PPC, or Pay-Per-Click, is an extremely valuable advertising technique that is especially cost-effective and streamlined making it most useful for small businesses. As a small business owner, you are, naturally, always searching for ways to cut back on costs whilst remaining highly competitive. Being able to guarantee a sort of success with your advertising campaign can be one way to do just that.
small business marketing
Often when you read advice online about the best ways to undertake consumer research and where to look for insights, suggestions hinge heavily on paid tools. But if you’re working with a small budget from the get-go, being advised to add several monthly subscriptions to your overheads probably isn’t feasible.
It is not about how much money you have, but how you spend your money. Funnelling vast amounts of money into failing marketing strategies won’t improve your company’s revenue streams. Sometimes the most effective marketing solutions aren’t the most expensive ones, but the most creative ones. Managing the costs of each and every activity during a marketing campaign can be quite difficult, especially if you don’t have a detailed plan on how your marketing budget should be spent.
Whatever your size or sector, standing out online is harder than it’s ever been before. With so much competition, you need to make sure your branding is perfect. It needs to completely reflect who you are as a business and attract the attention of your target audience.
In today’s modern world, the humble business card is an oft-forgotten marketing tool. With almost two-thirds of the world now connected by smartphones, it seems sensible to consider the days of business cards numbered, but is this really the case?
It’s 2019 and businesses are starting to see the importance of artificial intelligence (AI). Even though the number of businesses that use AI still sits at a disappointing 16%, it is expected to triple by the end of 2019.
It is undeniable that social media has become the most powerful digital marketing tool in the 21st century, clear from how digital strategists and content marketers rely on it. Social media has attained a wide usage from all over the world, capturing both the young and old. In an era where the most significant percentage of the world is tech-savvy, it is necessary to keep abreast with tips and techniques that give you a competitive edge over other people, particularly in matters of running a successful business.
In recent years, YouTube has become an increasingly important marketing tool for businesses. More and more marketers are taking note and increasing their use of YouTube in promoting their businesses. If you are not already using YouTube, you are definitely missing out. You know what they say, if your competitors are doing something, you should investigate and start doing it better. If you are already using YouTube, good job! Keep doing it and do it better than everyone else in your niche.
I don’t know about you, but I like to know what I am spending my money on, especially if investing in a wrong marketing strategy can put the future of my company at peril. I am also a great admirer of history because I think that the cause of a crisis can always be traced back in time. That’s why I know when my marketing strategy underperforms because I carefully monitor all metrics that can indicate that things aren’t going as planned. Monitoring these metrics gathers information that enables me to make better marketing decisions.
Storytelling has become an essential part of PR and marketing. It allows businesses and big corporations to connect with their audience and customers on a human level. By telling a story, you are allowing your viewers to experience emotions, which makes you memorable. Over the festive period, a number of huge companies invest in making emotional adverts that tell a story. These have become an annual event, with John Lewis usually leading the way. They are so popular because they play on emotions. If you are making people think and feel something, then you have their attention.
Potential customers don’t change that much. It’s common for businesses to overestimate the attraction of novelty and underestimate the power of traditional consumer behaviour. Marketing is not new, but digital marketing has changed the way that we do things.
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There’s been a general view over the last few years that email marketing has had its day. Newer digital forms seem to make marketing easier, while the various problems associated with spam filters can make email feel like a lot of effort for not much gain. And it can be that way – but it needn’t be. If used correctly, email marketing is 40% more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined according to McKinsey.
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Affiliate marketing in the UK is growing every year. In fact, in 2017 the sector topped £550 million and it is expected to get even bigger by the end of 2018 and beyond. This is great news for both affiliates and businesses alike. Small business owners in the UK are being boosted by this rise in affiliate marketing. It means that small and medium-sized businesses can set up an affiliate program and make sales without the big marketing budget – all it takes in return is a commission to the affiliate for their efforts.
Growth is one of the key watchwords for any SME. While a state of stasis is preferable to decline and loss, it’s growth that provides the reassurance that you’re making the right decisions. But what do you do if part of your growth strategy includes moving into the markets overseas? How can you give yourself the best possible chance of success?
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Nobody starts a business today without having a proper digital marketing strategy in place. This is because digital marketing now needs to be at the centre of any marketing strategy for all businesses, whatever the size. If you are in the initial stages of starting a business you probably have a tight budget and a small group of employees. You therefore need a proper plan in order for your startup to grow as fast as it should.
Every small business needs to do some marketing to succeed, and at the foundation of effective marketing is great content. Hence, “content marketing” has become a thing — a really big thing. There are huge benefits of content marketing which still go unnoticed by small businesses.
You may think that the benefits of having, creating and running a blog for your business may not be worth all the effort. However, in the world of Google and online rankings, a blog could really transform your website and business. A blog can allow you to build an image of your business and giving any potential clients a view into what your business is all about. The most important benefit of having a blog is that it increases the traffic to your website which could transform into paying clients.
It should be every businesses priority to get exposure and be easily found online. When you are trying to be easily found online, SEO is key. However, SEO can take a long time, continuous hard work and sometimes can even cost money. Therefore, you will need to also invest time in other methods to make your business easily searchable that will work a little quicker. A great way to make your business have a prominent place on Google is by setting up a ‘Google My Business’ page.
Your website may be the best tool you have to improve your public relations and boost your image. However, in order for your site to be effective, you first have to learn what elements make for a great site, and how users will be affected by your web design decisions. Here are some ideas from Webs Union to get you thinking about your site in terms of PR.
Within the arsenal of today’s most effective marketing tactics is SMS (aka text messaging) campaigns. While mass texting can yield an incredibly high return on investment, as it lands directly in the hands of your target audience, you need to incorporate the best practices into your strategy to ensure your recipients are actually paying attention to the message you’re seeking to deliver.
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