Small Business Marketing

Many small business owners find it hard to write and implement effective marketing plans. Mostly this is because they are not only the small business owner but they also serve the customer, fix the problem and often even answer the telephone!

Do you sometimes feel like you’re all things to all people? How then does one become the strategist and the implementer of marketing activities? It’s a good question but it is possible with a bit of time spent in the planning stage.

Small business marketing is actually quite a lot easier than a lot of people give it credit for. Marketing plans tend to be slotted into the realm of large corporates and are often perceived to be not be applicable for the small business owner. However this is not correct and misguided thinking like this often leads the small business owner down the path to liquidation.

The most important element in small business marketing is to understand your strengths and business opportunities.

Without a clear understanding of what makes you worth doing business with you cannot expect to market your business effectively.

There are three things the small business owner needs to understand to have effective marketing:

First: Understand the broader context of your trading environment. What is the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental and legal framework within which you are trading. Are there any factors that could affect you, which you need to take into account when looking at your small business marketing?

Second: Know who your target market is? How can you group people or companies into sectors with similar problems, which you can provide the solution to?

Third: Clearly communicate a message that differentiates you. What is it about your business that people would buy-into and support? Is your Product unique, your Pricing a benefit, the way you Distribute your product different or is your Promotional strategy going to give you a personality that cannot be matched. If you’re a small service business, you may need to include something about what makes your People better, how your Physical Facilities are more convenient or even how your Processes enable quicker service or provide reliable consistency.

Finally think about whether you have any partnerships that you can leverage off to provide benefits to your target market. They’ll support you if you have something extra to offer that your competitor’s don’t.