Marketing is an essential part of business operations.
That statement was well-worth reiterating.
Whether the business is small or large, new or established; without consistent marketing efforts, the results are:
- Less foot traffic for brick-and-mortar businesses.
- Fewer online visits to websites.
That being said, as a small business owner, where do you spend your marketing dollars? And what methods bring in the biggest returns on investment?
The answer isn’t cut-and-dry.
The marketing strategy you choose is dependent on the type of business you own, as well as your target audience. As such, a little due diligence goes a long way.
Here are some tips:
Research the Competition
Take a look at what other like-minded businesses are doing to boost profits. If you’re a local flower shop for instance, you may notice other flower shop neighbors offering weekly online specials. Weigh the pros and cons of implementing similar strategies.
Get To Know Your Audience
Are your customers parents, seniors, or single young adults?
While social media may work for some audiences, this may not be an effective marketing technique for others.
Based on target markets, businesses can pick-and-choose strategies that will increase their bottom line. A more effective way to reach seniors over 65 for instance, would be a combination of snail mail and online branding. Launchmark can help design both.
Pay Attention to Trends
Forbes Magazine, in a recent article, describes how social media marketing is often overlooked in seniors, especially when this audience has more buying power than other demographics. Rather than writing off, or assuming, that some techniques won’t work, conduct detailed research when setting up a marketing budget.
Take Advantage of Tracking Tools
There’s a much easier way to see which methods of marketing are bringing in the most returns on your dollars spent:
Online marketing is the easiest to track, since Google Analytics’ codes can be installed on websites, blogs, and more, to determine how many visitors came and bought products via specific promotions.
In terms of offline marketing, value can be tracked by adding promo codes to each material, in order to determine how many customers were impacted by a campaign.
Build a Marketing Plan for Business
Launchmark helps businesses of all sizes gain brand awareness, through several marketing tools including websites, logos, business cards and more.
To build a better professional image, call us at (703) 879-8654 today.
