First of all, a big congratulations to you for following your passion and starting your own business! It’s an exciting journey and one that will undoubtedly teach you a lot of lessons along the way as you grow and develop throughout your entrepreneurial career.
While it can sometimes feel overwhelming where to start if you may not come from a marketing background, with questions running through your head such as “What platforms do I need?”, the ever popular “How do I get more followers?” and “What on earth is a TikTok”? But not to worry, that’s why we’re here to help at The Small Business Lounge!
- ESTABLISH A BRAND IDENTITY
A brand identity is important for a business for several reasons:
Differentiation: A strong brand identity sets a business apart from its competitors. It creates a unique image and reputation that customers can easily identify and remember.
Recognition: A consistent brand identity, including a recognizable logo, colour scheme, and messaging, helps customers identify a business and its products or services.
Trust: A professional and consistent brand identity helps build trust and credibility with customers, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.
Brand loyalty: A strong brand identity can create a sense of emotional attachment and loyalty among customers, which can lead to positive word-of-mouth advertising and referrals.
Cohesiveness: A well-defined brand identity helps ensure that all aspects of a business, from marketing materials to customer service, are consistent and aligned with the business’s overall goals and values.
- CONTENT IS KEY
Do not give up on advertising or marketing without ensuring your content is absolutely on point – you can’t blame the ad or the email without ensuring your content isn’t exceptional on the other end. It’s worth every penny to invest in stellar content because it helps you earn brand credibility with your audience, especially when you’re a new business! To create high-quality content for your small business, it’s crucial to understand your target audience, plan your content accordingly, focus on quality over quantity, use visuals, incorporate SEO best practices, be authentic, and track your content’s performance using analytics tools. By following these guidelines, you can create informative, engaging, and relevant content that reflects your brand’s voice, adds value to your audience, and drives business success.
- TONE OF VOICE
These three words are integral to your marketing strategy. How are you going to speak to your customer? Are you bold? Are you playful? Are you happy to use emojis in your captions? While it may sound trivial, these things help your customer better understand who you are as a brand and what you stand for.
- PAID ADVERTISING
Organic is great in a fairy-tale world, but sadly, to cultivate your audience, sometimes it pays off to pay for it. Well, that’s what Meta and Google ads are for, and boy do they work. Meta ads are a visual tool great for brand storytelling and awareness, while Google Ads are for the customer with intent who is already on the hunt to find you.
- STAY IN THE LOOP & TRY, TRY TRY
The beauty of digital is that there are updates, new platforms, and new features all of the time. Sign up to varying digital marketing blogs and websites and stay on the pulse with whatever’s the latest and greatest on the scene. Oftentimes new features on social will be featured before the traditional avenues ex. Reels got a lot more screen time than static posts and videos when they first launched, so you might get lucky and catch someone’s attention by going for whatever might seem a bit new and strange to begin with.
And if it ever seems a bit too daunting and you thought DM stood for “done mate!”, that’s why we’re here to help. At TSBL, we have a small and extremely passionate team of marketing managers who love what we do, and we love to help businesses like yours! Get in touch today for a free discovery session to find out how we can help your business grow to new heights!