All businesses need a strong marketing strategy. Whether your organization is a team of two or a team of 200, growing a robust digital presence is essential to a healthy bottom line.
For small businesses, an impactful marketing strategy can be the difference between feast or famine for the foreseeable future—no pressure, right? Finding the right strategy for your business can help you reach your target audience, hit new milestones, and establish your brand’s presence all while staying organized with tools that work for your team.
Our FXN Studio experts understand what it takes to build tailored marketing strategies. If you have a small budget, team, or online footprint and are looking for new ideas, here are a few tips to try on for size:
1. Start with Compelling Storytelling
A strong marketing strategy begins with a clear vision, message, and story to attract your target audience. How will you attract a loyal audience? What does your business sell, and how do you want to talk about your brand, product, or service?
People connect to stories—create a deeper connection to your audience by weaving together narrative elements, emotional language, and facts about your business.
Brand storytelling is the first key to unlocking the potential of your organization’s online presence. Taking a narrative approach to promoting your brand can foster a deeper connection with your audience and highlight the unique aspects of your small business.
“Brand storytelling is no longer a nice to have. It is a need to have, and what will ultimately maximize your business’s visibility, profit, and impact.” - Forbes
2. Use Free or Budget-Friendly Tools
There are free and budget-friendly tools that can help you stay organized, design online content, track engagement, and more for your small business. Try a free trial with your team, explore tutorials, and discover new platforms and channels to tune in to your audience.
6 FXN-Approved Tools
- Asana
- Organize and update projects with your team
- Storyblok
- Design, edit, and publish online content for your business
- Hubspot
- Get connected to customers with this CRM platform
- Google Analytics
- Track and analyze data across platforms
- Hootsuite
- Manage your social media, engage with your followers
- Figma
- Our preferred design platform has a free starter level
Adopting new tools for your business processes is a journey, not a race. You can avoid stretching your bandwidth and budget too thin by layering new platforms into your process slowly. Try mastering one new tool at a time, and decide which ones work best for your business and team members in the long term.
3. Rank Higher with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Make sure your audience and potential customers can find you; build your search engine optimization (SEO) basics. Although there are many factors that affect where you appear in the search engine result hierarchy, taking your ranking into your own hands starts with including relevant keywords and leveraging the power of SEO.
Great news: There are free and affordable SEO-related tools available online to help support your marketing efforts. From small independent business owners to large multi-team operations, organizations of all sizes can benefit from incorporating SEO tools as part of their marketing strategy.
Here are a few guides to get you started:
4. Break Into Social Media
The ever-evolving social media landscape could be prime real estate for your small business. An active social media presence can help connect your product to wider and more diverse audiences. Since 2021, over 4.62 billion people across the world are currently engaged with social media, at an average rate of 13.5 new users every single second.
Branching out across various social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc., will put your business in front of more eyes from many different demographics. Conduct cross-platform research about your existing and potential social media audiences—your average LinkedIn user, for example, is likely much different from the typical Instagram follower.
Be open to trying new things—adopting tailored content around specific platforms and audiences in mind will help you get the right message to the right people. Of course the occasional cross-post is fine, but try diversifying your content to reflect the needs and expectations of your various audiences across platforms.
5. Start a Blog
Hosting longer-form content on your website, like blogs, can boost your visibility, showcase your company in a different light, and share more information to your audience about your small business. Think about it: Can you describe everything about your company in 280 characters or less?
Blogging for your business could have a huge impact on your bottom line: 56% of marketers say that blogging is their most effective content strategy. Doing a little keyword and SEO research before publishing a blog can even help you rank higher in search engine results and get you connected to more people who are interested in your business.
The strongest marketing strategies are often fueled by efforts that work hand-in-hand:
Relevant keywords and phrases + compelling storytelling = published blog
Published blog + social media promotion + affordable tools =
engagement, visibility, and an overall strong marketing strategy
Whether you’re looking to increase sales, boost engagement, or promote brand awareness, a blog can do all of that and more.
Looking for ways to get started? Explore our FXN blog catalog.
Are you interested in learning more about how to grow your business, build your online presence, or revamp your marketing strategy? We’re here to help. Contact us today for a free web assessment, and get connected with our team for personalized plans to help your business thrive.