Small Business Marketing Made Simple

      By Jenna Cantamessa

      Are you thinking of establishing a business but dread the thought of starting your marketing plan? For those of you who are not quite sure where to start, our Marketing Coordinator, Jenna, has put together a short summary on 3 major ‘marketing must haves’ based on her own experiences to get you started. 

      If your small business idea is just a thought for the moment, but you do intend to go ahead with it, be sure to talk to our firm Partner, Paul Radford, about how you can start moving forward with your plans and turn your dream business into a reality. See more about establishing a business here.


      Building Your Website

      Pinterest is a wonderful App for gathering inspiration on just about any project. Create an account and start researching website ideas in your business area – you will be motivated by what you find.  

      Next, determine your budget for building a website – if you don’t have the time to create one of your own, think about sourcing a local web design business. We had Oracle Studio build our website. The great part about going local is that you know the help is there for you 24/7. If you need to make any quick changes, it can be done within a day. If you choose to go with a bigger company, be aware that you may not have this close relationship with your providers and it may take longer than a day to have changes made to your website. Sometimes the 'cheaper quote' can cause more stress.

      If you're adventurous and are up for the challenge of building your own website, WordPress is a fantastic website building tool. Get settled in with the popcorn and start watching some ‘Introduction to WordPress’ YouTube videos. Some great websites have been made using this software. But first, don't forget to lock down your domain name. There are several sites for this but a popular one is GoDaddy.

      An important thing to also remember is that a lot of users are now turning to a mobile phone rather than a desktop computer. It’s vitally important that you ensure your website is mobile, iPad and desktop responsive, so that all your users can have a great user experience on your website!


      Social Media

      It’s simple, if you’re not on a social media platform in this day and age, you’re either not known, or considered quite ‘old school’.

      The best part about social media is that it’s FREE marketing, and your marketing efforts can be measured. The main page to have is a Facebook business page. If you don’t already use paid advertising, start off slow by ‘Boosting’ your posts – this will help you get your post out to a larger audience. This is where it’s important to know your ideal customers demographics, hobbies and interests so you can target them directly.

      Most importantly, when you are on social media – BE ACTIVE. There’s nothing worse than having a social media page that hasn’t had a post since December 2015.

      If you’re enjoying the benefits of Facebook, try venturing into an Instagram account, which will allow you to become more casual with your marketing and show off your business with fancy filtered images. Don't forget to use relevant hashtags (#) so that more of your target audience can find you.  

      If you’re time poor and don’t have the time to sit on social media everyday posting, why not try scheduling your posts. Designate a day that you can sit in front of your computer and schedule your weeks’ worth of posts. If you have more than one social media page try using Hootsuite – a scheduling social media program.

      Lastly, always tie a relevant image in with your posts content. Never post without an image…no one likes to read plain old text anymore! If you’re not so creative and don’t feel comfortable in creating images, have a go at using Canva – a simple graphic design software. Before paying for photos, take a look around at some royalty free websites like Unsplash, or even better, take some first person shots using your smartphone. 

      Most of all, have fun with your social media posts and remember that Facebook was created for friends to share things with each other, so it’s important to remember the ‘human element’ within your posts.


      Blogs

      Blogs build trust, credibility and awareness of your business and best of all, they generate traffic to your website. Take the time to sit down with a hot cup of coffee and let your inner writer take over.

      Every day you have experiences, you encounter problems and challenges. People buy products to help them solve these problems and challenges. These are all things you can write about and they don’t have to be long - think quality over quantity.

      Lastly, if you get stuck for topics – Google is the answer. Today the world is at our finger tips and if you’re looking for some inspiration Google will help you find it.



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