3 Steps To Start Marketing Your Small Business | EmoryDay

Your small business has been growing and thriving thanks to the stellar service you’re providing and the unique way you go about doing it. Word of mouth has probably been extremely helpful in growing your business, and you’re seeing a great customer return rate.

But now, you’re ready to expand your marketing efforts to reach more people. Clearly it’s time to invest more effort in an online marketing strategy, but knowing where to start is difficult.

If you’ve ever Googled “how to market my small business online,” in all likelihood you have fallen down the rabbit hole of strategic marketing blogs. It’s easy to spend an entire day researching online marketing only to walk away more confused and overwhelmed than before you started.

To make things a little easier, here are 3 smart steps for marketing your small business that are easy to get started on right away. Dip into online marketing with these proven methods and see how even these small steps will noticeably benefit your small business.

Embrace Social Media

For many small businesses, social media platforms like Facebook were integral to their start. In fact, it’s not uncommon these days for a small business to have a Facebook page before even having a website.

On the other hand, some small business owners still believe social media marketing is just a fad, or they don’t see the potential benefit of social media within their industry. Those in the finance, science and tech, and B2B fields, for example, often fail to see what Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms might offer them.

But embracing social media is an easy, effective way to improve your online presence. First, until you’re investing in any of the paid ad campaigns, it’s a free platform for reaching a tremendous local, national and global audience. Ultimately, a social media presence can be used to build relationships with existing customers and improve your brand recognition, drive traffic to your website, or just increase your brand visibility — benefits that should interest every small business regardless of industry.

Update Your Website

Of course, if you do not have a website, your first step is to build one. Even if you aren’t selling your services or products online, you absolutely need an online presence (separate from social media) with details about your services, background, and experience. There are plenty of great sites where you can build a successful, attractive website yourself, though unless you feel very confident, it is worth your time and effort to hire someone to do it for you.

Assuming you already have a website for your small business, it’s important to regularly revisit the site with fresh eyes to see what is working and to fix anything that may no longer be relevant. Be willing to update your content and images to stay current, and consider starting a blog to generate interest and promote dialogue with current and potential customers. Sharing blog posts on your small business’s social media platforms will also serve to increase your brand visibility and up the chance of attracting new clients.

Invest In Pay Per Click

Effective Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing helps you show up in search results for keywords relevant to your business. As far as inbound marketing options for small businesses go, PPC is a cost effective way to get measurable, data-driven ROI on even a tight budget, allowing you to really track the effectiveness of your efforts and investment.

While PPC can be quick, it’s not easy to do it well. If you are chasing keywords that don’t convert or taking a “set and forget” approach, you can end up wasting your money. The smartest way to get into PPC is to start with a small budget and a few targeted keywords, then scale up to build on successes. If you’re only targeting a handful of keywords, it is possible to do PPC advertising in house. You will need to dedicate a significant portion of a team member’s working time to PPC keyword monitoring, and whoever is made responsible for handling the PPC should be familiar with metrics and analytics.

Overtime, as you invest more in PPC advertising, it’s smarter to either hire a PPC specialist or partner with an agency. The larger the scope of your PPC campaign, the more important proper monitoring and analyzation of the results are for optimal return, and to effectively track this data requires a significant commitment.

EmoryDay Takes Your Small Business Marketing Further

Ready to take the next steps for marketing your small business? When you partner with EmoryDay, you partner with experts in the full spectrum of marketing services, including PPC/SEM, content specialists, and analytics to give you measurable results on your investment. If you’re ready to move forward with some serious customer outreach, contact us for a free consultation.