Small business owners have a ton of responsibilities to think about. On top of staffing the shop, keeping on top of the books, and cleaning—there’s also marketing. How are you supposed to know the best ways to promote your brand?

Marketing your small business doesn’t have to feel like solving a jigsaw puzzle. There are certain activities your business can prioritize in your marketing plan in order to see real results. Here are the eight best marketing activities you should focus on for your small business. Incorporate these eight activities to get happier, more satisfied customers and start increasing your profitability.

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1. Collect Their Contact Information

If you’re not collecting your customers’ contact information in some way, you’re missing out on vital marketing opportunities. Collect and use their data to contact your customers at scale. 

Staying in communication with your audience keeps you at the top of their mind and can play a big part in bringing in their repeat business. Having two-way conversations with your customers is the key to connecting with them in a personal way, which will help your customers value your business.

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2. Welcome Them

Once you collect your customers’ contact information—whether that be their email or phone number—be sure to send them a welcome message of some kind. This lets your audience know that you’re thankful for their business and care about their experience with your company. A welcome message is an easy way to add a personal touch of warmth that will make consumers feel like more than just a transaction to your business. 

Statistics show that users who receive a welcome email are 33% more likely to engage with a brand. A short hello text message is a modern email example of saying thank you to your customers and welcoming them into your small business's audience. Stand out from the bigger corporations by letting your clients know that you’re present and excited to connect with them on a personal level.

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3. Segment Your Audience into Categories

Marketing is only effective if you’re sending information to the right audience. Categorize your audience’s contact information into subgroups based on their individual details. You can separate your contacts by gender, location, age, lifestyle, or interest and use these subgroups for distributing specific content. Collect as many details as you can from your clients and use this to serve them better. 

This marketing strategy allows you to ensure that you only send relevant information to the sector of your audience that wants to see it—which can lead to higher customer retention. Keep your contacts subscribed by caring about the type of content that they want to receive.

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4. Create Content

Content is a way for customers to learn about your small business. New products, background on your company, event information, and other details that your audience should know can be promoted through the content you create. Content can be distributed on a variety of platforms, from social media to Community’s platform that can be used for SMS marketing. Make content that allows your consumers to get a glimpse into who you are as a small business and what you can offer them. 

In the modern world, content is king. You can keep your audience engaged with photos of new products or tips on how to get the most out of a service that your business offers, for example. Creating intriguing content will keep people interested in supporting your small business.

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5. Have a Sale or Promotional Offer

Promotional offers are a great way to bring in new business. Everyone loves getting a deal! Many customers will wait to try out a new company or service until they see prices lowered. 

Additionally, hosting a sale will give you a reason to reach out and contact your audience, which keeps you at the top of their mind. Try out varying types of discounts and bundle deals to see which ones are the most successful in your community. 

Your clients will appreciate the chance to try out your products at less than full price, and you’ll get to bring in new business while moving your inventory. 

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6. Post-Sale Follow Up

When a customer completes a sale with your small business—that’s great! But the journey doesn’t end there. In order to encourage repeat business from a single member of your audience, you can use their sale as an opportunity to open up a continuing conversation. With text marketing, you can reach out and ask a variety of questions that will offer you valuable insight. 

Try asking how they like the product they purchased, how their service went, or if there are any other ways to support their needs. This post-sale follow-up will demonstrate your willingness to go the extra mile for your customers, and they’ll want to continue bringing you their business for treating them as more than just a dollar sign.  

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7. Host Local Community Events

In a recent survey, 68% of people said they want to continue to support local businesses in a post-pandemic market. As a small business, your community wants to support you. Hosting some type of local event in your community is a unique marketing advantage that small businesses have over the bigger competitor corporations. Get involved and make face-to-face connections with potential clients in your community.

Hosting and promoting a local event, fundraiser, or pop-up shop offers you two benefits: it gives your company a reason to reach out to your contact list. Plus the event itself is a great chance to build personal connections and interact with your customers. 

Promoting a local event is simple—all you need to do is segment your audience list by location or area code and send out a quick SMS message with Community to nearby subscribers. Encourage people to bring a friend and watch your business grow!

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8. Ask for Customer Feedback

A game-changing marketing strategy that you can implement is the practice of requesting feedback from your customers, then using what you receive to improve your client experience. 

This step can make all the difference between being a business that cares about its customer experience versus one that does not. One study on customer retention found that customer relationship management had a significant influence on overall customer satisfaction. Building a relationship with your audience starts with asking them about their opinions and experiences with your small business.

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Reviews

Encourage your customers to leave reviews for your business as a way of not only getting their honest feedback but also helping naturally market your company via word of mouth. Good reviews are a low-effort way to bring in new business, just simply from providing a positive customer journey to your existing clients. 

In addition to the marketing benefit of reviews, you’ll also be able to see what people are honestly thinking about your products, staff, and overall company. 

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Polls

The beauty of polls is that they can be short and quick, with predetermined answers that users can simply pick without typing out a full reply. With your Community number, it’s easy to send polls directly to your customers’ phones, collecting instant and valuable feedback. 

Ask your audience to cast votes by replying with an emoji or a letter; then you can use this data to help you develop your next product or plan your next event. You can even try asking a simple “yes” or “no” question, like if they’d recommend your business to their friends. 

The feedback you get from a simple poll can be an invaluable asset to the future of your business, not to mention a super easy marketing strategy.

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Surveys

Ask customers if they are willing to participate in a survey. Surveys are usually slightly longer than a poll. With a longer survey, you can ask open-ended questions that can gather detailed data from users. As a small business owner, you can then use this collected information to see which areas you can improve on, whether your client experience, product quality, or anywhere else. 

Offering a survey to your audience is a way to reassure them that there is, in fact, a real human being on the other side of the screen that will be reading and considering their answers. It’s a great way to bring authenticity to your community relationships and increase customer retention.

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Final Thoughts

Marketing your small business doesn’t have to be a struggle. There are some key pieces to the marketing puzzle that can greatly improve your visibility and customer retention. Being a small business offers you a certain amount of leverage by positioning you within the community. Learn to use that leverage to your advantage.

You can build stronger, more personal connections with your customer base by asking for their feedback, hosting local events or pop-up shops, and offering special promotions. Communicate with your audience, both on an individual level and at scale, to keep them in the loop on your small business’s latest news. 

SMS marketing through Community offers you a direct way to connect with your customers and notify them instantly of the relevant news they’ll care about. Make meaningful connections with your audience and care about their experience to achieve the best marketing for your small business.

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Sources:

21 Best Welcome Email Examples to Engage Customers in 2020 | Getvero.com 

Consumers Want to Support Their Local Economy by Supporting Local Businesses, According to a Survey by ZypMedia | PRNewswire.com 

(PDF) Pillars of customer retention: An empirical study on the influence of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, customer profitability on customer retention | Researchgate.com