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Elevate Your Business with Effective Small Business Marketing

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As a small business owner, you have a lot of responsibilities—especially if you’re operating with a small staff or as a solo contributor. It might be tempting to focus only on day-to-day administration tasks, but it’s essential that you regularly get your offerings in front of people as well. That’s where marketing comes in.

 

Even if you have limited resources, it’s important that you get your business online and in front of your market. Regardless of the age of your small business or your budget, marketing is a can’t-skip part of running a successful operation. Learn more about small business marketing and digital marketing tips, and how to create and deploy a strategy in this marketing guide.

What is small business marketing?

Small business marketing is the practice of promoting your business’ goods or services. There are a variety of ways to reach new and existing customers, both online and offline, through different marketing efforts. For example, you might use content marketing to engage buyers through various stages of their customer journey or use paid social media ads to get your business directly in front of your ideal buyer.

 

Examples of small business marketing include:
 

  • Advertising in a local newspaper or online publication.
  • Exhibiting at an event to introduce your brand.
  • Launching a referral program.
  • Sharing user-generated content (UGC) on social media.
  • Content marketing strategies like starting a company blog and publishing articles on your product and industry to educate and position yourself as a thought leader.
  • Incorporating SEO best practices, such as having a high-speed, user-friendly website with relevant keywords for your business on it.

Once you start seeing results and have more resources, you can build off of these foundational pieces of your marketing strategy. Whether you have a small or large budget, you’ll be able to develop a strategy that fits your needs.

Why is marketing important for small businesses?

Many factors—such as your competition, location, or product-market match—can influence the success of your small business. To ensure you’re reaching the right people and boosting your small business’s visibility, it’s essential to promote your business on and off the web. And you’re not off the hook if you’re strictly a brick-and-mortar store—76% of consumers reported looking at a business’s online presence before visiting it in person.

 

You should treat marketing like payroll, inventory, or any other routine task you regularly complete to keep your business running smoothly. Small business promotion helps you:

 

  • Put your business on people’s radar. People can’t purchase from you if they don’t know who you are and what you’re selling to the market. It’s important to make inroads on and offline when you’re promoting your offerings.
  • Capture new customers. Even if you have a steady stream of regulars, it’s not a bad idea to market yourself consistently (and differently, to reach new audiences) to potential customers.
    • Example: Diversify your channels—such as using a combination of social media, organic SEO, and email marketing—to sell your goods and services. Once you gather analytics, you’ll likely find that certain offerings do better with certain people on certain channels.
  • Get feedback on what’s working—and what’s not. If you’re marketing offers that aren’t converting, you’ll get an opportunity to dive in and determine if it’s because of a pricing, tech, or market-fit issue.
    • Example: Use an SEO toolset like Ahrefs to conduct competitive online research to see what keywords your competition is ranking for. Or try a heatmapping tool like Hotjar to visualize user behavior and get feedback on your site.
  • Boost sales. With regular marketing, you’ll remind people what you do, what you’re an expert in, and why they should purchase from you.
    • Example: Create a content calendar and consistently publish articles and social media posts about your industry and products to inform and engage users on their buyer journey.
  • Stay competitive. Whether you’re online or operate a brick-and-mortar store (or both), it’s important to stay fresh and relevant to the market you’re catering to, especially as similar businesses crop up.
    • Example: Conduct market research to understand your customers’ wants, needs, and pain points, as well as gain insights on your brand, business, and competitors.

Common marketing challenges for small businesses

Businesses in all industries have their share of challenges, and small-sized operations are no exception. When it comes to small business marketing challenges, they typically include one or more of the following:
 

  • Lack of budget. Marketing initiatives and online advertising for small businesses are often the first things to go or get neglected when funds are tight.
    • Tip: As you set your annual or quarterly budget, the general rule of thumb is to spend between 7% and 10% of your gross revenue on marketing, according to Small Business Trends.
  • Not having a marketing team. If you’re a solopreneur or manage a small team, marketing roles might be low on your to-hire list.
    • Tip: Consider using next-generation AI tools or outsourcing social media or content marketing tasks to freelancers to meet your needs without maxing out your budget. If you choose the latter, make sure you have content and social media marketing guidelines in place to share with them for alignment on communication.
  • Competing with organizations with more capital. If your competition has deep pockets for elaborate marketing campaigns, it can be intimidating—or almost impossible—to compete with them, online or off.
    • Tip: Leverage free or low-cost marketing opportunities—such as partnering with aligned brands on a contest or giveaway with an email newsletter swap component—to get exposure in front of new audiences. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different content marketing strategies.
  • Not knowing where to begin. There’s a ton of information out there on marketing strategies for small businesses, and it can lead to analysis paralysis.
    • Tip: Visit trusted authority sites for online guides on topics like social media strategy and SEO for small businesses.
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Seven types of marketing for small businesses

There’s no shortage of marketing channels for you to choose from when it comes to creating a brand and growing your business. Here are nine of the most popular types of marketing:

 

  1. Content marketing: blog posts, white papers, e-books, or a variety of other written content. You can create a variety of organic and paid content to inform, educate, and entice people to check out your services and help nurture potential buyers, create a digital footprint for SEO, and otherwise serve your customers. And if you’re not a strong writer, generative AI tools can help you create content that converts—AI for small business marketing, for the win!

  2. SEO marketing: keyword-targeted online copy, a healthy backlink profile, a fast website load speed, and a responsive site design. These are key examples of how to optimize your site and content to make it easier to find—both for search engines and customers—on the web.

  3. Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing: paid advertising that appears on search engines, social media, apps, or websites. This type of ad is usually placed at the top of a search engine or a distinct spot on a website to grab attention, and an advertiser pays a fee each time a person clicks on a PPC ad.

  4. Social media marketing: Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, or other social media platforms. These channels are a great way to promote your business and engage with customers. Depending on which social media platform you use to promote your business, there are social media marketing guides available online that can help you cater your posts to your specific audience.

  5. Event marketing: trade shows, industry conferences, or sponsored events. This consists of in-person or virtual events to showcase your brand and connect with people.

  6. Digital marketing: SEO, email marketing, content marketing, or any other type of marketing that leverages digital and internet channels. Digital marketing for organic (unpaid) means, like a social media posting on a company page, or through paid efforts, like a PPC ad that appears at the top of a search engine, can help you reach customers.

  7. Experiential marketing: an immersive experience that connects a brand with its audience—think, fun filters on social media that transform you into a character ahead of a movie’s release date or a special event that capitalizes on a pop culture moment. These types of campaigns can take place in person or virtually (or both).

  8. Email marketing: through an email marketing software platform, you can use email marketing to grow a list of subscribers to send curated offers and information via email on behalf of your business. Email is a channel that you have a good amount of control over since you’re communicating directly one-on-one with your customer.

  9. Influencer marketing: leverage people with large followings and communities online to tap into their influence to help promote and sell your products. Microinfluencers, people with a smaller but still engaged following, can also be a powerful marketing tool for your small business marketing


Other types of small business marketing include word-of-mouth communication and direct mail marketing (via snail mail). Different types of marketing can be blended and launched at the same time, too. For instance, you could host an in-person event and launch a contest with a branded hashtag for attendees to create UGC for your business to win a prize.

Small business marketing tools and technology

When building your small business marketing foundation, you’ll want to establish and set up the following tools and technology for your business:

 

  • Build a website and secure a business email address to cement trust and credibility. Because you’re building a brand, it’s also essential to select a website and email address that clearly reference or include your business name.
  • Start a blog on your website to establish yourself as an authority in your space and help lay the tracks for SEO. Identify the keywords you want your business to rank for and start to write content around them. and start to write content around them.
  • Social media platforms. Secure your business name across the major social media platforms. Even if you don’t intend to use a certain channel for your business, it’s a good idea to create an account so you “own” your name on a particular platform.
  • Digital marketing platforms. If you have an existing base of customers—and even if you don’t now but want to remain future-focused—get a customer relationship management system and email marketing platform to start cultivating and nurturing your leads and customers. Digital marketing tools for SEO can also help you monitor keyword rankings and conduct online competitive analysis of your competitor’s website.
  • Decide on and implement analytics on your website so you can track which pages and links are getting the most traffic and clicks. Some website providers offer their own internal tracking and there are third-party tools you can use, too.


    Once you’ve identified your marketing wants and needs, it’s time to focus on products and tools. Learn how a cloud-based software suite like Microsoft 365 can help your team stay organized as you grow your business as well.

Building a small business marketing strategy

The best marketing tools are nothing without a strategy in place. Before you start purchasing tools and cobbling together a marketing plan, make sure you have the following outlined:

 

  1. Determine your ideal customer. If you haven’t already, get super clear on who you’re marketing to and their needs and wants. You can use market research to gather information on your ideal buyer and determine how your product or offer stands out among the competition.

  2. Create your brand messaging framework. Determine your brand mission statement, voice, and tone so you have alignment across the business about who you are and how you communicate with customers.

  3. Create measurable goals. It’s important to establish goals for your small business marketing strategy—are you looking for new leads, new social media followers, new email signups, or new online purchases? Consider using SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals and KPIs when outlining your metrics for success.

  4. Decide ownership. Establish who on the team will manage marketing for your business. Whether you decide to hire in-house, work with freelancers, or use a marketing firm, it’s necessary to appoint someone (or multiple people) to oversee not just communications, but report on results.

  5. Create an internal marketing guide. Set up guidelines and expectations around communications for your internal and external channels, and don’t be afraid to reference published marketing guides online to pull from the latest digital marketing tips.

Grow your small business with marketing

Remember that creating a brand and developing a marketing plan takes time. And implementing SEO for small businesses takes time to take hold, grow, and drive visitors to your site as well. You’ll likely need to pivot and make adjustments to your marketing strategy, too, but that’s why it’s important to measure and track your progress alongside your goals.

 

By following the steps in this marketing guide, you’ll be able to solidify a strategy to promote your small business.

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Business Insights and Ideas does not constitute professional tax or financial advice. You should contact your own tax or financial professional to discuss your situation.

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