Friday, 28th October 2022 | Blog,Marketing
Empowering Your Small Business With The Means to Market
Marketing is the use of analysis, research, and outreach to generate interest in products and services. Done effectively, it can increase sales and engage your customers, key goals for any business, even the littl(er) guys.
The thing is, when you’re an SMB, it can be tricky to figure out just how much you should be spending. The answer, of course, is it depends–-on your industry, your goals, and your costs. Still, setting aside money for marketing is not a nice-to-have. You’ll have to market yourself if you want to compete.
Why is marketing so important?
Marketing is the tool businesses can use to introduce themselves, to engage with potential customers, to drive sales, and to foster loyalty. Without it, you’re missing an integral piece of your business model. While word-of-mouth is one way to get customers, it’s not easy to reach people as regularly and in sufficient numbers as you’ll need to sustain your business. Here’s where to set aside some budget.
Invest in awareness
Marketing encourages interest in your products and services which is why you can’t afford to do without it.
Marketing for customer acquisition is a strategy that tries to reach customers who’ve never bought from your company before. It’s obvious why this is important: your customers are the ones who make purchases.
Customer retention marketing focuses on nurturing existing relationships to make sure that your clients will not only want to be repeat customers, but also want to refer your business to their friends. Leveraging customer loyalty is not only good business sense, it’s also generally more affordable than attracting new customers.
Budget for marketing
You’ll need to invest strategically in your marketing, whether in traditional methods like newspaper or television, or in digital advertising platforms alone. In any case, you need your business to be on the internet. In some cases a simple (but well-written and SEO-friendly) website showing location, services, and hours will suffice. Other businesses will need something a little more robust.
Social media is just as important when it comes to your digital presence. Consider having at least one account on a top platform where you can publish contests, promotions, or interesting news from your industry. Social media is a powerful way to direct customers to your main site or to make sales.
Managing your marketing budget
Your business needs a marketing budget, but how much should you be spending? The most effective way to assess a realistic but effective marketing budget is to research, measure, and then evaluate.
You can arrive at a preliminary budget by looking at your revenue and determining what strategy will most help you reach your goals. For example, are you hoping to get more customers, have your current customers make more purchases, or have your customers pay more for more premium products or services?
Make sure that you have clearly defined and measurable goals. If you’re looking to increase web traffic, determine how many site visits you’re aiming for. If you want to see more engagement with a certain market segment, define as many characteristics as possible. This kind of granular thinking will enable your marketing team to tailor their efforts to your desired outcomes.
Record what you spend on each kind of marketing so that you can measure the return on investment and refine your efforts going forward.
Finally, schedule a review each quarter and adjust your budget accordingly.
Marketing will help your business meet its goals–but only if you invest in it. If you need help budgeting for your marketing plan, iCapital can help. Contact us here.
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