The Marketing Essentials Every Small Business Needs to Thrive in 2024
So you've just started your own small business, or you've decided to become a freelancer.... That's incredible! Becoming your own boss is one of the most liberating things that you can do for yourself.
But there's probably one thing that's always on the back of your mind. Marketing. It's the thing every small business needs to thrive.
And that's why I'm here to tell you about some marketing essentials that you'll need to get the ball rolling.
Having the right set of marketing tools for your business will not only help you to attract more customers, but they'll also help you build the foundation you'll need for long term success.
Marketing tools you'll need to master for your business.
Understand your target audience.
Your audience can't be everybody. You'll have to choose who you want to target if you really want to make your ideal customers feel seen.
I recommend creating customer personas. You'll have to sit down and think about who you want to serve. What are they like? What kind of person are they? What are their problems? What do they dream of?
Then when you feel like you can understand them, write everything down and keep that as reference for when you need to create content aimed towards them in the future.
Create a Compelling Brand Story
Simon Sinek said....
"People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it."
Which is why you need a unique brand story for your small business. If you're in business, then you probably have several competitors, right?
What makes you different from them? Why should anybody care?
Having a great brand story for your business can be a great way to showcase your brand's values, and make an emotion connection with your prospects through authenticity and shared humanity.
One of my favorite brands is Patagonia. And the reason I love them is because of their brand story. They care deeply for the environment, and so do I. So I'll gladly pay $60 for a t-shirt because I feel connected with their story.
As a small business, you need to be creating stories that your customers can connect with.
SEO Strategies
Every business should be taking advantage of SEO. Yes, it is difficult to rank on Google these days. But it's not impossible. Plus, you'll still get some traffic from Google even if you aren't ranking yet.
SEO strategies are even more important for local businesses because there is less competition. You need to use local keywords to spread awareness for your business.
And you don't have to use keywords directly related to your business. For example, if you're a real estate agent, you could create blogs centered around your favorite restaurants. Or your favorite things to do around town.
The possibilities are endless for local businesses that are willing to take advantage of SEO.
Email Marketing
The minute you get into business, you need to have an email marketing plan in place. You need to start building an email list, and you should probably put out a newsletter as well.
Why?
Because email marketing has the biggest ROI of any marketing channel out there. So if you're going to spend money, spend it on email marketing. You can probably start with getting people on your list, and creating a welcome sequence to introduce them to your brand.
Some people like to get crazy with the daily emails, but it's 100% up to you how you want to interact with your list.
Just make sure you have one.
Leverage Social Media Effectively
You should probably have a content strategy if you're going to take advantage of social media to market your small business.
Some people just post platitudes all day and expect people to climb into their DMs.
That's not going to work. Remember what I said about understanding your target audience. Go back and think about what kinds of messaging they'd want to see, and then create more of that.
And don't forget to link back to your website. After all, you've got to get people on your email list.
Ok... lets pretend you're not ready for all of that.
The five things I've listed above are absolutely needed if you want to be able to market your business effectively. But I understand that sometimes as a small business owner you need to prioritize.
And five things is a lot.
So let's pretend you're just getting started today... Here are 3 must-haves that you can create TODAY to jump start your marketing efforts.
Must-Have #1 - You absolutely need to have a user- friendly website.
Every small business needs their own website. If you don't have a website, how are people going to know that you're legitimate? You also need a place on the internet that's all yours. That way if you're ever kicked off of social media, your followers will still know how to find you.
Having a professional website not only establishes the credibility your business needs, but it can also act as a hub for all your marketing efforts.
Must-Have #2 - You need to connect your website to the social media channels that you plan to use.
If you want people to find out about you or your business, you're going to have to get on social media.
And then you're going to want to connect social media to your website.
Put your social media tags on your website where people can find them, and then put your social media URL on all of your social media pages. That way you can funnel all of your social media traffic to your website.
Must-Have #3 - You need a way to add people to your email list.
It's 2024, and people have very limited attention spans. You shouldn't really trust them to remember who you are.
That's why when people come to your website, you've got to get their email addresses. Because they're going to forget who you are, and you're going to want to send them an email to remind them that you exist.
If you're having trouble getting people to sign up, you can offer them something useful as an incentive. This can be a discount on your products, some free information, or anything else you can think up.
What tools do I use to get all these things done?
I personally use Ghost to do my SEO, email marketing, and sales. It's the easiest and cheapest way to get everything done for my business.
Most users like that it's really similar to Wordpress. It's an open source software that you can use to create a website, and it's what I used to create the website you're on right now.
Wordpress was hard for me. I tried to make so many websites using Wordpress and I could never figure it out. I even paid for Divi to make it easier, but I still couldn't make a half-decent site.
How is Ghost different from Wordpress?
For starters, Ghost is faster and more secure than Wordpress. You don't have to worry about people breaking into your website, or installing extra plugins to make it faster.
Plus, you don't have to worry about collecting emails because the software will do it for you automatically. It will also send out emails for you automatically whenever you post.
In my opinion. the user experience in Ghost is so much better than Wordpress. All you do is choose a theme, and fill in the blanks. I've found it easier to use than everything other website builder I've tried. And if you take advantage premium theme like I have here, you're not going to need anything else to market your business. Just hook it up to social media and you're done.
I know what you're thinking... Is Ghost expensive?
Not if you use Magic Pages.
I've tried four different services to host my Ghost websites, and Magic Pages is the one I recommend. Because if you use Ghost(Pro), your going to pay at least $9 dollars a month and they're only going to let you have 500 subscribers, 1 newsletter, and they're going to give you other limits as well.
Other services are going to be similarly priced. It's usually around $15-$20 a month to host your website, plus you'll get a certain amount of emails included... Which is still cheaper than hosting a Wordpress site and paying to send out emails on top of that, but it's not your best option.
Why I love Magic Pages.
I love Magic Pages because they have lifetime pricing. Their cheapest lifetime plan is around $100. So you can pay for a year of Ghost(Pro), or you can just go ahead and get the lifetime deal at Magic Pages.
It seems like a no-brainer to me.
That'll set you up with hosting, unlimited subscribers, unlimited page views, your own domain, and 2,000 emails a month.
And there is a two-week trial period so you've got literally nothing to lost by trying them out.
Magic Pages Ghost Hosting
The Most Affordable Way to Host Your Ghost Site
What do you do after you've signed up for Magic Pages?
After you've signed up, you have two weeks to set it up and try it out. I'd also recommend that you subscribe to my newsletter. It's free, and I'm going to give you a lot of really good information to get started with.
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