Marketing for small business

When is the best time to spend some of your hard earned cash on marketing your small business?

• Right at the beginning?
• Wait until you are short of customers?
• When you are really busy?
• Just before you are about to go bankrupt?
• When your competitors do?
• When you have time to squeeze it in?

All of the above are correct. We see many businesses that come to us for help to rescue them – they are desperate for new business, when things were ticking along nicely they did not see the need to spend on marketing – after all, they may not have plans to expand and employ more staff or become a big multinational, or maybe they do!

As small business owner’s wear many hats they are unable to keep doing everything all the time, when they have no work they may do some marketing, this might bring a few customers in so they then spend the time working for those customers. They do not market as they do not have time so when the work is complete they are left with no new customers again – the small business owner is caught in a viscous circle they cannot seem to break.

When they have time to market again their reputation has slipped, they are nowhere to be seen in the search engines, people do not know about them, social channels are blank, and in today’s fast paced internet world that is a recipe for disaster.

Another area often forgotten is the existing customer base. Keeping them informed of changes in your industry, news from your company and even your opinions can mean they remember you and let others know about you too. If you have other services that might be of interest then these can be included in communications. It is a well-known fact that it is cheaper to sell more to existing customers than spend money generating new customers.

Our top 5 tips for keeping your small business afloat:

• Keep marketing on a small scale all year round.
• It is harder to fight your way back up the search engines than maintain a good position – keep SEO at the top of your list.
• Social media channels should be keep active.
• Special campaigns can be run if you need extra revenue or find you have time to service more clients.
• Maintain contact and communications with existing customers.

If you would like assistance with marketing your small business then drop us a call and have a chat. We have packages to suit all business types and industries.

Hook Solutions – Ethical marketing for small business in the UK. 01747 830965.