3 Step Marketing Foundation for Small and Medium Businesses

 

Being a part of an SMB myself, I can very well relate to what this type of businesses need in terms of marketing and promotion. Most companies have only short-term goals in mind and getting customers now is a top priority. However, there are a few steps you need to check first if you're to succeed in attracting more customers:

1. Find a niche. There are a few benefits when working a niche. For one thing, it's easier to spot and keep an eye on your competitors. You can also effectively identify your potential customers and address them in a more personalized manner.
2. Differentiate your products/ services from the competitions’. Make sure you're offering something different, of a higher quality to your target market. Find the thing(s) that makes your company better and focus on communicating that.
3. Find out where your target market is and reach out to them. They may have associations, online groups, and forums, participate at certain events and so on. For example if you are targeting moms, you might want to do a blogger outreach campaign to mom bloggers in order to get their support. Alternatively, if you're targeting other companies, find a relevant association and ask for their support. Most of them already have programs that to help companies communicate with their members (member lists, event sponsorship, banner ads etc.).

Obviously, the third point is the most interesting and it can be widely detailed. However, if you choose to skip right to the marketing tactics and ignore the first two points, your results will be mediocre at best. Maybe a full-blown marketing strategy is too much for your company to invest in. Nevertheless, you can still do some hard thinking yourself and check the first two points off the list, before you go ahead and promote your company or services.