All leading corporate companies were once started as small businesses. A start-up or a small business is always a passion for any budding entrepreneur. With serious efforts, they were able to make it a huge enterprise.
Small business owners have multiple responsibilities as they need to take care of their entire business operations and also the marketing and promotion part. They need a simplified solution that reduces their workload and helps them get better returns.
In this article, we will guide every aspiring entrepreneur by providing marketing strategies for small businesses and will support them to enhance their sales and revenue by adopting these simple trendy tips.
Top small business marketing trends
Consumers’ buying behaviors keep changing often and you need to get updated with the latest trend that consumers prefer. Let us have a short look at those trends that will escalate your business to the next level.
Influencer marketing
Word-of-mouth advertising is one of the best marketing strategies for small businesses. This way of marketing has a very long history as it was followed for several decades and still, it has the same dominance in the market.
Influencer marketing follows the same principle as the influencer will promote the brand to his followers and people who follow the influencer will accept the brand and will start buying and using them.
Stats about influencer marketing
- Influencer marketing is used by 93% of marketers.
- 70% of consumers aged 21 to 30 trust influencer than traditional celebrities.
- 86% of women get advice from social media before buying a product.
- 71% of marketers have planned to increase their investments in influencer marketing in the next 12 months.
- More than $500000 was spent on influencer marketing by marketers in 2021.
Reasons for influencer marketing
- To create brand awareness
- Build trust and authority
- Reach the right audience
- Focusing on better conversion
- To generate genuine leads
- Creating a new trend in the market
- Getting connected to the wider market
Video-based content
Video-based content is getting popular in social media campaigns. Video advertisements can easily grab the attention of visitors and can get easy branding and reach. Small business marketers can use bite-sized videos to attract more audience to their business website.
If you are not familiar with creating videos for your business, then you can rely on leading digital marketing companies who can create a short video presentation about your products and services and can assure better customer reach.
Proven stats about video-based content in small business
- There are more than 244 million online video viewers in the US alone.
- 54% of consumers prefer to watch a video about the brand or service they prefer to get.
- Around 86% of marketers are currently using video marketing as their marketing tool.
- 73% of consumers claim that they are influenced by the video advertisement posted by brands on social media channels.
- 88% of video marketers state that they are getting ROI that is more than expected.
Ways to use video-based content as a small business marketing tool
- Have an introductory video about your brand
- Create a video on customers’ testimonials
- Share your employees’ work ambiance and their satisfaction with the company.
- Create product explaining videos that will demonstrate the entire product and its usage.
- Include the influencer’s videos and post them on your social page.
User-generated content
This is a unique trend that is recently added to the marketing strategies for small businesses. This trend got popular after the TikTok app was introduced in the market. Consumers started posting their reviews about brands, customer support, and many more aspects of their latest purchases.
Some examples of user-generated content are unboxing videos, branded hashtags, photo tags, and many more. When you include these tactics in your small business marketing ideas you can increase the authenticity of your brand. There is a chance of consumers getting attracted to your product at 2.5 times more.
How to use user-generated content as a small business marketing tool?
- Use social media hashtags and create your user-generated content.
- Allow all types of reviews given by customers, as some can even be negative reviews. Do not include fake reviews that will affect your brand reputation.
- Interview experts in your field and create content that will educate consumers about the product and the market.
- Utilize case studies that will make consumers understand more about the functioning of your product.
Agile marketing
Agile marketing follows the approach of agile methodology in the development process. All projects that are related to marketing will be executed at a faster pace with expected quality. To implement agile marketing you need to first streamline your entire marketing processes and other internal communication.
Although agile marketing and agile software methodology follow the same approach, they both differ in one aspect which is the result. With agile software methodology, you will know how the end product will be but with agile marketing, the result may vary according to the consumers’ response.
Benefits of adopting agile marketing for small business marketing
- Can get to know problems within the operation sooner.
- Assures a faster delivery with more accuracy.
- Enhances your ability to stay competitive.
- Can easily manage priority changes more effectively.
- You can put more focus on customer value while framing your marketing strategy with agile marketing.
- With frequent meetings with teams, you will get better transparency about the functioning of the project.
Offering personalization to customers
Customers expect a product that perfectly fits their requirements. For this, you need to develop a product that meets all individual’s needs which is quite challenging. You need to travel more with your customers to understand their preferences.
One better way to know more about your customer is to frame a customer journey map and find out their preferences while buying products with your company. You need to prepare a separate journey map for each customer and offer them a tailored experience that will make them stay with your brand for a long time.
Stats that show the importance of personalization to customers
- 71% of consumers lose interest when a shopping experience is impersonal to them.
- 36% of consumers have stated that they want their retailer to offer more personalization on products.
- 91% of consumers agreed that they will buy products from brands that come with more offers and recommendations.
- Brands that offer personalized experiences have an 80% chance of being purchased by their consumers.
Why personalization is more essential for customers?
- Can increase user experience with less effort.
- Helps to meet customer expectations.
- Increases customer loyalty.
- Elevates customer retention and grows trust in your brand.
- Creates difference with your competitors.
- Enhanced user experience across devices
Current UX design trends
UX or user experience is the most popular word that any small business that expects more online audience should be knowing. A good UX design has the power of grabbing the attention of the audience and will convert them to customers.
Your website or your app needs to be device compatible which is the most UX trend that is highly expected by any audience. Proper and easy-to-use navigation is the key factor that increases better user experience.
Stats about the impact of User experience
- 52% of consumers agreed that bad mobile experiences make them lose interest in the brand.
- 94% of visitors accepted their first impression of the website and the experience they gain has a major impact on their purchase with the brand.
- 50% of consumers trust brands that had a perfect website with excellent UI and UX.
- 38% of visitors bounce immediately because of poor website design.
- Poor loading speed has made 49% of visitors move to competitors’ websites.
How to improve the user experience for small businesses?
- Optimize your website and have a responsive design.
- Adapt content that can easily get adapted to all device sizes.
- Manage your website page speed.
- Use images wisely on your app and website.
Voice search for SEO
Including voice search in websites has become one of the best marketing strategies for small businesses. Today people are getting used to talking to Alexa and Siri often and getting things done. The same experience they started expecting with your brand too.
If you have enough budget then you can include a voice searching feature in your website and app. This will give you a competitive advantage in the industry as many of your competitors have not tried it yet.
Best practices for voice search optimization
- You need to target long-tail keywords as well as question keywords.
- Make sure you use conversational language in your content.
- Put more focus on local SEO
- Optimize this feature for mobile devices specifically.
- Make sure your website is fast.
Interactive content strategy
Content is the major tool that is often prioritized in all marketing strategies for small businesses. Content strategy has a key role in getting the attention of the audience. Effective content can make visitors into buyers.
Apart from normal content, today marketers focus on interactive content. As the name suggests, the content needs to be more interactive which will easily engage the audience with the brand. Customers and brands need to have two-way communication.
Examples of interactive content
- Quizzes
- Interactive infographics
- Games
- Surveys and contests
- Interactive maps
- Interactive videos
Interactive content marketing goals
- Improve audience engagement
- Enhance customer learning
- Generate more leads and conversion
- Elevate brand loyalty
- Streamlining customer experience with the brand.
AI for trendspotting
Customer behavioral data is the key tool in marketing but many companies fail to utilize it to offer personalization to customers. AI technology is making it possible for small businesses to gain accessibility affordably.
Artificial Intelligence is gaining massive acceptance in all industries in recent years. Even small businesses have understood the importance of this technology and started utilizing it to benefit from it.
Benefits of using AI in small business marketing
- All advertisements you make can be more targeted which results in getting genuine leads.
- Accurate trendspotting and you can even predict the outcome of the marketing strategy you use on your business.
- Can understand your buyers even better.
- Can easily retain your customers and can increase customer loyalty.
- Self-service capabilities have increased and less manpower is needed.
- With effective targeting, you can spend less and earn more.
Emphasis on social responsibilities
Consumers show interest in brands that show more social responsibility. They respect brands that share their profit by committing to socially responsible events. So, many marketers have taken this tool into their hands and started emphasizing social responsibilities.
You can use this aspect in all your marketing campaigns and attract more consumers to your brand. Around 66% of consumers have admitted that they show more interest in brands that take part in any social activity.
Examples of social responsibilities that you can include in your business
- Having recyclable packaging
- Working on social issues and posting on social media.
- Directing profit shares to charity
- Encouraging community services under your brand name
- Advocating for social justice.
Focus on consumers’ privacy
Privacy is the main factor that has become an obstacle for many small businesses. Consumers worry about their identity being revealed to an unauthorized person and they hesitate to share their details with companies.
You need to assure about the security and privacy of your customer data and should build trust in their mind. You need to take measures in controlling cyber-attacks on your website and keep all data safe. Although this will not come under marketing technique customers when they feel safe with your brand will continue to purchase more.
How to assure security and privacy to customers?
- Always collect limited data that are very crucial from customers
- Conduct a data audit frequently.
- You need to implement password protections for customer access.
- Always encrypt all customer data and store it in a safer server.
- Keep upgrading your platform or your software and take regular data backups.
Conclusion
If you want to stay ahead of your competitors then you need to update yourself with all the latest marketing trends for small businesses. Learn more about the latest technologies and try to implement them in your business and simplify your operations.
