Small business marketing 101: Four ways to generate more customers online

Generating new customers online is challenging for any small business. This article explores four ways to set your small business up for a digital marketing success story and begin generating more customers.

Let me guess, running your small business is looking a little like juggling Business Development with Account Management, Finance with Marketing and Customer Support with, well… everything else. And that’s on top of figuring out who you actually are as a business. Not to mention still having time for the other areas in your life. Round of applause to you parent business owners 👏

Sound about right? 

We totally get it and you’re certainly not alone. Growing a business with a small team is difficult. 

When we talk to our clients about growing their business through digital campaigns, it often comes down to assessing how well they’re already performing in a handful of areas. Before even talking about what comes next.

Here we outline just 4 of those areas, that if effective, will put you in good stead for growing your customer base through paid media. 

1. Getting the foundations right

This is about recognising where you are right now. There is little point investing in an effective marketing strategy, and driving traffic to all the ‘right’ places, if the business isn’t set up with the end in mind. The result will just be capped. There are so many horror stories of agencies going gung-ho with your ad spend, and generating next to no conversions, purely because it’s the wrong traffic, with the wrong ads, driving to the wrong destination. 

Some thinking behind this should go towards:

Brand 

Ensuring your branding is accurate for WHO you are as a business and WHAT you stand for is critical. If you’re a high ticket business with a significant order value, having your business narrative and identity as anything other than perfect, just won’t do. Consumers need to feel that what you are selling, makes sense with how you’re interpreted by the market.

Consistency

People think. They aren’t robots that flow perfectly through a funnel and convert without any thought for what they’re doing. At least the majority don’t, you always have a perfect sally that’s hassle free since 2003. But, typically they look at you, your competitors, your social proofing and gradually decide. If you’re selling 80p sweets these touch-points are far less important, because the barriers to convert will be much less. But, unfortunately we don’t work with many sweet brands, we like slightly more impactful businesses like yours… (although that could be quite fun 💭 )

Your website 

Directing the M25 traffic into a cul-de-sac is going to get messy, and you’ll have a nightmare on your hands. It’s the same with your website. Pushing 1000s of potential consumers to your site through targeted campaigns, is entirely possible. But if the destination isn’t optimised to do what you want, then you really are wasting money. Even more detrimental in the long run, you’re wasting their time. Make sure your platform is built with the goal in mind, and looks the part.

2. Knowing who’s who

When was the last time you asked yourself who your ideal customer is? We’re talking details here, can you actually describe them; How old are they? Are they male or female? Where do they live? What are they doing on the weekend? 

When you really get into the detail of your audience, and you know they’re the ones that convert (normally based on existing client data), targeting them becomes a whole lot easier. Everything is then focused on that communication and building credibility with that audience. 

If Helen is a 52 year old business leader from Oxfordshire with two kids, who works for a non-profit organisation, loves horse riding every Saturday morning and she’s the perfect customer (by the way, the perfect customer doesn’t mean the one that spends the most money, but that’s another topic), then let’s go find your Helen.

3.   Be ruthless with social media

Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest… the list goes on. How can you manage engaging content on all of these platforms as a small business owner, when you’re expected to do everything else and more? Without partnering with agencies like us (*cough cough, you probably should) you really have to focus. You can’t build an audience across them all, it will drain you. Knowing where your potential customers are, and building your brand awareness through that platform is a good place to start. Think of your funnel, what’s going to be most effective at the top? The rest comes down to strategy and consistency. *Spoiler alert… this takes time*

Oh, and by the way, followers doesn’t mean bigger or better business. Be careful with the trap of thinking more is actually.. you know.. more.

4.   Build your email community 

Email is powerful, and it’s not disappearing anytime soon. One of the main reasons why small businesses use email to build an audience, is because its direct and it’s yours, meaning you own it. No conglomerate can take away your email database in the same way Instagram can remove your account, or Facebook hide your page.

This enables you to build a rich community of potential customers, like-minded individuals or just people interested in hearing from you. That’s huge for brand loyalty. Now throw in some great storytelling and that’s a recipe for steady growth.

The downside? ACTUALLY building one. Giving away your email nowadays is like sharing your phone number. It’s your safe space that you really don’t want clogging up. Especially now everyone is WFH, the privacy of your data, and not being pestered by spam is more precious than ever, it’s like gold dust. There’s nothing worse than getting a notification at 8 pm on the sofa, and it’s Groupon telling you about the 35% off Sketchers deal is back on. So remember, the value you provide must be top notch when you’re firing emails to personal accounts.  

And finally, just be social. People forget that social media is about people. As we said earlier, we’re not robots, there is a happy chappy behind the accounts you see online, or on the phone, or behind the computer, talk to them and build those relationships. It’s that authenticity which will help a small business become a bigger one. That and speaking to agencies like us that will help along the way. 

We’re super people focused, we like a coffee and a chat. So here’s how to set one up with us:

✅ Click here and drop us line

✅ Email josh@blueberry-media.co.uk

✅ Or just go on our social media pages: normally Linkedin