Small business survival is all about collaboration, support and working together. Problems small businesses face with their marketing are more common than you think. Ophidia Marketing have put together some marketing tips designed to help all those in small business. Watch this space for regular advice.

Marketing Tips on Strategy

Have you got a business plan with clear business objectives and goals?
If the answer if no, then there is no point developing a marketing strategy.
A marketing strategy articulates how you are going to achieve your business objectives and goals through marketing.
If you don’t know where you are heading, how can marketing get you there?

Marketing Tips

Marketing Tips on Targeting

As a small business you are unlikely to be adopting mass market marketing activities such as TV advertising.
Target marketing is going to get your far closer to your client with far less spend.
A common mistake small businesses make is to try and cast their net too wide. In other words target too many people.
Marketing messages then don’t resonate with the target market and the communication gets lost.
Be very clear within your business on who you want to target, keep it narrow and focused (it can always change in time).
You will find that you get a far better response when all your communication is targeted at a key audience who really need your product or service.

Marketing Tips on Content Marketing

Think of content marketing like a computer dating service! The dating agency collect information on likes and dislikes of potential couples and match them so that they will be a great fit. Content marketing is like that! Your content answers exactly what the potential client is looking for. It is targeted, it is problem / solution driven, and it is relevant! Again this all comes back to being very focussed on your target market and their needs.

Marketing Tips on Campaign Success

One of the most vital steps in any marketing campaign is to measure its success. How can you tell if a campaign has been successful if it isn’t measured? Google Analytics is a great tool to measure your campaigns success whether it is on or offline. If you web hits and enquiries have increased during a campaign (on or off line) then you know its working. Don’t forget ask callers where they got your details from too and track sales.

Marketing Tips on Positioning

Positioning follows on from targeting. How are you going to position your product or service to attract your target market?
What problem are you solving for them, what’s in it for them? The reason why not how great your company or product is.
This will shape your positioning statements, straplines and key messages.