A strong online presence is a must have for any business large or small in 2020. 97% of people learn about local businesses online, more than anywhere else, making your digital footprint more important than ever. If you are looking for a way to track your return on investment and brand awareness, digital marketing is a must have.

Online marketing may sound foreign to you.  But good news!  You’re here!  You made it to MPWRSource and the MPWRSource Squad is armed and ready to help you get your marketing moxie on through tips about inbound marketing strategies.

Marketing’s job is to attract, delight, and engage (educate) with buyers online and inform your target market about how your company can alleviate their pain points. It helps to build a pipeline of qualified leads that get turned into sales.  With a small or start up business, less visibility and lack of resources (money, time, and human capitol) can add to the challenge.  But there are key strategies anyone can implement that can take you from a bumbling Clark Kent to a Superman in no time.

1. Know Your Audience

A niche is where you will gain the most traction with your small business marketing. If you attempt to reach everyone, most likely you will reach no one.  Take a look at your existing customers and think about their problems and priorities. What drives them to make a purchasing decision? How can your company meet their needs? Knowing these answers will help you to craft an effective BUYER PERSONA.

2. Know your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Sometimes when we meet with a client, we get excited.  They’re able to tell us what they do and why they do it and how they meet the needs of their market and we all start singing Koombayah because we know we are about to embark on a great marketing journey.  Other times, we hear a client tell us about their start up or their business and we just look for the camera a la Jim Halpert and think to ourselves, “Yea, but why?”

Your USP is your differentiator—it is what sets your business apart from all the others.  Your why, your USP, is the reason people will choose you over your competitor.  Maybe it is your customer service, price point, or location.  Remember, as Tiffany Joy Greene, M.B.A., states, “Marketing is not about creating demand; it is about meeting demand.”

3. Pay Attention to the Data

Once you have a few strategies in place and have experimented with different campaigns, find out what has been working and do more of that.  As your business grows, scale and double-down in the areas that have proven to generate revenue. Small business marketing needs to work smarter, not, necessarily, harder.

4. Dance with the One Who Brought You

On average, it costs 5 times more to acquire a new customer than to close an existing one. This means you have got to tend to your existing customers.  Market to your clients, continue to take them out for a spin on the floor.

Seek out opportunities for upselling, repeat purchasing, and cross-selling. Because your existing customers have already made a purchase with your business, they already like, know, and (hopefully) trust you.

Even in the event that a customer may have just had a one and done experience with you, make sure it was a good one. A delighted customer who brags about you is a powerful marketing tool.

5. Utilize Free Marketing Tools

Many businesses have limited resources for small business marketing, so need to stretch buy programs with all the bells and whistles when just starting out. Use free promotional tools where possible, only committing to pay for tools that you know will drastically improving your existing efforts. There are free website platforms such as Wix, WordPress, and SquareSpace. Make sure your business is on Social Media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instragram.  You can even you a free version of Hootsuite to help you push out scheduled status updates. There are free CRMs such as HubSpot, and free email campaign builders such as MailChimp and Constant Contact.

6. Create a Website

65% of the buyer’s journey happens on-line.  People are googling services and reading reviews long before they ever make a buying decision. This is where you will show your why and how potential customers can get in touch with you. A well-developed website is your salesperson that never takes time off.

7. Start a Blog on Your Website

Blogging is a great way to communicate with your target market, particularly those that have not yet made a buying decision.  It is a way to establish yourself as a trusted source and leader in your area of expertise. Blogging also increases your website’s visibility.  Even posting as little as once per week will boost your web traffic. Don’t forget to also add a call to action to that lets readers subscribe to your blog and receive emails. This is a great way to capture more leads and get them on their way into the sales funnel.

8. Get Social!

Social Media is more than just murder hornet memes and BuzzFeed quizzes.  It is actually a powerful business tool. Social media helps increase traffic, improve search engine rankings, and engage with potential and existing customers. Maximizing your social media presence is an easy layup for small business marketing pros.

9. Whip out those Emails

Email generates $38 for every $1 spent which is a whopping 3,800% return on investment.  It is truly one of the most effective marketing tools out there. Email has an average 3.9 million daily users, according to Statista.  That’s a pretty cheap tool for such a wide net. Emails are a simple and cost- efficient way to communicate with both existing and potential customers. To make it even easier, there are many free email marketing animation tools that you can use to get you started.

10. Experiment with Photo and Video Content

We have all been cooped up indoors for too long due to Coronavirus, we want to see the world!  Quick snapshots of your work culture give folks a peek inside without having to mask up.  A 1-minute video of you chatting up your latest promotion makes your business instantly approachable and human and the ROI on video is profound: product videos increase the chance of the purchase by 144%. (Raise your hand if you bought that thing you kept seeing the video for on Instagram. Mine was a fancy fire pit and my lockdown S’mores are on point.) Most social media platforms are visual in nature and lend themselves to the sharing of this content anyway.  Don’t get too stressed that it will cost an arm and leg.  There are many free or low cost ways to achieve the results you want to really elevate your small business marketing efforts.

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box.  One of the lessons of 2020 is to expect the unexpected—so dazzle your audience!