A Beginner’s Introduction to Small Business Marketing

Many Heritage graduates operate their own businesses. They enjoy the freedom and unlimited potential that can only come from working for themselves.

Owning a business has many advantages over working for someone else. You can set your own hours and you can’t be downsized or fired. If you run your business well, you can also make more money.

Working for yourself also has more challenges than working an ordinary job. You have to make bookkeeping arrangements. You are responsible for your facility. And, perhaps most of all, you have to find your own clients.

So how do you tell the marketplace about your business and convince them to become your customers, without going broke in the process?

This article covers the basic elements every small business owner needs to understand about marketing. As you read these marketing principles, answer the questions in each section for your business.

Identify Your Market. Who might buy your product or service? You need to focus your marketing efforts and resources on the people who are most likely to become your customers. You can define and segment your market by geography, lifestyle, age, gender, income, and more.

Define Your Product. What problem are you solving for your customers? When you communicate to your market, it is usually more effective to lead with customer needs than product features.

Identify Your Channels. How will you communicate your message to your market? Some of the best marketing channels for small businesses are:

1) Word-of-Mouth. If your customers are happy, referrals are better than any kind of advertising.
2) Web marketing. In today’s world, the first place clients are likely to look for your services is the world wide web.
3) Guerilla Marketing. Public relations, flyers, local mailings, coupons, co-op campaigns with other businesses, signs, and many other creative ideas can be very effective at low cost.
4) Advertising. Before you do any advertising, make sure that you can keep track of the results and calculate the cost of each response. Start with small tests and repeat the ones that work.

Create Your Message. How will you explain the benefits of your service/product to your customers?

Promote Your Offer. What are you offering your market in your message?

Build Urgency. What is your call to action?

Response Mechanism. How will your customers respond to your offer?

Differentiation. Why are you better than your competitors?

Set Your Price. How much will you charge? Will you set your price above the competition because your service is better, or will you set your price low in order to drive volume?

Retention. How will you get repeat business?

Referrals. How will you get your customers to refer their friends?

Client List. How will you track and communicate with your existing customers?

Small business marketing is 90 percent science and only 10 percent creativity. Your success will depend mostly on a disciplined methodology. The theory is simple: “Do more of what works, and less of what doesn’t.” The process is also simple: “Develop a concept, test, measure, tweak, discard the losers, grow the winners.”

Follow these steps, and you’ll be on your way to building a client base that will sustain your business for years to come.