Top 10 Marketing Tasks After Opening Your Business

Congratulations on starting your small business! It takes a lot of courage and determination to turn your entrepreneurial dreams into reality. However, the real challenge begins now – how do you reach your target audience and promote your products or services effectively? The answer lies in digital marketing, a cost-effective and measurable way to grow your business. In this beginner’s guide to marketing, we’ll cover the first 10 things a small business should do as it pertains to digital marketing. So, let’s dive in!

Define Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is a critical step in creating a successful marketing strategy for your small business. It’s essential to identify the specific needs, interests, and pain points of your target audience so that you can tailor your marketing messages to resonate with them.

Here are some actionable items that small business owners can take to accomplish target audience research:

Conduct Surveys or Polls

One way to understand your target audience is by conducting surveys or polls. You can create a survey using tools like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey and send it to your existing customers or target audience through email, social media, or your website. The survey should ask questions that will help you better understand your target audience, such as their demographics, interests, and preferences.

Use Analytics Tools

Analytics tools like Google Analytics can help you gather valuable information about your website visitors, such as their location, age, gender, and interests. By analyzing this data, you can gain insights into your target audience’s behavior and preferences and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.

Conduct Focus Groups

Another way to understand your target audience is by conducting focus groups. You can invite a small group of people who represent your target audience and ask them questions about their needs, preferences, and pain points. Focus groups can provide valuable insights into your target audience’s attitudes and behavior and help you create more effective marketing campaigns.

Monitor Social Media

Social media is an excellent platform for understanding your target audience. By monitoring social media conversations, you can gain insights into your target audience’s interests, preferences, and pain points. You can use tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social to monitor social media conversations and engage with your audience.

Check Out Your Competitors

Your competitors can provide valuable insights into your target audience. By analyzing your competitor’s marketing strategy and target audience, you can gain insights into what works and what doesn’t work in your industry. You can use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to analyze your competitor’s website traffic and SEO strategy.

By using these actionable items, small business owners can gain valuable insights into their target audience and create more effective marketing campaigns. Remember, understanding your target audience is a continuous process, and you should regularly analyze your target audience’s behavior and preferences to stay relevant and competitive in your industry.

Develop a Brand Identity

Your brand identity is a critical element of your small business’s marketing strategy. It’s how your target audience perceives your business, and it can significantly impact your business’s success. A strong brand identity can help you stand out from your competitors, increase customer loyalty, and drive business growth.

Your brand identity consists of several elements, including your brand name, logo, website design, social media presence, and marketing messages. These elements should be consistent across all channels, as inconsistency can confuse and alienate your target audience.

Your brand name should be memorable, easy to pronounce, and relevant to your business. It’s the first thing that your target audience will notice about your business, so it’s essential to get it right.

Your logo is the visual representation of your brand, and it should be simple, unique, and easy to recognize. Your logo should reflect your business’s values and mission, and it should be consistent across all marketing channels.

Your website design should be user-friendly, visually appealing, and easy to navigate. Your website is often the first point of contact between your business and your target audience, so it’s essential to make a good first impression.

Your social media presence should reflect your brand identity and engage with your target audience. You should post regularly, respond to comments and messages, and use social media analytics to measure the success of your social media campaigns.

Your marketing messages should be consistent with your brand identity and resonate with your target audience. You should use language and tone that reflects your business’s values and mission, and you should focus on the benefits that your products or services can provide to your target audience.

In summary, your brand identity is a crucial element of your small business’s marketing strategy. By creating a consistent brand identity across all channels, you can increase brand awareness, customer loyalty, and business growth. Remember to keep your brand identity relevant to your business, reflect your values and mission, and resonate with your target audience.

Create a Website

Your website is an essential component of your small business’s digital marketing strategy. It’s the face of your business online, and it’s often the first point of contact between your business and your target audience. Therefore, it’s essential to make a good first impression with a visually appealing, user-friendly website.

One of the most critical aspects of your website design is user experience. Your website should be easy to navigate, and visitors should be able to find the information they’re looking for quickly. If your website is difficult to navigate or cluttered with too much information, visitors may become frustrated and leave your site.

In addition to user experience, your website should also be mobile-friendly. More people than ever before are using their smartphones and tablets to browse the internet, so it’s essential to ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices. A mobile-friendly website will adjust its layout to fit the screen size of the device being used, making it easier to navigate and read.

Another critical aspect of your website design is search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords. By optimizing your website for SEO, you can increase your visibility in search results and attract more traffic to your site.

To optimize your website for SEO, you should conduct keyword research to identify relevant keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for. You should then incorporate these keywords into your website’s content, including page titles, meta descriptions, and headers.

Finally, your website should have clear calls to action (CTAs) that encourage visitors to take action, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form. CTAs should be strategically placed throughout your website, and they should be clear and concise.

In summary, your website is an essential component of your small business’s digital marketing strategy. By creating a visually appealing, user-friendly, mobile-friendly, and SEO-optimized website with clear calls to action, you can attract more visitors, engage with your target audience, and drive business growth.

Establish a Social Media Presence

Social media has become an integral part of small businesses’ marketing strategy. It’s an effective tool for connecting with your target audience, building relationships, and promoting your brand.

To start, you’ll need to determine which social media platforms your target audience uses the most. This will help you focus your efforts on the channels that are most likely to be effective for your business. For example, if your target audience is primarily composed of younger individuals, you may want to consider using platforms like TikTok or Instagram, while if your target audience is more professional, LinkedIn may be a more suitable option.

Once you’ve identified which social media platforms to use, you’ll need to create a profile on each one. Your profile should be complete and include your business’s name, logo, website URL, and a description of what your business does. It’s essential to ensure that your profile is consistent across all social media platforms to maintain a cohesive brand identity.

Once you’ve set up your social media profiles, you can start sharing content, engaging with your audience, and promoting your products or services. Social media provides an excellent opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality and engage with your audience on a more personal level. You can share behind-the-scenes content, highlight your team members, and share user-generated content to foster a sense of community around your brand.

It’s also important to note that social media is not a one-way communication channel. You should engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and reviews in a timely and professional manner. This will help build trust and loyalty with your audience and show that you value their feedback.

In summary, social media is a powerful tool for small businesses to connect with their target audience. By choosing the right social media platforms, creating a complete profile, sharing engaging content, and engaging with your audience, you can build brand awareness, establish credibility, and drive business growth.

Create Content

Creating high-quality content is an essential component of any small business’s digital marketing strategy. Content serves as the foundation of your brand’s online presence and helps you communicate your message to your target audience.

To start, you’ll need to develop a content plan that outlines the types of content you’ll create and the channels you’ll use to distribute it. Your plan should include a mix of blog posts, videos, infographics, and social media posts that address your target audience’s needs and interests.

When creating content, it’s important to ensure that it’s valuable and relevant to your target audience. You should aim to provide informative and educational content that answers their questions, addresses their pain points, and helps them make informed decisions about your products or services.

Creating a blog is a great way to provide value to your audience while also improving your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). By creating blog posts that target relevant keywords and topics, you can attract organic traffic to your website and establish your brand as an authority in your industry.

Videos and infographics are other effective types of content that can help you communicate your message in a more engaging way. Videos can be used to showcase your products or services, provide tutorials, or share customer testimonials. Infographics can be used to present complex information in a visually appealing way, making it easier for your audience to understand.

Social media is also an important channel for distributing your content. By sharing your blog posts, videos, and infographics on social media platforms, you can reach a wider audience and drive traffic back to your website. Social media also provides an opportunity to engage with your audience and build relationships through likes, comments, and shares.

In summary, content is the backbone of your digital marketing efforts. By creating a content plan that includes a mix of blog posts, videos, infographics, and social media posts, you can provide value to your target audience and establish your brand as an authority in your industry.

Claim Your Google Business Profile Listing

Claim your Google Business Profile, Apple Business Connect and Bing My Business Listings to ensure your business shows up across search engines and local searches. By claiming and optimizing these profiles, you ensure that you have clear and consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) data across the internet. Regularly posting and updating your profiles also increases local visibility and tells the search engines what your business is about.

Optimize for Search Engines

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website and content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). By optimizing for SEO, you can attract more organic traffic to your website and improve your visibility online. Some SEO best practices include using relevant keywords, optimizing your website’s speed and performance, and building high-quality backlinks.

A lot of times, Google Business Profile optimization and search engine optimization go together. If you don’t do everything you can to make your site and business visible online, your missing out on sales!

Use Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a form of online advertising where you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. You can use PPC advertising to target specific keywords, demographics, and locations. Google Ads and Facebook Ads are popular PPC advertising platforms for small businesses.

When you are just starting out, it may seem counterintuitive to run ads. While you are finding your audience and building a customer base, paid advertising can make the phone ring and help facilitate the building of relationships and reach customer’s you couldn’t reach on your own.

Monitor Your Analytics

Analytics are critical for measuring the success of your digital marketing efforts. Use tools like Google Analytics to track your website traffic, engagement, and conversions. Monitor your analytics regularly and use the insights to make data-driven decisions.

When it comes to digital marketing, there are so many options and variations and methods of achieving business growth, so it’s important to keep an eye on what is working and resonating with your target audience and what isn’t so that you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

Stay Up-to-Date with Digital Marketing Trends

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, so it’s essential to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices. Attend webinars, read industry blogs, and join online communities to stay informed.

Digital marketing is a crucial component of any small business’s marketing strategy. By defining your target audience, developing a strong brand identity, creating a website and social media presence and using various digital marketing tactics like SEO, PPC and email marketing, you can effectively reach and engage with your target audience. Remember to monitor your analytics regularly and stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices to ensure that your digital marketing efforts continue to drive growth and success for your small business. With these 10 tips, you’ll be well on your way to establishing a strong digital marketing foundation for your small business.

Contact me today to get started building your brand’s online presence!