Seven budget-friendly ways for small businesses to improve marketing in 2021
This is part two of my marketing on a budget series. Read part one: Six ways small businesses can save money on marketing in 2021.
Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash
As we head into 2021, we are in one of the most economically challenging climates in recent memory and small businesses in many sectors are struggling due to the effects of the pandemic.
On the surface it’s no surprise that companies are pulling marketing spend. However, data shows that businesses who invest in marketing during recessions usually outperform those who cut advertising spend, because by doing so they generate more sales and increasing market share.
The reality is that increasing marketing spend is not possible for a lot of small businesses and making smarter, informed decisions alongside incremental improvements is more important than ever. Here are some ways you can improve your small business marketing in 2021.
1. Use surveys and data to understand your target segment better
One of the most effective, low cost ways to improve marketing performance as a small business is to increase understanding of your customer and prospects through data analysis and surveys. Understand customer buying patterns and preferences, get more visibility on demographics, behaviours and attitudes and make your marketing decisions based on fact. Once factored into your strategy, your tactics will perform better as a result.
You can do simple qualitative research by speaking to some customers, and follow it up with a wider quantitative survey using something like Refiner.io to pop up on your website. Ideally your research would be statistically significant but even a partial insight into what your target segment is thinking and feeling is valuable.
2. Use simple brand building techniques for long term success
Reinforcing what you stand for to your target segment consistently over time sets you up for long term success by keeping you top of mind. Make sure you and your staff are clear internally on your positioning and that this is reinforced through your branding across every customer touchpoint.
This includes your tone of voice, website visuals and copy, your social media accounts, posts and adverts, emails, PPC ads etc. Create awareness campaigns communicating the value of what you do and how this impacts your target audience’s life. In a recession, focus on building trust, empathy and transparency.
Marketing Donut has some good brand building tips for small businesses.
3. Strengthen your positioning by scaling the benefits ladder
Your positioning (brand purpose/value proposition) is how your customer perceives you. It is a simple concept but not easy to get right. A lot of major companies like Unilever and Kraft Heinz invest millions in making sure their positioning is succeeding, and that consumers associate their brands with certain positive attributes.
You build your positioning through articulating your company’s reason for being through every single customer touchpoint and interaction. It should be built into your company’s DNA and needs to be communicated simply and concisely.
One way you can strengthen it is by improving the way you speak about your products and services to prospective customers. Think about how you currently communicate the value your product or services gives customers. Where are you on the benefits ladder? The higher up you can climb, and tap into emotions rather than pure features, the more powerful your positioning will become.
4. Reduce your product portfolio
If you didn’t already do it earlier this year, now is the time to streamline your product offer. The complexity of managing a large range of products is an unnecessary pressure to have.
Look at your products. Are you offering lots of similar products with very few distinct differences? This is the time when less is more; it’ll make it easier for you to manage your marketing resources if you focus on the strongest performing products. Understanding the profitability of each product or service will help guide your decisions - you want to maximise profitability.
5. Fix the biggest hole in your marketing and sales funnel
Take a look at the conversion rates along your sales funnel and understand which parts of it are underperforming and where you’re losing the most customers.
Are you struggling to get prospects to know about you in the first place? You need to create more awareness through campaigns that achieve scale and reach. You will need budget to do this, so make sure you use it well.
Perhaps lots of prospects know about you but very few go on to buy from you. In this case you will need to look at your targeting, messaging and content and ask:
Are we targeting the right segment?
Is our positioning clear?
Are we communicating value, not features?
Is the call to action enticing enough?
I always recommend multivariate testing in your digital marketing activities to see which combination works best.
Do people buy from you but you have a low repeat purchase rate and average feedback ratings? You may need to look into improving your customer service.
6. Streamline your marketing strategy goals
With a small budget and little staff resources, setting too many marketing goals is a sure way to fail. It’s better to focus on two - or at the most three - objectives. They should always be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.
Use the previous tips, especially tip 5, to refine your goals and understand where you need to focus your efforts for the next 12 months. When focussing on specific results, you’ll need to set benchmarks from which to perform.
Don’t set a goal that is to ‘increase sales’ - that’s too broad and comes low down in the funnel. Some examples of SMART goals are:
Increase reach among [target segment] from 10% to 20% by 31 December 2021.
Increase conversion rates from consideration to purchase from 30% to 40% by 31 December 2021.
Improve Net Promoter Score from 4 to 6 by 31 December 2021.
7. Make use of free or low cost tactics
Once you’ve set your goals, you need to plan how you're going to achieve them. For a small business with limited marketing budget, you need to use as many free or low cost tactics as you can to hit those targets. Here are some example of the types of tactics you can use alongside the goals I mentioned above:
Increase reach among [target segment] from 10% to 20% by 31 December 2021.
Improve your use of social media - organic and paid
Create a SEO content plan and produce consistent content
Develop partnerships with aligned brands
Optimise use of generic keywords in paid search campaigns
Increase conversion rates from consideration to purchase from 30% to 40% by 31 December 2021.
Increase email marketing conversions
Implement site improvements using Hotjar and Google Analytics data
Install web chat to help guide users on their journey
Produce helpful, valuable content to support the decision making process
Improve Net Promoter Score from 4 to 6 by 31 December 2021
Use free survey software such as Survey Monkey to gain customer insights
Create a plan based on survey feedback
Improve customer communication using email automation
Contact me
I am Maria Soleil, a triple award-winning marketer based in Kent, UK, with almost a decade of experience helping brands grow their presence and results online. Now, as Soleil Marketing, I work with small to medium sized businesses who value growing profit as much as they value creating impact.
Need marketing support? I can help with strategy, performance reviews, email, content, and social media. Book a call with me or get in touch.
