The key to increasing your Asheville area small business’s clientele is through marketing, primarily content marketing. With content marketing, you are telling your business’s story in such a way that it attracts prospects, educates them, and entices them to choose your WNC small business.
Now, there are numerous options for small businesses to get the word out, but content marketing is one of the better and more cost-effective ways to differentiate yourself and your business from the competition.
As prospects begin their search for services or products, they have several questions, such as:
- What distinguishes your Asheville small business from the one down the street?
- What are the criteria for hiring employees?
- What is the business’s mission/philosophy?
- How much can clients be involved, and what role can they play?
- What are the expectations for communication with clients?
- What results can we expect if we use your services or products?
- What are the business’s difficulties? What are the areas that need to be improved?
Your marketing materials, website, social media presence, and personal interactions should all follow a consistent theme and work to answer these questions.
Ensure you deliver on what you promise regarding what you say and do. This will not only reassure clients, but they will also be able to see the quality of your services or products.
You can and should create buyer personas to help you focus your marketing efforts. Defining an ideal client will help you develop marketing content and collateral that speaks directly to them.
Why Small Business Marketing Matters
Developing a marketing plan for your small business will help you prepare for the competitive market ahead.
It is no longer enough for a small business to have a great product or service and excellent employees. Your business’s sales numbers will not begin to increase until prospective clients are aware that you exist.
Therefore you have to attract and educate prospects about the experiences they can have with your business. Concentrate on your unique offerings, such as product features, customer service, etc. This should also provide a window into the experience of working with you through the eyes of satisfied clients.
As a small business, the critical factors for expanding your client base are balancing your brand, publicity, and the story of your business. An effective content marketing strategy and plan can ensure that your business’s long-term objectives are current, practical, and achievable.
This post will help you determine the process, define your niche, and grow your business via a marketing strategy that distinguishes you from the competition in your area.
How to Execute Your Small Business Marketing Strategy and Plan
As business strategies evolve, clearly expressing what your company symbolizes is critical. This is entirely customizable, and following a strategy and plan will help you cover all the bases by:
- Forming a clear positioning statement
- Using content to solve clients’ pain and passion points
- Conducting competitive research by studying competitors/industry thought leaders
- Developing a vault of content assets based on your team’s ability and budget bandwidth
- Identifying the most effective marketing channels and strategies
- Discovering the content topics your audience craves
- Assessing your organization’s need for resources
- Defining your unique value proposition
- Collecting your marketing materials
- Creating an online marketing strategy
Here’s how you do should it:
Tell Your Asheville Small Businesses Story by Leading With Your Strengths
Promote your achievements, whether they are excellent reviews or how you saved a client a significant amount of money by doing something different. Clients have no trouble investing in your business if it matches their wants and needs.
We also recommend developing an executive summary that outlines each aspect of your marketing plan and keeping it on the table throughout the planning phase. Writing your positioning statement last, on the other hand, will guarantee that your entire marketing strategy is cohesive and adheres to your business’s aims. Your executive summary will serve as a cheat sheet of your plan and define your story for you and other parties (advisors, employees, financiers, etc.).
Remember that you can frame your content. What you promote might be the first time your target audience has heard of you. Make sure your business’s unique value proposition is appealing and professional and uses complete concepts while being concise.
Tell Your Business’s Story by Identifying Your Weaknesses
Weaknesses are acceptable if you actively work on ways to address them. The first step is to recognize them; you can be a resilient business if you can do that. Check to see whether they are damaging you amid your competitors’ options.
However, you will be viewed as proactive and self-aware when addressing stumbling blocks if you have a proposed plan prepared. Clients will see this transparency and understand it. Then you and your business can make the most of the shortcomings.
In other words, don’t be afraid to talk about who you aren’t a good fit for as much as those you are a good fit for.
Tell Your Business’s Story by Knowing Your Competition
Know where you stand amongst competing businesses. You must understand their distinct capabilities to ensure that your business is on par with the other options in the market. You may even determine where you can aim higher with this information. Knowing the qualities of competing businesses, such as the price or services offered to clients, can help you understand what you’re up against.
Tell Your Business’s Story by Outlining Your Business’s Offerings
As part of your marketing plan, you will need to be able to answer the following questions:
- What sets your business apart?
- What areas is your small business working on to improve your competitive edge?
- Why should a client pick your business over another?
- Is your business up to date with helpful programs, technology, and software for clients?
When you start outlining your business’s offerings, you must review the above list and ensure your prices are competitive. Showcase your employees, administrators, and specialists, especially if they have rare specifications. Emphasizing these aspects of your business increases its worth.
Each of the steps previously listed will help you settle comfortably within your business’s niche. Now that your objectives have been broadened, you may use marketing techniques targeting specific market segments.
7 Types of Small Business Marketing Plans
With your competitors in mind, employing several marketing strategies to increase your brand recognition is crucial. If you want to be perceived as a contender in your industry, your next steps should be deliberate. Begin by determining what sort of plan(s) you require:
Quarterly or Annual Marketing Strategy
Quarterly and annual marketing plans outline the techniques or initiatives you’ll implement over a specific time.
“Breaking News” Marketing Strategy
A “Breaking News” layout will guide implementing announcements emphasizing a new award, certification, or other excellent news you want to share with your target audience.
Paid Marketing Strategy
Pay-Per-Click (PPC), paid social media promotions, or native advertising should be part of your paid marketing strategy.
Initially, paid advertising can help you get steady leads until more organic methods, such as content marketing, kick in. With paid advertising, you can influence and inform specific segments of your target audience more effectively within your budget.
Your metrics will be able to be tracked easier, and it will aid you in reporting outcomes. This will help you in measuring your success.
Social Media Marketing Strategy
A Social Media Marketing strategy outlines the platforms, methods, and techniques you plan to use to achieve specific goals for your small business. If you want to drive traffic to your website, social media platforms are an excellent tool to help guide potential clients to your detailed resources.
Social media platforms allow you to showcase your message through graphics, photos, images, and videos, which can help expand your audience and generate more leads.
Social media should be considered an extension of your website, as it can quickly capture clients’ attention and potentially increase sales. Using hashtags, you can target specific client personas you aim for.
Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is a powerful tool to help small businesses reach their target audience and grow their brand. A well-crafted content marketing strategy can increase website traffic, generate leads, and drive sales.
When it comes to content marketing strategy, you will want to do the following:
- Define your target audience. In other words, you must know who you are creating content for. Understanding your target audience will help you create content that resonates with them and addresses their needs.
- Do you want to increase website traffic, generate leads, or improve brand awareness? Whatever they may be, you must set goals to guide your content creation and distribution strategies.
- Choose your content formats, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, etc. Choose the formats that are most appropriate for your audience and goals.
- Plan ahead with a content calendar so you can be consistent with your content marketing strategy.
- Promote your content: Creating great content is only half the battle. You also need to promote it to ensure it reaches your target audience. Share your content on social media, email newsletters, and other channels where your audience is active.
- Use tools like Google Analytics to track the performance of your content. You can determine what content resonates with your audience by measuring your results. What can you do to improve engagement and drive more traffic to your website?
Get Your Business Listed in Local Searches
Apart from Google ranking, getting found in directories such as Yelp or Yellow Pages will help you get in front of your target audience.
Other Ideas to Consider
To target prospective clients, try to launch your campaigns well before the busy season or when you expect increased demand for your products or services. If potential clients are researching options, they will be actively searching for solutions around this time.
Final Thoughts
Effective marketing is the key to marketing your small business and increasing your clientele. If you need help marketing your small business, reach out to us. We are experts in marketing for small businesses.
