By Small and medium sized businesses form a large segment of the Canadian business landscape. These businesses are owner driven and mostly family-owned. Some have been in operation for over a century, while some are startups, that have been set up by young college graduates who have a great idea.
No matter what the industry in which these SMBs operate, one challenge facing them always is the competition from large enterprises and the scale at which they operate. SMBs have their own unique customer base and they need to continuously nurture it with an effective marketing strategy in consultation with a professional PPC Management Company.
Table of Contents
Set business goals and assign a priority to goals
A business might have many goals – increasing number of customers, introducing a new product, spreading awareness about a new branch, exciting new offers for Christmas or Easter and so on. Then there might be goals that are also important, but not main. These can be classified as secondary goals. A PPC management company helps SMBs prioritize their goals and builds a strategy to achieve these.
Make use of Google’s local offerings
Google has specific offerings for local businesses. These offerings enable local businesses to establish an online presence easily and get an edge over their competition that is not online. With the help of Google My Business Account, SMBs are able to use powerful tools to advertise their business and share their address, phone number, website, and hours of operation. Google equips SMBs to combine all Google platforms, that include Google reviews, Google Maps profile, and many more and make their business more credible and visible.
Identify the best social media platform
SMBs need not focus on all social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit or Pinterest. Due to limited manpower and resource it does not make good economic sense. Therefore, they should identify the top channel with whom their customers engage and then use that channel for all their social and brand building activities.
Build a content marketing strategy
To achieve long term benefits, it is best to build a content marketing strategy by sharing with your audience content that is relevant, consistent and valuable. Blog posts, videos, podcasts and interviews are excellent samples that your customers would like to see. The key here is to use high quality graphics and ensure connectivity with your target audience, so that they keep coming back to your site.
Start an email marketing campaign
Build a good contact list of your customers. Use a CRM software to mention the attributes of your customers and target them with high quality personalized emails informing them of upcoming promotional offers, service camps, sales and new range. Share with them interesting news pieces that would be relevant and interesting for them.
Start a blog post
Create a blog
Start a blog on your website and update it with regular information such as milestones achieved, latest news, collaborations or upcoming events. A blog is also an interesting place to market your brand and show how good your product is.
Establish thought leadership
Share interesting ideas and viewpoints with peers in your industry and even with customers. This establishes your brand and positions you as a thought leader who know about his industry. You can do this by conducting webinars, YouTube tutorials and local conferences.
Build an SEO strategy
Engage a PPC Management company and build a long-term SEO strategy and set aside a budget for a Google Adwords campaign. This is especially helpful for SMBs who are looking for that initial thrust to propel them in the marketplace and build a solid position for themselves.
Conclusion
SMBs face numerous challenges, but with a good marketing strategy then can establish their own unique niche in the market and bring out their USP in front of their customers.
