5 Key Steps to Put Your Small Business Ahead of the Competition
Small business marketing is not for the faint of heart, but if you’ve been in marketing for longer than two seconds, you know that. Marketing your business is dependent on doing some key factors well and these things will make or break a small business in this dog eat dog world we live in. Competition is fierce and learning how to make the most from your web pages is tricky.
Here are five crucial steps to get ahead of the game!
- Create a Marketing Plan – Don’t leave anything to chance. Develop a well-thought out, concise plan that maps out every one of your marketing elements and just what you need to do to make it work. Make it as detailed as possible. At the very least fill in the broad strokes.
- Social Media Marketing – Not just a time waster! Social media can be an enormous source of website traffic and new business. According to MediaBistro.com, 91 percent of experienced social marketers see improved website traffic due to social media campaigns and 79 percent are generating more quality leads.
- Build a Mailing List – So many businesses make the mistake of not collecting customer and prospect emails from the beginning. Email is far from dead. MarketingProfs.com tells us that email averages a return on investment of $40 for every $1 spent, far outstripping banner ads ($2) and keyword ads ($17). If you choose to neglect it, you’re leaving a big part of your potential profits up for grabs!
- Video Marketing – Connect to all the local traffic that’s out there searching for your business. Video marketing in this space is a relatively untapped vein, and having a simple video advertising your wares on page one of Google may result in tons of traffic and authority coming your way! According to the research company Forrester, any given video stands about a 50x better chance of appearing on the first page of Google than any given text page.
- Have a Mobile Presence – Make sure your websites are optimized for mobile, as more than half of all searches now are originating from some sort of mobile device. Microsoft reports that mobile browsing is projected to overtake desktop browsing by 2014. Having your pages mobile optimized can help improve your reach, and also corral impulse buyers.
Don’t Be a Superhero and Do It Alone!
No one is a superhero and you needn’t be. The realm of online marketing is always changing and evolving. You need to learn what is working now, learn from the best, and hire the very best outsourcing you can find. In the long run, it’ll pay off greatly!
