Top 5 Marketing Strategies: A Basic Guide for Small Business Owners

Without a plan, your marketing efforts will likely feel scattered and ineffective. A marketing strategy helps you set clear goals, identify your target audience, and outline the tactics you’ll use to reach them. It gives you direction and helps you allocate your resources wisely, whether that’s time, money, or manpower.

But, let’s be honest. Marketing your business effectively is often a pain point for many small business owners and entrepreneurs. Should you focus on social media, or is print advertising a better choice? With so many options available, where should you put your efforts to scale up or get your product in front of the right audience?

Continue reading for the answers to these questions. We’ll break down the best marketing strategies step-by-step so you can accelerate your business growth.

People use social media for 2 hours and 23 minutes a day on average. It is one of the best ways for businesses to connect with their audience. Here’s how to get started:

Start by creating dedicated business profiles on the platforms that best align with your target audience. Each social media platform provides a distinct advantage for your business. Facebook and Instagram are popular because they reach a lot of people and let you target specific audiences, with over 200 million businesses on Meta Apps. Twitter or X works well for real-time conversations with your customers, while LinkedIn is great for B2B marketing and reaching professionals. Twitch also presents an opportunity for live engagement and community building. Learn more about its business benefits in our blog on Why Should You Use Twitch for Business?.

Plan your posts ahead of time by creating a weekly or monthly content calendar. A mix of product features, customer stories, and interactive posts like polls or Q&As can engage your audience.

As your business expands, it might be beneficial to hire a social media manager. Approximately 78% of companies have a dedicated team for social media. A social media manager can streamline your posting schedule, handle audience engagement, and track analytics, freeing you up to focus on other aspects of your business, such as managing finances and daily operations.

High-quality visuals and videos are essential for capturing attention. Use graphic design tools like Canva for creating visually appealing posts and Capcut for basic video editing. Both tools offer free plans, making them cost-effective options for small businesses working with tight budgets.

Consider incorporating live streaming to enhance engagement. For tips on using live streaming to boost your business, check out our blog on How to Use Facebook Live to Boost Your Business.

Now, you might get confused: Isn’t social media marketing also about content?

While social media marketing and content marketing often overlap, they serve different purposes. Social media marketing focuses on engaging with your audience in real-time through social media platforms for quick interactions and brand awareness. On the other hand, content marketing takes a long-term approach, using valuable content like blogs, eBooks, and videos to educate and build trust over time. Both strategies can work together, with social media driving traffic to content and content enriching your social media presence.

Regularly publishing blog posts on your website can significantly boost your SEO and provide valuable information to your audience. Choose topics that answer common questions your customers have or address their pain points. For example, if you run a digital marketing agency, you might write posts about "how to use SEO for small businesses" or "tips for effective email marketing." This not only helps establish your expertise but also drives organic traffic to your site.

Another good idea is to create evergreen content that is designed to stay relevant and useful long after it’s published. This includes guides, how-to articles, and foundational resources about your products or services. For instance, a comprehensive guide on "How to Start an E-commerce Business" remains relevant for new entrepreneurs year after year. This type of content continues to attract and engage readers, providing ongoing value and building your brand’s credibility.

According to HubSpot, blog posts with 2,000+ words tend to receive more shares and engagement. Long-form content allows you to explore topics in greater detail, offering in-depth insights and establishing your authority on the subject.

Tools like Google Analytics can help you track which content pieces drive the most traffic and conversions, enabling you to refine your content strategy based on real data.

Short-form videos are becoming increasingly popular, with 90% of marketers using them planning to either boost or sustain their investment in this content type. These videos are effective for quickly capturing attention and conveying messages in a digestible format. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels are perfect for this type of content, allowing you to engage your audience with creative and concise videos.

Does this mean that long-form videos are not good? Not at all. Long-form videos still have their place and can be highly effective, especially for in-depth tutorials, detailed product reviews, or comprehensive discussions. They allow you to provide substantial value with deeper content, often leading to engagement for more complex subjects. The choice between short-form and long-form videos should be guided by your content goals and audience preferences.

To maximize your content’s reach, share it not only on social media but also through email marketing and other distribution channels. Promote your blog posts and articles on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to drive traffic and engage with a broader audience. Additionally, consider incorporating content in your email newsletters to keep your subscribers informed and interested.

Despite being one of the oldest digital marketing strategies, email marketing continues to be highly effective. It allows businesses to communicate directly with their audience in a personal and targeted manner. Here’s how you can leverage email marketing to boost your business:

Duolingo exemplifies effective email marketing by sending witty and engaging emails that not only promote their products but also entertain their subscribers. Their emails often include humorous content, interactive elements, and exclusive offers, which helps keep their audience interested and engaged.

Attracting organic traffic to your website is the goal of search engine optimisation, ensuring that it ranks high on Google and other search engines. In this strategy, you make it easier for potential customers to discover your business. Here’s how to effectively implement SEO strategies:

For a detailed guide on setting up a website with optimised content, check out our blog on How to Make a Website with WordPress.

PPC advertising is an effective way to drive targeted traffic to your website by bidding for placement on search engines and social media platforms. With PPC, you pay only when someone clicks on your ad, making it a cost-efficient way to reach potential customers. Given that about one-third of consumers search for local businesses online daily, and 60% do so at least once a week, PPC can be a powerful tool for attracting new customers.

The best example of smart keyword targeting is Snickers' clever PPC campaign. Teaming up with AMV BBDO and Google, Snickers created a massive list of 25,381 misspelled versions of popular search terms. This unique approach led to 558,589 ad impressions in just two days. With a click-through rate of 1.05%, the campaign attracted 5,874 visitors to their mini website, yourenotyouwhenyourehungry.com. This shows how creative and precise keyword targeting can really boost your ad visibility and engagement.

Monitor the performance of your PPC campaigns using analytics tools like Google Ads Editor. Evaluate metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and return on investment (ROI). Based on these insights, adjust your bids, targeting, or ad copy to enhance effectiveness.

Measuring your marketing success is crucial for understanding what’s working and where improvements are needed. Here's how to compute key metrics that provide insights into your performance:

Tracking website traffic helps you understand how many people are visiting your site as a result of your marketing efforts.

For example, using Google Analytics, you can see the number of unique visitors to your website after a campaign. If you notice a spike in traffic, you can attribute this to specific marketing activities like email newsletters or social media posts.

Conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your website, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

For example, if 50 out of 1,000 visitors made a purchase, your conversion rate would be: (50 / 1000) x 100 = 5%

Industry-wide, the average landing page conversion rate is 2.35%, but the best-performing websites have rates as high as 5.31%. Regularly monitoring this metric helps you see how effective your marketing efforts are in turning traffic into sales.

ROI helps you understand the profitability of your marketing campaigns by comparing the revenue generated to the amount spent on the campaign.

For example, if you spent $500 on a Facebook Ads campaign and generated $2,000 in sales, the ROI would be:
ROI = [(2000 - 500) / 500] x 100 = 300%

This means your campaign generated a 300% return on your investment. According to Website Builder Expert, companies that regularly measure their marketing ROI are 1.6 times more likely to secure higher budgets for future campaigns.

Customer engagement measures how actively your audience interacts with your content across platforms, such as social media likes, comments, shares, or email opens.

For example, if a Facebook post receives 150 likes, comments, and shares from 5,000 followers, the engagement rate would be:
(150 / 5000) x 100 = 3%

Based on the BusinessDIT report, customers who engage with your content spend 60% more per transaction. Additionally, engagement increases cross-sell revenue by 22% and upsell revenue by 38%. High engagement is a strong indicator of long-term customer retention and the effectiveness of your content.

While it’s useful to understand how to compute these metrics, you don’t have to do it manually. Tools like Google Analytics, Supermetrics, and Klaviyo offer built-in analytics that automatically track the important metrics of your marketing campaigns. These tools generate detailed reports that save you time and provide actionable insights.

Even the best marketers can make mistakes, and it’s important to recognise these pitfalls early to avoid wasting time, money, and effort. Here are some mistakes to avoid:

B2B companies should allocate roughly 2-5% of their revenue to marketing, while B2C companies should allocate slightly more, between 5-10%, according to BDC. It’s always recommended to start with a smaller budget and increase it as you see results from your campaigns.

It depends on your resources and expertise. Small businesses with limited budgets can start with DIY marketing and handle marketing in-house by using affordable tools like Canva for design, Mailchimp for email marketing, and Google Analytics for tracking. But, as your business grows, hiring a digital marketing agency might help you scale more effectively. This is a matter of priority and resources for your business.

SEO is a long-term strategy, and it typically takes 3-6 months to start seeing significant results. The key is consistency—publishing regular content and continually optimizing your site.

Start by conducting thorough market research, such as surveys and focus groups, to gather direct insights from potential customers. Analyse key demographic factors like age, gender, and income, alongside psychographics, which focus on your audience’s lifestyle, values, and interests. Combining this data will help you understand their purchasing behaviours and preferences, enabling you to create targeted and relevant marketing efforts.

Once you’ve gathered all the information, segment your audience based on geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioural factors. Develop buyer personas that reflect your ideal customers, and use tools like Google Analytics and social media insights to validate your findings. Make sure to always refine your understanding through testing and feedback, so you can ensure your marketing strategies resonate with the right audience.