Often small businesses and small business owners see themselves as not having the financial ability or the expertise to design, implement and track their marketing programs. This is especially when compared to the budgets the larger companies have for these activities.
The reality is a small business is not typically going to have a separate marketing department and different professionals to handle each aspect of their advertising program. However, the small size of the company and the wealth of free or low-cost programs, apps and services to help you design professional-quality marketing gives small businesses an edge over large companies.
Also as a small business owner, you don’t have all the protocols and managers to through to make changes. This allows your business to have much more responsive and flexible to marketing opportunities. As a small business owner understanding the trends and adjusting your marketing campaigns to match these trends will give you the edge.
Effective Social Media Marketing
Most small businesses have a social media presence. A presence is not the same as an effective marketing campaign. If a small business owner is not tracking the response to their social media marketing programs or is not actively engaging followers, fans, and comments on their sites they are losing opportunities.
The whole purpose of social media marketing is to learn more about your customers and for those customers to see your business on a personal level. Stepping up your campaigns to do this is easy if you attend a seminar to learn the ins and outs of social media networking.
Email Campaigns
Email advertising is not only effective but is one of the best ROI options out there for small businesses. Low-cost templates and programs which allow small business owners to create professional looking, highly informative and relevant emails keep your customers interested in reading more about your products, services, and your company.
The key is to provide content, not just hard sales language. Learning how to use emails effectively, getting people to sign up for emails from your website or social media sites or taking name and emails at tradeshow events can help you to start to build your networking database.
Website Upgrades
Websites are definitely not a new marketing trend, but if your website is more than a couple of years old it is probably outdated. Upgrading from old plug-ins and widgets on the site to new options, perhaps even adding an app or a series of embedded videos, can really spark interest in small businesses.
Staying on top of what is new in marketing trends for small businesses is critical. Tradeshows for small businesses are an excellent opportunity to tap into new ideas and marketing strategies.
