What Type Of Marketing Is Best For Small Business?

When I became a solopreneur, I took whatever work I could get. I never turned an opportunity away and as a result, my word of mouth marketing strategy worked well. I didn’t need to do any actual marketing because my high quality work spoke for itself and my clients were talking about me to others. Every once in a while though, projects would fall in my lap that didn’t fit within my expertise or the client and I didn’t mesh well. Because I didn’t turn down any work, I dove head first into the work, would be miserable for a few months, and could breathe easier once the work finally ended.

When I decided to expand my business and officially launch Crafted Voice, I had the wisdom to focus on the type of work that I wanted to do, but still struggled with taking on every client that came my way. I worked in this same uncomfortable manner for a few months before I finally heeded the advice I was getting from all directions: niche down and focus on a target audience.  I had to learn the hard way – through stressful client relationships and bad project experiences –  that casting my net too wide was not best for my business, long-term. 

The best marketing for business owners is determined by your business’ target audience. Your well thought out and researched ideal customer should drive all marketing decisions, even the low cost marketing ideas for small businesses that seem like they are a “catch all” to get as much business as possible.

What are the 4 basics of marketing?

Your marketing activities should be driven by these foundation marketing pillars:

1. Customer Persona – a tool used within an effective communications strategy to target the most relevant audience for your business. 
2. Brand Voice Guidelines – a document that clearly defines your brand voice and how to communicate it across teams and platforms 
3. Competitive Analysis – A detailed research report that inspects your competitors and their marketing strategies. This should include a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses) opportunities, threats) analysis of your business against your competitor.
4. Target Audience and Market Research – a research report that reveals everything you need to know about your target customer and their presence in the market. 

These four basics should inform the type of marketing that is best for your business. There is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution when it comes to marketing.

What is the best marketing platform for small business?

There are many platforms you can use to market your small business. Determining which one is best for you should be directed on the four foundational marketing strategy elements listed above. 

How to advertise a small business locally

If you are looking for digital marketing platforms to advertise your small business locally, there are a few great places to start:

If you own a business targeting local customers, you should prioritize local SEO. Optimizing for local keywords and claiming a Google My Business listing can improve visibility in local search results.

Participate in local events, sponsoring community initiatives, or collaborating with other local businesses to leverage community engagement and help build relationships and brand loyalty within your local area.

Small businesses thrive on personal connections, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there with your brand through images, videos, and simply by just being available to your customers. This will help with word of mouth referrals. 

Blogging, emails, and social media are also standard practice content marketing strategies that can improve your business presence in your local community.

What is the best social media marketing for small business?

Social media is a free marketing tool for small businesses that most companies leverage. What type of marketing strategies you use should be determined by the 4 basic strategy elements listed above. 

Depending on your specific circumstances, it might make sense for you to NOT use social media. For example, Crafted Voice Communications, despite being a marketing and communications consultancy, does not have a social media presence. (We are on LinkedIn, but don’t post to our company page.) Instead, we focus on word of mouth and pillar-based marketing strategies that drive organic traffic to our website. Based on our business goals, workload, target audience, and competitive analysis, this is the best focus of our time and resources regarding marketing.

Assess your target audience, your market/industry, your workload and budget, and your goals to determine if social media is the right marketing strategy. If it is, then analyze these things again to determine the platform(s) that is appropriate, the frequency of posting, and the type of messaging that will support your business goals.