users with the highest quality and most relevant content possible. Creating and posting valuable, relevant and original content adds meat and depth to your site – giving the search engines more important keywords to index and thus improving your site’s ranking in search results.

The Need for Quality Content

When developing content, it’s important to focus on quality. Original ideas, original copy, original positioning – your articles and social media posts need to truly convey your philosophies and ideas. The information you present needs to be transparent and accurate, presenting a real picture of what you are doing and why it’s interesting or beneficial to the consumer. Avoid plagiarism at all costs. Not only will you not be saying anything uniquely interesting to your market, but your entire site could be penalized if Google detects too much text that duplicates other online pages. One plagiarized blog post could ruin it for your entire website. Last, remember that content marketing is different from traditional marketing in the sense that you never want it to sound like a sales pitch. The goal is to deliver substantive information that your customer wants and needs.

Content Marketing is on the Rise

For now, content marketing is not only here to stay, but it’s a strategy that’s being adopted by more and more businesses around the globe. With the explosion of online content that will result, it’s more important than ever to have a solid strategy that hinges on unique ways of relating to your clients. Many small business owners don’t know where to start with developing the ideas, plans and writing for their posts. Or, they simply have too many other pressing projects to handle. If you don’t have the time or skills to devote to mapping out and executing a comprehensive content marketing strategy, consider hiring a professional writer or agency to put it together for you.

Should Your Small Business be on Facebook?

November 3, 2014 by Michele Elliott

I have a couple of clients who really hate Facebook. For one client, it’s a privacy issue and for the other client, a learning issue. The first client is a very private person and even the thought of a business Facebook page makes him uneasy. The second client does not use the internet much for personal purposes and has a huge learning curve when it comes to social media. And, human nature is sometimes to distrust what we do not know. Both of these clients own small local businesses that rely on search and referrals; therefore, even though they don’t particularly like it, they know they SHOULD be using social media to market their businesses. Maybe you should, too. If you have a local target market, Facebook can help you:

Reach people who live within a few miles of your location
Strengthen your relationship with your known customers
Advertise directly to your customers’ friends who live nearby

Four Types of Businesses Who Should be on Facebook

Not every small business can truly benefit from advertising on Facebook. In their book Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising, online marketing and Facebook ad experts Perry Marshall, Keith Krance and Thomas Meloche describe the four types of businesses that might do well with a robust presence on Facebook. Examples include local businesses with a physical location where consumers regularly come to purchase goods and services — from doctors and fitness clubs to restaurants and bakeries.

If your small business falls into any of the four categories below, Facebook can be a winning part of your marketing plan:

You have unique products.

Facebook is a highly personalized medium. So, it’s not the place to sell the same products that consumers can find easily online or in the big box stores. It IS the place to sell unique, personalized and customized products – ones that allow for individual expression.

You sell to consumers.

Facebook is mainly used by consumers to connect with friends and family. If you sell to other businesses, you probably won’t have much success on Facebook. But, if your business is consumer-oriented, then you, too, can connect with individual consumers and people in their personal networks.

You sell great experiences.

Facebook is also where people go to connect, to play, and to socialize. It’s a great place to sell events, club memberships, experiences, personal improvement, travel and entertainment. All of these products involve fun and positive emotions, and offer plenty of naturally social subjects for posts.

Your business appeals to people with strong convictions.

Does your company — and your target customers – lean toward a particular religious, political or social direction? If your business harmonizes with a person’s identity, that person will be predisposed to do business with you. You can take advantage of this harmony between your business and your customers by targeting them on Facebook and discussing the issues they care about.

Don’t Know Where to Start?

I’m a big believer in social media and its power to help small businesses grow. My own small business owes all of its clients to social media. And, my business technically does not fall into one of the four categories above. Imagine what an increased social media presence could do for your company? If you’re not sure where to start – or simply don’t have time to manage a social media campaign, know that there is affordable help available. The Elliott Group can build a strategy for you and also ensure that it is executed. We manage every detail. Contact me today for a free consultation!

Where Is Your Small Business Going?

October 6, 2014 by Michele Elliott

Many small business owners spend more time planning a vacation than they do planning their killer marketing strategy for the next 6 months or a year. But, just like planning a vacation, having a written marketing strategy is critical to its success. If you don’t have a vacation plan, you might end up on stand-by, in a tacky hotel, or worse. If you don’t have a marketing plan, you can never be sure that you’re getting the best value for your marketing dollar, and getting the best results possible.

The Destination: Where Do You Want to Go?

Just like planning a vacation, the first thing you need to know is where you want to go, otherwise known as your marketing goals. Do you want to increase sales by 5-10%? Do you want a higher customer retention rate? Do you want to increase referrals? Whether your business goals are big or small, they are your “destination” and marketing can help you get there.

The Travel Budget: How Much Can You Spend?

You generally know how much money you’re willing to spend on a vacation. You need to also set a budget for your marketing plan. A good rule of thumb for allocating marketing expenses is to set aside about 7% or more of your annual gross income. And, just like deciding on how much you’ll pay for vacation lodging, transportation, meals and sightseeing, you need to divide your marketing budget into various initiatives, such as advertising, social media, public relations, direct marketing, collateral materials, trade shows, website design, search engine optimization and more.

The Transportation: How Do You Plan to Get There?

Once you have your destination and budget spelled out, you can start to think about the best ways to get there. This will largely depend on your type of business, what has worked well for you in the past and what has not worked. Typically, you will want to put the lion’s share of your budget into what has worked well, but you should also allot some funds for testing other initiatives. Be sure to be able to track and analyze the results from all of your efforts, so that you can see your expenses versus orders, and know each cost per order.

The Details: Should You Use an Agency?

Lots of people rely on travel agents to plan their vacation, especially if it’s a big trip with many details that need to be worked out. Having someone else who is more knowledgeable and has more resources at their fingertips frees you up to pack your bags and enjoy the trip. For the same reason, small business owners can use a marketing agency to help them plan their strategy as well as execute its components. Agencies can put your marketing plan in writing, devise all of the materials and sub-plans needed for each initiative, track results and more. This allows you up to focus on your product or service and the daily operations of your business. Bon voyage and best wishes for success!

Small Business Success Depends on Marketing

June 30, 2014 by Michele Elliott

In a down economy, businesses look closely at expenses and cut costs where possible to offset declining revenues. Cutting marketing expenses, however, is a bad idea. To build business and increase sales, marketing is critical, especially for small businesses who may be competing with larger companies. It’s tempting to think of marketing as just another expense. But, for small business success, marketing should be viewed as an investment with long-term value. Research shows that, during the past five recessions since 1971, companies that actually increased their marketing budget were more likely to have stronger earnings than those that did not.

Marketing covers advertising, public relations, promotions and sales. A process by which a product or service is introduced and promoted to potential customers, marketing keeps your product or service top of mind with potential customers. It helps you reinforce benefits to the consumer, distinguish yourself from the competition, clarify misconceptions, build your brand and establish your company as reputable and reliable.

Tips for Low-Cost Marketing Efforts

Not all marketing needs to be expensive. Here are a few ideas that will help you keep your business in front of prospective customers without breaking your budget.

Trade Show Alternatives: While you may not have the budget to attend your biggest trade show with a splashy booth this year, you can often work with trade associations to find other ways to get your marketing materials in the hands of trade show attendees. Often there are literature bins, tote bag stuffers, sponsorships and other lower-cost opportunities offered by the association. Consider having a special piece designed just for that purpose that really speaks to that specific audience with your benefit-oriented pitch.

Public Relations: Do you have a new service or product, or an enhancement to an existing product? Generate free publicity with a well-crafted press release delivered to the right media. Find out who to send it to (specific names and email addresses) and follow-up to be sure they got it and answer questions they might have. Include images when possible to make it graphically appealing.

Social Media: If you don’t already have a Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn presence, set it up and put a plan in place to frequently post updates and answer questions/comments promptly. Post activities, images, promotions and other news that puts your business in a positive light and also encourages engagement. Offer incentives to your followers that will increase business and word-of-mouth referrals.

Sales Collateral: Does your sales team have the most up-to-date materials that convey a clear, compelling benefit to the customer? Or, is the benefit lost somewhere on the page? A new sales flier, brochure or e-blast can give your sales troops, as well as sales, a boost. These materials do not need to be high cost — rather, they need to put your company’s benefits front and center. Good writing and design can help you achieve that.

Advertising: If you feel as if you’ve been burned before by spending a lot of money on a big ad that didn’t produce results, you are not alone. Many small businesses fall for the premise that a big ad will get them big results. A key component to advertising is repetition. Running smaller ads more often reinforces your message and reaches more people than a one-time ad. Another key is to have a strong message. A series of ads that builds on a running theme can help you tell a big story.

Website: When was the last time your website was updated? If it’s been a while, now is a good time to evaluate ways in which your website could be driving more business to your company. Posting a blog that tells your customers more about what your business can do for them is a great way to keep fresh content on your site and move it further up in search engine rankings. Also, the navigation should be easy and important information — your key message — should be front and center.

Without marketing, your potential customers may never be aware of your business offerings and your business may not progress. Using marketing to promote your product, service and company provides your business with a chance of being discovered by prospective customers. The Elliott Group can help with low-cost marketing efforts and advice to help you succeed.

540-539-3409

5 Online Strategies for Every Small Business

Where Is Your Small Business Going?

Small Business Success Depends on Marketing

Company Profile

Latest News

Designing your own website versus hiring a web designer

Connect With Us