Launching a new business can be exhilarating — and terrifying!
There are so many factors that need to be accounted for, infrastructure that needs to be set up, employees that need to be hired, the list is well-known. And not the least of the hurdles that you need to clear is coming up with a marketing strategy. To make sure you start your small business off on the right foot, check out these key marketing tips.
1. Build a Brand
In the modern, digital-driven marketing landscape, building a brand is not optional. Surveys show that 71% of consumers prefer to do business with brands they recognize, so not using branding effectively is leaving a huge chunk of your potential market share to your competition.
Further, surveys show that consumers prefer to patronize brands that they perceive as aligning with their values or identities. So to brand your business, you need to distill down who you as a business are and what you stand for. Once you’ve done that, you can start to zero in on who your target base is and market to them efficiently.
2. Focus on the Customer, Not the Product
Once you’ve identified who your target customer is, the next step is to communicate with them. That sounds obvious, and yet many businesses go about doing it completely backward.
You may notice that a lot of business marketing puts the product front-and-center. That’s well and good for raising awareness of the product but doesn’t create a compelling reason for the consumer to buy it.
What you should do instead is seek to engage with the consumer on a human level. This should be easy if you’ve already done the work of building a brand, as you’ll be well-equipped to engage with them. This builds a perceived relationship between them and your brand and foments a level of trust that will encourage brand loyalty.
3. Get Schooled in the Art of PR
Most entrepreneurs focus on developing skills relevant to their business: management, mastering their craft or trade, driving innovations, and the like. They’re not typically public relations experts on top of that. This is why more than a few budding businesses have been torpedoed by seemingly harmless gaffs.
It’s a fate that you’ll want to avoid at all costs, which is why seeking out a public relations expert before a crisis occurs is essential. Not only will it help keep you on the right side of public opinion, but it will give you tools to help grow positive relationships with your customer base at all times.
There are plenty of pr experts and classes that you can learn from, but you should look here to get some of the best education that you’ll find anywhere.
Take Marketing Tips From the Pros
One of the easiest mistakes to make is being afraid to seek guidance. Whether out of overconfidence or hesitance to ask for help, many budding entrepreneurs have sabotaged themselves by not making use of the resources at their disposal.
Seeking out expert public relations guidance is just one thing to consider. For all the top marketing tips that you need to set your business apart from the competition, be sure to keep up with all of our latest business news and views.