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Marketing a small business is never an easy process. You’re always relatively unknown at the start. And it is often hard to make yourself stand out versus your rivals.
Fortunately, there are some tactics that you can use to give you an edge. Here’s a rundown.
Get Testimonials
Getting testimonials could be just about the most powerful thing that you do to improve your business’s online presence. Forget about digital marketing and SEO. What your customers really want is social proof – evidence from people just like them that your products are worthy of their money.
Picking up testimonials is actually easier than you think. If you have a Google My Business account, you can request that your customers leave reviews via the search platform after purchasing items from you.
If you have a less direct kind of service (for instance, if you offer accounting services), then you can use third-party review sites. Trustpilot is a good example.
Become An Expert
You can also improve your marketing by becoming an export in what you do. There are so many companies out there just buying and selling, without really thinking about the value that they offer. Relatively few ever set themselves up as the authority in the industry.
If, however, you can get people to believe that you’re an expert, they will be much more willing to buy products from you. They will view you as a company that really understands the industry that it is in, not just an outfit, looking to make a quick buck.
Make Your Marketing More Visual
Like it or not, visual marketing is exploding. Facebook believes that 80 percent of the traffic on its platform will be video-related by the end of 2021.
Producing your own video content is now easier than ever. These days, you don’t even have to go to an agency. You can just hire AV labor as and when you need it, without having to worry about things like salary or benefits. You just pay a daily rate and that’s it.
Once you have your video marketing materials, you simply post them across as many platforms as you can. Popular placement locations include Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and your website. If you’re a B2B, you can also upload videos to LinkedIn.
See What Your Competitors Are Doing
Figuring out the ideal digital marketing strategy for the first time requires a lot of trial and error. You can often wait several years before you see real results.
However, you can get the jump on the process by simply taking a look at what your competitors are doing. Today there are all kinds of tools, like SEMrush and Ahrefs, that allow you to sleuth on them, seeing where they’re getting their backlinks from, and so on.
Market At Local Events
Lastly, companies need to get off-site and begin marketing at local events, especially as the economy begins to open up again. Getting up close and personal with customers is by far the best way to introduce them to your brand.
