Top 6 Marketing Strategies for a Small Business in 2022

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The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Strategy: How to 10X Your ROI

Marketing is a dynamic and ever-changing field. The top digital marketing strategies change with the consumer and technology trends of the day. This is why every company needs a good marketing strategy that’s well planned and has well defined milestones and objectives. Once you have the right map, the chances you’ll reach the goals you’ve set to your business, are much higher.

That means, that while most of us are eager to start launching our marketing efforts the minute after we decide to start a business, we actually need to invest in planning so we won’t waste our limited budget and energies on the wrong things.

In this guide, we’ve put together the 10 main steps that you need to follow to build the ultimate marketing strategy for your business. We will take you step-by-step through the process, so you won’t miss a thing and get your digital marketing strategy all figured out.

So, what is a marketing strategy and why should you care?

A marketing strategy is essentially a comprehensive plan that is formulated to help achieve the marketing goals or objectives of a specific organization. Formulated through in-depth research into the industry, its demands, and the needs of the business itself, a marketing strategy, therefore, serves as a blueprint that helps achieve a company’s marketing objectives.

Small Business Marketing Ideas

Target the Right Audience (And Learn About Them!)

This is a timeless marketing strategy that applies to all businesses, regardless of size, industry, or objectives. In order to come up with the perfect marketing strategy, it’s vital to first know who you’ll be directing it towards. Carefully choose your target market and then leverage available demographic data to understand buyer behavior in your niche. Conduct market research through polls and surveys—anything that gives you a concrete idea about your target customer base.

Equipped with this information, you can then build your marketing strategy around it. Developing a niche and appealing to customers within that niche is more likely to be effective for a small business rather than targeting a wide audience. It’s for a reason that they say “The riches are in the niches”.

Developing and highlighting your value proposition is one of the most wide-reaching and effective marketing strategies for small businesses. A value proposition essentially specifies what makes a business’s service or product worthwhile and why a buyer should be interested in it. In essence, it clearly and concisely states what a business brings to the table and what sets it apart from its competitors.

This value proposition will serve as a compelling tool that will drive sales and boost organizational growth. It will be one of the key elements through which you’ll be able to impact the decision-making process of your target customer base. For best results, ensure that your value proposition is displayed frequently across all your business’s marketing materials, such as its social media pages and website.

A vast majority of buyers in 2022 learn about local businesses on the internet. That’s exactly why it’s critical to have a dedicated website for your small business. It is on this website that your target audience will learn about your brand and maybe even directly purchase the products or services that you’re offering.

Additionally, just creating a website is not enough; you have to make it SEO-friendly to drive organic traffic towards it and ensure that it ranks well in search results. Building a search engine optimized page requires extensive research, but here are a few pointers to get you started—

Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms have come to be one of the biggest assets in marketing in the past decade. It is cheap, it is efficient, and as such, it is one of the most powerful marketing strategies for small businesses. Social media channels give you twice the reach as other marketing tools at half the expenditure. They offer you a platform to directly engage with your prospective customers and acquaint yourself with their consumption patterns.

For optimal results, choose the platforms where your target customer base is most active, post consistently across all channels, and create a brand voice that you stick to across all your platforms. Do your research on tactics that can help you get the most out of social media marketing. You can also develop a dedicated social media marketing strategy to better streamline your marketing efforts.

Another constructive small business marketing idea is to invest in advertisements. Since it’s almost impossible to instantly build organic traffic to a website, it’s beneficial for small businesses to rely on short-term solutions that yield faster results. Ads are one such tactic that can help drive traffic to your business and jump-start lead generation. If you’re aware that your prospective clients are looking up your specific service or product on the web, Google ads can be just what you need. If not, you can instead consider Facebook advertising or other social media ads.

As a small business owner, one of the best things you can do for your business is to build connections. Partner with local businesses, promote each other to your respective customer bases, and share resources. Participate in online business groups and forums that emphasize business collaboration and regularly attend business events in your area.

Collaborating with influencers is also a powerful way of building brand awareness. An increasing number of businesses use this small business marketing strategy every day—and that’s because it works! An influencer promoting your product is likely to garner their followers’ attention towards it.

Transform your marketing strategy and accelerate your results today with Smart Insights

If you’re looking to integrate your marketing strategy, Smart Insights membership is a no-brainer. We have options to suit small and large businesses, plus consultants, agencies, and individuals, so you can enhance your skills and grow your business.

Apply the RACE Framework to your marketing strategy today to see your results rocket. Our tried-and-tested marketing structure has been proven to boost growth for businesses investing in digital marketing to reach their goals. If you have any questions about membership, or just want to find out more about what’s on offer, why not book a consultation?

Don’t forget, Smart Insights members can use our digital benchmarking tools to track your progress from initial to optimized. You can identify where you need to improve by downloading free benchmarking templates like this for different digital activities as part of free membership.

Digital Marketing Capabilities Model

Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. Dave is editor of the 100+ templates, ebooks and courses in the digital marketing resource library created by our team of 25+ digital marketing experts. Our resources are used by our Premium members in more than 100 countries to Plan, Manage and Optimize their digital marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here. Dave is a keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary. In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question.

Sources:

https://www.mayple.com/blog/marketing-strategy
https://thetrendingbuzz.com/marketing-strategies-small-business-2022/
https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/digital-strategy-development/10-reasons-for-digital-marketing-strategy/