Blog: Western North Carolina Small Business

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:

1. What distinguishes your Asheville small business from the one down the street?
2. What are the criteria for hiring employees?
3. What is the business’s mission/philosophy?
4. How much can clients be involved, and what role can they play?
5. What are the expectations for communication with clients?
6. What results can we expect if we use your services or products?
7. 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.

If you own and operate a small business in Western North Carolina, undoubtedly, you have tried to reach out to new clients or strengthen your connection with existing ones. You are also probably familiar with several digital marketing businesses and their solutions.

While many individuals define digital marketing differently, it is nearly always about connecting with new and existing clients about your business, the services you offer, and what both of those can do for them. Some technologies, such as email marketing and/or marketing automation, only offer a few functionalities. Others are more sophisticated, offering whole platforms known as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software or solutions. The fundamental purpose of any of these solutions is to turn client communications into sales, but it isn't the only piece of the puzzle.

Small businesses today don’t want to just sell their services. You have to be top-of-mind with clients, fostering goodwill and engagement. Many Western North Carolina small businesses do this by creating custom landing pages, social media posts, newsletters, emails, and various other forms of content on their websites across a number of platforms (social, email, desktop, mobile, etc.).

Of course, creating this type of marketing content requires time and expertise. Many small businesses in Western North Carolina will look for help by selecting digital marketing software solutions that automate and improve the execution and optimization of their efforts. But how do you, a small business owner, decide? Well, there are several options available, but very few of them provide the same services or are appropriate for every type of small business. 

Don’t worry. I have rounded up seven of the best digital marketing software service options available today to help you find the exact tools you're looking for.