Where Should I Market My Small Business?
As a small business owner you’re probably so busy providing the product or service you offer customers that marketing your business often falls by the wayside until sales slow. (Marketing business owner here, and guilty as charged.)
Afterall, you’re making dozens of decisions every day just to keep your business up and running.
So, if you’ve ever wondered “Where should I market my business?” you’re not alone.
The short answer is you should market your business wherever your potential customers are.
Here’s A List Of Ideas To Get You Started:
Online
Website
Social Media
Blog
Guest Posting
Podcasts
Videos
Paid Advertising
Emails
Lead Generators
Automated Nurture Sequences
Sales Pitches to Warm Leads*
Personal Followup
Sharing Resources
In Person
Speaking at Events
Hosting Meetups
One-on-one Meetings
Trade Show Booths
Business Cards
Brochures
Storefront Collateral (if your business has a physical location)
Broadcast
Direct Mail Campaigns
TV/Streaming Ads
Billboards
Radio Ads
Feeling Overwhelmed?
Start with creating a clear message with an offer in one location. I recommend a website if you don’t have one yet. Your website is your online storefront or office. It helps communicate that you’re a legitimate business and gives people a sense of what it’s like to work with you.
After that, create a lead generator that people can access in exchange for their email address.
What makes an irresistible lead generator?
High value content (at least $25 worth, but be generous!)
Catchy title (make folks want to open it!)
Great design (whether it’s a PDF, a video series, or a gated podcast, the user experience should be stellar.)
Ideally, you can set up an automated nurture campaign (I use MailChimp for this.) that will trigger when people download your lead generator, which will give you a chance to build trust with potential customers.
What About Social Media?
Social media is a great tool for marketing, but as Amy Porterfield likes to say, anything you build on social media is built on rented land. In other words, you don’t own your audience there. The algorithm can change, or the platform could go under (or decide to deprioritize your content) at any time.
You have no control over any of that and you can’t take your audience with you if you decide to leave. Starting with an email list gives you a more stable platform that you own to start. Then, you can branch out to social media to help grow your audience and continue building trust.
Why Is Building Trust Important In Marketing?
In his book Endless Referrals, Bob Burg writes, “All things being equal, people do business with, and refer business to people they know, like and trust.”
So, in marketing your business, you’re looking for any opportunity to build the know, like, and trust factor with potential clients.
How Much Marketing Content Do You Need To Do That?
In Oversubscribed, Daniel Priestly writes that people need to spend 7 hours with you, have 11 interactions, and encounter you in 4 different locations before they’ve built up the trust to buy.
That’s where the rest of the list comes in handy. Rank the marketing opportunities based on where you’re most likely to encounter potential customers for your business and then start building the marketing materials you need to help the people there get to know, like, and trust you.
Start with your #1, then move on to #2, etc. Keep building! Eventually you’ll have created a robust marketing ecosystem where people can get to know you and your business. And they’ll be able to use your content to recommend you to others.
*A Note On Sales Pitches
If you’ve ever received a telemarketing call or had a solicitor come to your door, you know how it feels to have someone pitch you without having built up the know, like, and trust factor. They drop in out of the blue and want you to buy right here, right now.
People do the same thing all the time via email, LinkedIn, or other direct messages.
It’s annoying.
The sales pitch is an important part of any sales funnel, but it’s at the bottom of the funnel for a reason. Take the time and have the respect to build a relationship with your potential customers before you pitch them.
In This Is Marketing, Seth Godin writes, “Show up—regularly, consistently, for years and years—to organize and lead and build confidence in the change to seek to make. To earn permission to follow up and earn enrollment to teach.”
It may not take years and years to do that, depending on what you’re selling. The point is that you need to earn their permission.
Should people have the opportunity to “buy now” if they’re ready? Absolutely.
But save the hard sell until they’ve had a chance to get to know you. Pitch your warm leads, not the cold ones.
Marketing Is A Process Not A One-Time Event
It’s an ongoing practice of showing up, giving generously, making a clear offer, and continuously building.
So, where should you market your business?
Anywhere potential customers are. And craft the experience to fit the audience you have in that moment with an understanding of where they are in forming a relationship with you.