The Top 5 Marketing Innovations Small Businesses Should Be Thankful For

The Top 5 Marketing Innovations Small Businesses Should Be Thankful For

‘Tis the season to give thanks. Don’t forget to also be thankful for the marketing innovations that your small business can benefit from! It’s no secret that marketing for small businesses can be challenging at times finding the resources and budget to make magic happen. But here are the top 5 marketing innovations that even small businesses like yours should be thankful for.

1. Content Marketing

Have you ever heard that content is king? Well, it really is. You don’t have to be a large corporation to have an effective, well-rounded content marketing strategy. A little dedication and time goes a long way. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a huge budget to utilize content marketing into your marketing plan either. According to MOZ, good content is identified as:

• Supplying a Demand
• Linkable

That’s really all you need if you don’t have the funds to do otherwise. According to Demand Metric, content marketing costs about 62% less than traditional marketing. Not only that, but HubSpot states that 82% of businesses with a blog see a positive ROI from their content. That explains why content marketing is one of the top 5 marketing innovations out there. However, it’s essential that if you’re going to do content marketing, you have to do it right. Not only do you want your content to grab people’s attention, you want it to hold their attention. Here’s how:

• Define Your Mission and Goals
• Determine Your KPI’s
• Choose Your Preferred Content Channels
• Decide What Type of Content You Will Produce
• Set a Budget
• Create and Publish Content
• Analyze and Measure Results

2. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is an innovation that has increased our ability to connect and stay connected with our consumers – daily. It’s one of the top ways to humanize your brand and build emotional relationships and connections. Whether you do or don’t do social media marketing isn’t an option. In fact, it’s a necessity that as a business – whether small or big – you have a social media presence. If you want to get in front of your customers, you need to adopt this marketing innovation. There are some important and simple approaches to improving your social media marketing strategy, including:

• Impress Your Audience:

  You can do this by engaging with them. For example, run a contest, ask questions, create polls, and work towards building that emotional connection outside of just your brand itself.

• Interact Consistently:

  It’s not enough to just have a social media account – you must be active and present. According to Facebook’s most recent investor’s report, Facebook’s daily active users stands at around 9.8 billion people. To capture – and hold – the attention of your prospective customers, you have to interact with them. You can do this by scheduling regular posts, providing the right content at the right time, and giving them enough information about your brand to make a decision of whether or not to buy.

• Repurpose Old Content:

  It’s easy to forget about old content once it’s already out there. But refreshing, or repurposing, your old content is a good way to improve your social media strategy. Not only that, but it can also help improve your SEO rankings.

• Use More Visual Content:

  Photos, videos, and even infographics are huge on social media – and for obvious reasons. It excites and engages users because it catches their eye and reels them in. For example, if you’re selling a service people need rather than want, such as gutter cleaning or HVAC replacement, an infographic can be an exciting way to lay out all that information.

• Choose the Right Channels:

  Just because there are several social media channels out there doesn’t mean you should be on every single one of them. Choose the right channels for you by researching where your target audience spends the most of their time.

3. Enter Competitions and Award Programs

Most business award competitions are free. Building a reputation for yourself can take time, especially if you’re a small business who is just starting out. There isn’t much of anything you can lose by putting yourself out there. Even if you don’t win an award, you still will get recognized and have a gain in visibility. However, if you do win, then you have an award to show for it. You can promote your award everywhere, such as:

• Social Media
• Blogs
• Press Releases
• Website
• Flyers and Posters
• Vehicles
• Business Cards

Just to name a few.

4. Conduct Competitor Research

Nowadays, it’s easy to “spy” on your competition. All you have to do is search for them online, visit their website and social media profiles, and see where else their name has been mentioned. All of this can be done on the internet. This isn’t so you can steal what your competition is doing and start doing it yourself. This is so you can see what is working well in your industry and what isn’t. Then, you can take those ideas and just make them better. Here are some steps to successfully perform a competitive analysis:

• Identify Your Competitors
• Determine What Products and Services They Offer
• Analyze Their Online Presence
• Check Out Their Reviews
• Research Their Sales Tactics and Results
• Look at Their Pricing and Specials

Once you’ve nailed down a pretty good understanding of who your competition is, you can conduct a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. What are their strengths? Weaknesses? What are your opportunities? What are the threats you face with these competitors?

5. Think Local

National brands have a larger reach, some all over the country and even all over the entire world. As a small business, you have to think local. While you are a small business, you don’t have to think small. There are many opportunities you have that these larger corporations don’t have, believe it or not. Insert yourself into the local scene and watch your sales fly. Here are some local things you may be able to partake in.

• Attending Local Events
• Hosting Local Events
• Sponsorships (such as Little League)
• Trade Shows/Home Shows
• Send Out Mailers
• Cross-Promote With Another Business
• Give Away Free Things or Host Free Contests
• Attend Conferences
• Attend Local Fundraisers
• Join a Business Alliance or Chamber of Commerce

Get involved!

Have questions about marketing innovations for your small business? Get in touch with our team at VitalStorm. Call us today at 877-311-5695 or visit more of our marketing tips here.