Some businesses may think that marketing is a waste of time and money for them, perhaps if they think their business is too small with not enough of a budget to make marketing worth while.
Marketing is for every business, large or small!
But, this does not mean that marketing is a one size fits all process. It is true that different businesses have different needs, based on what they offer, who they offer it to, their budget, etc. The key is to finding the correct marketing strategy and mix of marketing methods to suit your business and the product or service that you are offering.
There are a number of different marketing methods that you are probably familiar with; social media, blogs, emails, print media, cold calls, direct mail campaigns, advertising, and many more.
Each of these areas can then be broken down into more specific strategies. Take advertising, for example; you can place an advert in a newspaper or magazine, advertise on social media, on television or radio, and then there are methods such as programmatic advertising, which uses software to buy digital advertising space.
Which methods are right for marketing your business?
There are a number of factors you can consider when deciding this. Firstly, consider your budget. If you are just starting out on your own and have a limited budget then there are many marketing methods that can be done without spending too much. Social media, for example, is a good way of spreading your message to your audience online for free. You can boost the reach of your social media content by paying to run advertisements if you choose to, and this can be done at a reasonably low cost.
If you’ve got a bigger budget then you can look into more elaborate campaigns and will be able to reach a wider audience by running television ads, for example.
You should also consider your target audience. Where are they most likely to see your marketing messages and what will they respond best to? For example, if you’re targeting a young audience, then it would be wise to be active on modern social media channels such as Snapchat and Instagram, whereas if you are targeting business professionals, you’d be better off on LinkedIn.
As well as the channels you use, think about the message you put across; always have your target audience in mind when creating any marketing content, and tailor the format, language and tone that you use specifically to them. Make sure it is something that your audience will relate to, making it more likely for them to engage with it.
These are just a few tips to get you started when thinking about your marketing strategy. Start by assessing which methods you think are right for you and get going with them. Monitor the effectiveness of the methods you choose so that you can see whether what you’re doing works for your business.
