Small Business Marketing: Everything you Need to Know

You already have the idea for your business, your brand, the areas you intend to operate in, and even a visual identity.

But the question always remains: “How can I be found by customers as a small business that doesn’t have as high an investment as the others?”

The answer is: digital marketing.

Many may think this strategy is expensive; however, it’s not necessary to invest as much as large companies to achieve good results.

With that in mind, Leadster has prepared this article with 28 marketing strategies for small businesses, continue reading the article to learn more!

The Challenges of Marketing for Small Businesses

There are many challenges that small businesses face with marketing, especially since certain tools may exceed the established budget.

Moreover, many of these companies believe they don’t need a marketing professional on their team, which can be a misguided assumption.

Below, we have outlined four challenges that small businesses may encounter, take a look!

Lack of Resources

Many small businesses start their digital marketing efforts without having the necessary resources to carry it out in a scalable way.

It may not seem like it from the outside, but digital marketing is a very labor-intensive job.

If you use a methodology like Inbound Marketing, for example, one of the biggest determinants of your success is how well you can organize and formalize actions, campaigns, nurturing flows, funnels, etc.

All of this is specialized work, but it also requires a lot of time.

And the time for researching and developing strategies is a luxury that many small businesses do not have. Typically, they start with marketing already expecting an increase in sales to justify the investment.

In addition to these more abstract resources, the lack of physical resources is also a problem. Starting a marketing team requires investments in good computers, mobile phones, office infrastructure, etc.

Tight Budgets

Many of the tactics and platforms that digital marketing demands may be above the budget of small businesses.

That’s why it’s very important to plan ahead to avoid any budget overruns.

A tight budget is a serious problem in marketing for small businesses because it limits the ability to obtain resources.

As we saw in the previous topic, lacking sufficient resources is a very common problem in marketing for small businesses.

The problem is that a small budget prevents the brand from even planning to acquire these resources.

To improve your organic traffic, for example, most brands need to work with qualified writers for the job, which requires hiring.

To work with paid media in a more advanced way, it’s also necessary to hire specialists in the area.

And this is just talking about hiring. To work with video, you need to set up a small studio within the company, which also requires investments that smaller brands find more challenging to make.

Competition from Larger Brands

We also have the issue of competition, which is present not only among small and medium-sized companies but also among larger, well-established ones.

Dealing with this competition in marketing is quite different from handling competition in market share or sales.

Think about Instagram, for example: there are profiles from all over Brazil, many of them offering exactly the same content (or product) as you.

Even if you are a regional company that only provides services to your local community, content marketing on Instagram means competing with the entire country.

This even happens when we think about sales. A brand that serves all of Brazil can easily “steal” regional customers from you simply through content.

You will find this in SEO as well, to cite another example. Small businesses need to constantly resort to local SEO to avoid wasting time competing with those who have been well-established in national SEO for a long time.

Long-Term Results

Another problem that small businesses often encounter is the long-term results that digital marketing delivers.

Not that the results themselves are problematic — the issue is with the time involved.

The best marketing and sales indicators tend to grow over time. Few are focused on immediate, short-term results.

Outbound strategies are more focused on delivering quick results, but they are also costly and require “extra” investment: you need to build the team and allocate resources to develop physical campaigns, TV, radio, or paid media.

So, small businesses end up investing heavily in short-term results to justify that investment. It’s a very difficult vicious cycle to break.

Adapting to Trends and Technologies

Finally, small business owners will face the challenge of keeping up with all the trends and technologies involved in the marketing world.

In addition to trying to implement them in their business.

But don’t worry, because marketing for small businesses is not just about challenges.

Leadster brings you tips, strategies, plans, and much more that is necessary to create your marketing plan.

Continue reading the article!

Marketing Plan for Small Businesses

There’s no better way to start than by thinking about your marketing plan; this way, you’ll be able to define objectives, goals, strategies, target audience, and content you can produce.

Below, you will see the step-by-step process of how to create a marketing plan for your small business.

1. Conduct Market Research

Before taking any steps, it’s essential to conduct market research; only then will you know what your audience is thinking, what their pain points are, which platforms they are most active on, your competitors, and many other important metrics for your business.

2. Define Your Objectives

Have in mind what results you want to achieve through digital marketing.

One way to define good objectives is by using the SMART method.

Your marketing objectives should be:

Specific;
Measurable;
Attainable;
Relevant;
Time-based.

By meeting these criteria, your objectives will be sustainable and will instill greater confidence in the team.

3. Define Your Buyer Persona

Through market research, you will already have an idea of who your target audience is; however, it’s always good to further characterize your customer by defining a persona, making it much easier to implement your strategies.

Remember that your persona should have a backstory, personality, and goals they wish to achieve.

The more information you gather, the more your persona will be narrowed down to a specific niche, facilitating your understanding and marketing practices.

4. Identify Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is what differentiates you from your competitors.

The USP is your Value Proposition, the reason customers buy from you rather than from other companies with similar products.

Define your unique aspect, giving a reason for the customer to buy from you.

Here are some questions to help with the process:

What do you love most about your products and services?
What special skills do you possess?
What makes customers choose you over the competition?
How do your customers benefit from purchasing your services?
What aspects do you highlight about your company when presenting it to others?

5. Set the Budget and Metrics

Part of your investments and revenue should be allocated to marketing.

How, when, and how much to invest is up to you to decide based on your objectives.

Now, to know how your strategy is performing, you need to monitor some metrics; only then can you make forecasts about your business.

Here are some metrics to consider:

Return on Investment (ROI);
Number of sales over the period;
Conversion rate;
Net Promoter Score (NPS);
Paid media; and
SEO.

6. Create Your Strategies

Define which platforms you intend to operate on to become even more well-known.

Some available strategies and channels are:

Website;
Blog;
Social media;
Events / Networking; and
Branding.

7. Create an Action Plan

Write down everything you intend to do regarding your company’s digital marketing; that is, define the actions, objectives, strategies, responsible parties, and deadlines.

Also, have a backup plan in case your initial plans do not yield the expected results.

In this other post, you can check out some methodologies to define your action plan.

8. Monitor and Revise

If you want to know how your marketing plan is progressing, it’s essential to monitor the established metrics.

Only then will you know if you need to adapt or review some strategies, such as sales, content marketing, branding, etc.

Focus on the Basics!

As we mentioned above, even though many tactics and tools of digital marketing come with a high cost, you don’t need to focus on the most sophisticated strategies for your business to succeed.

Focus on the Rice and Beans method (ACF), where you will follow all the necessary steps to ensure your marketing strategy achieves good results.

Let’s go step by step!

1. Understand Your Business – Understand your business model, establish metrics, anticipate impacts.

2. Define Sales Channels and Processes – Which channels to use, types of sales, and other characteristics.

3. Know Your Customers – Identify your best and worst customers, NPS, their fears, desires, and objections.

4. Analyze Competitors – What they are doing, their strengths, and weaknesses.

5. Find What Causes the Most Impact on Your Business – Identify the most important issue to focus on.

6. Resolve That Impact – Develop a strategy to address that important issue.

28 Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Now that you know your challenges, how to create a marketing plan, and which method is most suitable for you to focus on, let’s look at marketing strategies for your small business!

1. Branding

Create a clear identity that allows customers to instantly associate your company with what it does and represents.

To achieve this, you should have:

An appropriate name;
A logo; and
Visual identity that conveys your business idea to customers.

The more you incorporate your name into your advertising, social media, email marketing, and more, the more recognized your identity will be.

2. Have a Website Optimized for Conversions

It’s pointless to attract users to your website if, when they access it, the page is poorly designed and difficult to understand.

Create a clear, objective, comprehensive, and conversion-optimized website so you can track how many visitors to your site converted into leads.

3. Create Specific Landing Pages for Your Marketing Campaigns

A landing page (LP) is a unique page created for a specific objective, such as selling a product, filling out a form, or making a promotion.

LPs should have attractive content and design to persuade people to click and convert on your offer.

4. Write Compelling CTAs

As another part of the strategy for attracting and converting leads, the Call To Action (CTA) is a short prompt aimed at sparking user interest.

The actions prompted by the CTA can range from signing up for your website’s newsletter to starting a free trial of your product, so invest heavily in this strategy.

5. Build a Content Strategy

Leverage inbound marketing, as it allows you to promote your business through content strategies.

You should establish content formats that help your business while also informing your customers.

Here are some content formats:

Blog posts;
Webinars;
Podcasts;
Email marketing;
YouTube videos;
Ebooks; and
Case studies.

6. Create a Blog

In addition to improving your website’s performance, a blog can enhance your business’s authority, as it showcases your expertise in your niche.

However, to ensure your blog is found in search engines, invest in SEO, a strategy we will explain next.

7. Understand the Power of SEO

With Search Engine Optimization (SEO), your website and blog’s organic traffic will increase, improving their positioning in search engines like Google.

To do this, invest in the right keywords for your business and check platforms like SEMrush to see which topics in your area have the highest search volume.

8. Invite Writers to Contribute to Your Blog and Social Media

A great strategy for enhancing your content’s authority is to invite people with specific expertise to write articles for your business.

Additionally, leverage contacts that can yield backlinks to your blog; they write on their own pages and redirect to yours.

9. Seek Co-Marketing Opportunities

Invest in shared promotional campaigns so that the resources of both companies are utilized, expanding the audience and generating a positive return.

If you’re unsure which companies to approach, think of those that are not your direct competitors but have a similar audience to yours.

Read also: 13 Differences Between B2B and B2C Sales and How to Optimize Your Strategy

10. Build Relevant Partnerships

If you already have professional contacts in mind that align with your business, don’t waste time and turn them into brand ambassadors.

Stay in touch with these professionals to form partnerships.

➡️ Read next: 10 B2B Prospecting Strategies from the Best Companies

11. Experiment with Social Media Marketing

Social media is essential for any type of company, whether small or large.

It’s on social media that you can engage more with potential and current customers.

By investing in these platforms, you can also:

Increase your brand awareness;
Boost traffic to your website;
Generate leads;
Distribute content;
Provide customer support; and
Enhance your marketing strategy.

See which social media platform is most appropriate for your business and start investing in it!

12. Use Videos in Your Strategy

According to a survey by Forbes, 90% of consumers say videos help them make purchasing decisions.

The same survey indicates that companies using videos in their marketing strategies see a 41% increase in results.

So, don’t miss this opportunity and start thinking about how to use these videos on the platforms—social media, YouTube, your website—that you utilize to promote your business.

13. Don’t Forget Email

Although many may overlook it, email marketing yields very positive results for your business’s marketing.

Research indicates that 59% of marketers claim email is their greatest source of ROI, and they also report that this strategy is one of the primary lead generation channels.

So, make sure to utilize it, whether through newsletters, product promotions, or special offers.

14. Test PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) is another marketing strategy where the advertiser pays every time a user clicks on their ad.

Even though there’s a cost for the advertiser, the results are very positive, as your ads reach a much larger audience.

Here are some platforms to invest in PPC:

Facebook;
Instagram;
Google;
YouTube;
Twitter; and
LinkedIn.

15. Use Google Ads

Google Ads significantly increases your chances of being found by potential customers.

The tool ensures that your company’s name appears before that of your competitors, for example.

Therefore, weigh your investment options, as the tool is paid, but it will bring substantial results.

16. Use Facebook Ads

With Facebook ads, you can create even more specific ads, filtering your audience by age, gender, location, interests, and habits.

This way, the user experience with your ads is more personalized, making them more likely to click and learn about your brand.

17. Offer Free Consultations and Valuable Resources

Offer free consultations to potential customers, especially those uncertain about making a purchase.

Provide valuable resources to help them feel more secure about acquiring your product or service.

18. Utilize Guerrilla Marketing

The guerrilla marketing technique is based on the element of surprise and may use viral videos, advertising stunts, or even street art.

This strategy aims to shock the audience, grabbing their attention in the most unexpected way possible.

Additionally, one of the main advantages of guerrilla marketing is its low cost.

19. Create Buzz with Public Relations Strategies

When launching a new product or service, don’t miss the opportunity to issue a press release and reach out to major publishers and media outlets in your niche to cover it.

20. Use Google My Business

A great tactic, especially for businesses with a local customer base.

Google My Business ensures that when users search for the services you provide, your company appears at the top of the search results.

21. Generate Local Recognition

Ensure that your company is recognized beyond the online space.

You can start by hosting local events—this way, your chances of appearing in news outlets increase—sponsoring other businesses, or conducting workshops and non-profit events, among others.

22. Participate in Online Conferences and Events

Take advantage of event opportunities in your field, see which ones align best with your company, and prepare a presentation to further expand your professional network.

Read also: Key Growth Strategies to Apply in Your Company

23. Perfect your “Elevator Pitch”

This strategy relates to word of mouth.

Know how to present your company to those who have shown interest and curiosity; do this briefly, objectively, and concisely.

Also, take the opportunity to clarify any doubts the person may have.

24. Network Both In-Person and Online

Networking is the best strategy for finding more industry professionals, promoting your business, and building authority.

So, take advantage of every opportunity you have, whether at online or in-person events.

25. Create a Community Around your Brand

Win over as many customers as possible; use your marketing strategy to turn them into fans of your service or product.

This way, these customers will promote you on social media, contribute to word-of-mouth strategies, and interact even more with your business.

26. Maintain a Strong Relationship with Your Customers

Create a loyalty relationship with your customers; try to connect with them as deeply as possible.

Show that their problems, complaints, and desires are important to every area of your small business.

27. Request Testimonials from Your Customers

Feedback or case studies are essential tactics for attracting new customers.

Always ask what your current customer thinks, clarify their doubts, and see if they have any suggestions or complaints; in other words, always listen to them.

And take advantage of positive testimonials as social proof for your business.

28. Get to know Conversational Marketing

With Conversational Marketing, you can maintain a real-time relationship with your lead or customer.

This strategy caters to all funnel stages, providing personalized support that simulates human behavior and giving your customer all the assistance they need.

To do this, use chatbots like the ones Leadster provides, and watch your website’s conversion rate increase by up to 3 times.

29. Work with Influencers

Working with digital influencers is no longer just a marketing trend, nor is it something out of reach for smaller brands.

Today, there are influencers of all sizes and with all kinds of particularities. There are also many platforms dedicated to finding these influencers for you.

Influencers accept payment in various ways. Some work with post contracts, while others accept bartering and products.

It’s already common practice in the restaurant industry, for example, to have influencers dine for free in exchange for posts.

Your brand can indeed work with influencers. You just need to understand exactly how to make it happen.

We have an article that talks about this on the Leadster blog. Access it below:

30. Seek Free Media (Earned Media)

Earned Media is a term in English that literally translates to “deserved media.”

The concept is quite simple. When you create an innovative product, you can gain media exposure by presenting it in other places beyond those you control in your marketing efforts.

For example, appearing on TV shows, in news portals, or speaking at an event—all of this is Earned Media.

To make this happen effectively, you’ll need a Public Relations professional working with you. It’s a significant investment, but it’s well worth it.

31. Test Strategies First

One of the biggest problems small businesses face in marketing is the fear of launching new strategies due to the risk of failure.

Inbound Marketing itself is quite costly. Launching the strategy, working on it for six months, and then giving up due to a lack of results can significantly impact a company’s finances.

So, run small localized tests whenever possible before putting a strategy into action.

In the case of Inbound Marketing, you can start with one of its basic principles. Create a small lead generation strategy first. If it yields good results, implement the full Inbound strategy.

32. Work with a Well-Defined Organizational Chart

Digital marketing is both an operational and systemic task, but at the same time, it’s also highly creative.

When creating your marketing structure, establish an organizational chart to place each specialist exactly where they need to be.

And of course, determine the support each specialist will receive.

When the creative team lacks someone to set deadlines, request changes, and ensure deadlines are met, an already tight budget becomes even more limited.

33. Always Work with Project Management

Project management is the operational side of digital marketing.

It helps you understand timelines for launching various campaigns, as well as the necessary efforts, people, and deadlines for creation.

The project manager, along with project management tools, provides the day-to-day organization that managers need to ensure everything is happening as planned.

This work is quite important. Without it, even the smallest marketing department encounters deadline issues.

We have an article that discusses these tools in detail. Learn more at the link below:

➡️ 10 Project Management Tools and How to Choose

34. Keep an Eye on Marketing Trends

But seek a different perspective. Look for trends that will reduce your costs while facilitating something in your production.

It’s quite common to find small businesses wanting to implement trendy strategies without first addressing the basics of marketing.

For example, e-commerce sites investing heavily in voice commerce, a major strategy for this decade, but lacking an intelligent display on their website.

Or selling only through their site and Instagram, ignoring marketplaces.

Trend lists you find across the internet are filled with older trends that are still in the process of being consolidated today, but are often overlooked in favor of newer tools that have gained media attention.

We have our own list of trends that you can follow at the link below. It doesn’t just list tools but seeks to understand marketing strategies as a whole, linking trends to day-to-day work.

Access it below:

➡️ Digital Marketing Strategies 2024: The Old and the New

35. Use Specific Tools Instead of General Ones

This is an important point to mention, especially now with the great AI revolution that our market is experiencing.

You can use ChatGPT, of course. But at the same time, there are many other AI tools that use ChatGPT in more specific ways.

We have an article here on the blog, for example, that discusses an AI tool for creating ads.

You could very well use DALL-E 2 and ChatGPT to create your ads, but the work would be harder and the usage fees more expensive.

By using this tool, you create complete ads and only pay a monthly fee.

It’s the same with text and image production. You can use these tools, but there are others that may cost the same (or even less in some cases) and offer, in addition to the same technology, extra features.

We have two comprehensive lists published here on the blog that talk specifically about this. Access them below:

➡️ Content Creation with Artificial Intelligence: How to Do It?

➡️ 18 Artificial Intelligence Tools for Creating Images

36. Go Beyond the Marketing and Sales Funnel

Another issue related to limited resources in small business marketing is the difficulty in working on the post-sale stages of the funnel.

When the budget is limited, most efforts focus on simple Top, Middle, and Bottom of the Funnel actions.

It’s basically like this:

Top: maximum focus on lead generation, qualified or not. Qualification often happens only when the lead is passed to the sales team.

Middle: maximum focus on presenting the company’s solutions to leads. Little content. It’s a preview of the Bottom of the Funnel.

Bottom: maximum focus on customer approach, usually by phone.

There’s nothing “wrong” with following a strategy like this. On the contrary.

The only problem is that there is another stage after the Bottom of the Funnel: post-sales.

This is where re-purchases are encouraged, and customers become brand evangelists. This is how word of mouth begins.

So, even with limited resources, it’s important to include post-sales as a fundamental part of the Marketing and Sales Funnel.

It’s better to do a little and have the opportunity to do more over time than not to start at all, losing good business out of fear of not being able to follow through.

37. Conduct SEO Diagnostics

An extremely important point to consider is the health of your website in relation to SEO.

Performing a good SEO audit is crucial for digital marketing efforts that rely on the website as the main conversion channel.

This audit may seem daunting, but with the help of a front-end developer, you can resolve many issues.

The key is to use a crawler. A crawler is a program you install on your computer that can scan your site similarly to how Google does.

However, the crawler provides you with a report. With this report in hand, you can understand exactly what the negative aspects of your site are according to Google.

After that, it’s just a matter of fixing the issues.

The most traditional crawler on the market today is Screaming Frog. It’s quite powerful even in the free version.

Through it, you will be able to analyze both deep tech SEO issues and simpler ones. A basic audit can be done in a single day, with an additional day to address the most urgent matters.

Check out how Screaming Frog works in practice:

38. Build Editorial Calendars

Maintaining a functioning strategy requires the production of various content and materials.

The first step for producing commercial content is to open a spreadsheet to create your editorial calendar.

This calendar will show what materials will be produced over a specified period.

It is important because everyone in the company needs to know what is being produced in marketing, as marketing impacts everyone as well.

Even if not everyone wants to know what content is being produced, those interested still need this organization to know when to work on what.

We have an article that not only discusses how to create an editorial calendar but also offers some templates for download. Learn more:

39. Invest in CRM Tools and Marketing Platforms

Start researching the prices of these tools before implementing any actions.

This is because these tools are absolutely necessary for advanced digital marketing today.

If you want to start small, it’s better to look for simpler marketing tools and CRMs than to ignore them completely.

You will need them sooner or later. But it’s impossible to know exactly whether it will be sooner or later.

Starting early means you won’t lose anything.

We have two articles on this subject already published on our blog. Learn more at the links below:

40. Know When to Persist and When to Give Up

One of the most common mistakes in marketing for small businesses is not knowing when it’s time to stick with a strategy and when it’s time to… gasp! Kill it. 😬

Some actions, campaigns, and strategies will not yield results for your niche, product, and brand. The reasons for this are as diverse as the stars in the sky.

Some things simply don’t work and were never meant to work. It’s important to have a good framework for decision-making.

With such a framework, you can identify the indicators that show the viability of an action.

These frameworks stem from marketing and business theories and are expressed through OKRs and KPIs.

We have two articles specifically discussing these two concepts here on the blog. Access them to learn more:

➡️ The Main Marketing Theories for the Contemporary World

5 Common Mistakes in Marketing for Small Businesses

Now that you have nearly 30 strategies in your repertoire to apply to your marketing planning, it’s best to complete it with the five most common mistakes small businesses make in this area.

Each one is explained below, take a look!

1. Not Having a Marketing Plan

We’ve already discussed the importance of this tactic; after all, if you don’t have a plan, how can you move your business forward?

You need to organize yourself, set goals, and track metrics to truly achieve results.

2. Investing Everything in the Same Strategy

It’s necessary to have more than one option when it comes to marketing strategies.

You don’t need to “shoot in all directions,” but you do need to invest in more than one strategy to reach audiences from different channels and consequently generate more results.

3. Prioritizing Social Media and Forgetting the Website

Even though we are in the age of social media, a large portion of your customers will find you through search engines, so always keep your website updated.

Additionally, people may find your business through social media, but rest assured that at some point, they will visit your website.

4. Not Measuring Results

If you don’t track your metrics, forecasting for your business won’t be useful because it will lack a solid basis.

Without measuring results, you won’t develop your marketing strategy.

5. Ignoring the Competition

Ignoring the competition is like closing your eyes to those who can “steal” your customers.

Moreover, a way to measure your results is to compare your metrics with those of the competition.

Common Questions in Marketing for Small Businesses

When entering a field that isn’t your specialty, like marketing, it’s common for some questions to arise.

With this in mind, Leadster has compiled the three main questions you may have throughout your marketing planning!

Is marketing expensive for small businesses?

Marketing for small businesses doesn’t have to be expensive; it should fit within each budget.

How much you will spend depends on your business’s financial reality.

But at the same time, how much you will spend also depends on the scaling of your marketing strategies.

There are marketing efforts that are inherently expensive. There are some that are inexpensive. And there are those that are expensive or inexpensive depending on their scale.

For example: working with Inbound Marketing isn’t necessarily expensive. But executing content marketing with SEO, social media, and YouTube simultaneously, as part of an Inbound strategy, is quite costly.

So, the most important thing is to understand marketing strategies as a whole first, so you can then choose the one that makes the most sense for your reality.

Is Marketing Necessary for Small Businesses?

Yes. Marketing is essential for any type of business.

Marketing is responsible for all market intelligence, promotions, communication, and sales of a company, so yes, marketing is indispensable for small businesses.

The question is to understand exactly what type of marketing makes the most sense for your company.

There are companies that don’t need to advertise to acquire customers, for example. But there are also those that could have more customers with advertisements and those that don’t do so because they lack the structure for increased sales.

“Doing marketing” is necessary for all companies. But not all marketing is necessary for all companies.

Managing your Company’s Marketing: do it In-House, Outsource, or Use Another Company?

There is no ready-made answer to this question.

Everything will depend on your business situation.

Think about your objectives, how your budget looks, and what your needs are.

Once you answer these three questions, you’ll be able to determine which tactic is best for your company’s marketing.

There are agencies equipped to handle all the work, but they tend to have high costs.

However, if the agency has a good reputation and costs less than in-house hiring, it’s worth giving it a try.

Keep in mind that hiring internally is a long and costly endeavor. Marketing teams are not formed overnight. The process is lengthy and expensive.

After all these tips, strategies, and explanations, you are more than ready to create a marketing plan for your small business.

Also be sure to check out our 14 day free trial! No credit card required.