In today’s world of huge tech start-ups & thriving online businesses, small businesses, family owned & operated businesses, and traditional businesses seem to get lost & forgotten. For small businesses, it may seem tougher than ever to bring in customers and clients today. As digital landscapes are shifting, & small businesses continue falling behind, many are left to wonder “why isn’t my marketing strategy working?”
Today, everyone’s putting out content. From 13 year olds on social platforms to large-scale corporations, the standard has shifted. In this world of constant noise and communication, if you’re not at least contributing to the noise, you’re going to be left behind. Now that being said, the standard for quality is also fairly high these days, so if you’re trying to stand out as a small businesses, you better really pump out A-class content. Where most small businesses or family operated businesses go wrong is, they don’t even realize that a lack of content is their issue.
What do I mean by content? Well, let’s start simple. In 2016, if you want to be taken seriously by the average consumer, you need a website. If you have a website, it better look good. Keeping up to date with the latest website design trends are important, as consumers will stray from websites that appear to have been published in 2008. Having your website re-designed may end up being a much more fruitful investment than the newspaper ad you were about to purchase. Next, look at your content-presence online & in real life. Some questions you may want to ask yourself are,
- How frequently is my brand being positioned in the right conversations?
- Have I built an audience for my brand online?
- What forms of traditional advertising am I using & how effective are they?
- Have I put time & effort into creating content that can be distributed daily?
- If I do have content, how is it being distributed and is it being done effectively?
These questions will put you on the right track to developing a stronger marketing strategy. With a combination of both traditional and online methods of content creation and distribution, you may notice improvements in your strategy & the response from every angle of your business.
Attitude amongst small business owners is definitely important as well, understanding that maybe you aren’t utilizing or maximizing the tools at your disposal. This ignorance plagues many business owners who fail to realize that they’re behind, neglecting the trends. Without a strong digital strategy to compliment your traditional advertising, you’re bound to be lost in the mix. Generating conversations around your brand, & investing into creating content valuable to your consumers, will be your first strides towards a small business marketing strategy the works!
