10 marketing strategies for small businesses

Marketing strategies help businesses raise brand awareness, introduce new products and/or services to the market, and grow. 

Whether you’ve just launched your company and feel clueless about where to begin, or you run a two-year-old start-up and need advice on how to do this effectively, we explore 10 marketing strategies for you to try.

1. Social media

Social media is an essential marketing tool for small businesses. We say this for two main reasons: firstly, that’s where your customers are, and secondly, many of its marketing features are completely free. 

So, how do you win on social media nowadays? More importantly, how can a small business win on social media? 

We recommend automating as many of your social media processes as possible. This will make managing multiple channels much easier, scheduling content, and seeing your campaign results clearly and cohesively. 

Management tools like Hootsuite and Sendible make this incredibly easy, with a simple user interface and free tools to help your business grow. 

Once you’ve found an app that you like, follow these essential social media etiquettes to get the most out of your social media marketing strategy: 

• Share posts regularly and often
• Plan and schedule your content in advance
• Engage promptly with your followers 
• Tap into relevant trends to get your brand noticed
• Sell your products/services via suitable channels (like TikTok Shop)
• Check your analytics to enhance future posts

The above are basic guidelines. To set your business apart, it’s also essential to incorporate your brand identity into your social media marketing strategy. This could be a particular tone of voice (TOV) your business uses, or your unique design style. Gentle humour is generally well-received too, like this post from Monzo. 

2. Run a competition

Competitions are a win-win marketing strategy for small businesses. Everyone loves a freebie, so why not run a competition and give your customers a chance to win one of your products or services? In turn, you’d get your products into people’s hands and generate valuable consumer engagement. 

There are many different types of competitions that you can run, such as:

Sign up to win

A simple competition model you could find effective is a traditional ‘sign up to win’. You can advertise this type of competition on your website, social media channels, or via email marketing. 

Simply ask your audience to follow a link to a sign-up form and enter their details to be entered to win a prize. The quick and easy process will incentivise people to enter (given that the prize is worthwhile) and lets you capture valuable user data for future marketing strategies. 

Comment to win

A popular social media contest is ‘comment to win’. To run this competition, you’d need to advertise your giveaway in a post and ask followers to enter by leaving a comment. 

You could opt for a simple message, like ‘comment your favourite emoji’ or ‘tag a friend’. Or you could encourage greater interaction by asking users questions and instructing them to post their answers in the comments. 

These competitions can even have several instructions, such as ‘like and share this post’. However, we recommend making the entry criteria as quick and simple as possible, to avoid discouraging people from entering. 

Quizzes/trivia

Sharing a quiz is a more fun and interactive marketing strategy. Again, you can host this competition on various channels, asking participants to answer a few (up to 10) short and relatively easy questions.

Not only does this prompt engagement in an entertaining way, but it also allows you to gather insights into a specific topic, by tailoring the quiz questions. 

Feel free to explore different competition styles to find a marketing strategy that works for you. Whichever option you choose, remember to adhere to the Data Protection Act 2018 when gathering participants’ personal details. 

3. Enhance and optimise your website

Assuming you already have a website up and running, enhancing it with high-quality, helpful content is a crucial marketing strategy. For example, add a list of FAQs to give visitors quick answers to common questions about your business. 

Or if you haven’t introduced any blogs yet, you should publish them on your site regularly. The aim is to provide your target audience with useful and relevant information, showcasing your brand as trustworthy and authoritative. 

Once your website is populated with rich content, you must optimise it for SEO (search engine optimisation). SEO is increasing your visibility and authority on search engines using specific content techniques. Here are some of the key SEO techniques:

• Distribute keywords and phrases evenly across your content
• Break up large blocks of written content with relevant images and/or videos
• Embed links to other relevant websites or sources that readers might be interested in
• Improve readability with short sentences and paragraphs
• Keep the meta description below 155 characters

If you’re new to SEO, getting the hang of it will take some practice. However, it’s a straightforward process once you’re familiar with the basics.

As a small business owner, you’re most likely strapped for time as it is. So, if you’re clueless about SEO practices, temporarily outsourcing this job to a freelancer might be worthwhile, to ensure that your marketing strategy doesn’t fall short. You can find affordable and trusted freelancers on Fiverr.

4. Create a Google Business profile

Google Business Profile is a free offering from Google where you can list your business on Google and have important business information displayed to users on the search engine results page. It is an essential marketing strategy for customer-facing businesses. A Google Business profile is a summary of the key details your target audience needs to know about your small business, such as your name, location, operating hours, and contact information. 

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Your profile should be complete (you’ll see a percentage score for this on your dashboard), feature your exact business name (without any key or additional words/phrases), and it should express the nature of your business (for example, accountant or beauty salon). 

An up-to-date profile on Google is an essential marketing strategy for small businesses. It allows people to discover you when searching for similar businesses, products, or services. 

It’s also excellent for SEO, meaning you’re more likely to appear in the top Google Maps results. That way, your future customers have a better chance of finding your business and purchasing from you. 

5. Email marketing

You might not have a very long list of subscribers yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t leverage email marketing as a small business. On the contrary, email marketing is a great way to share company news, exciting promotions and build customer relationships. 

To grow your email list, you can:

• Add a newsletter sign-up function to your website
• Invite shoppers to unlock a discount on your products/services when they sign up
• Run competitions (as we’ve discussed)

Then, focus on creating email marketing campaigns that convert. The essential elements of a successful email include:

• A short, relevant, and captivating subject line
• An eye-catching and user-friendly design that expresses your brand identity
• On-brand content that the reader will find genuinely useful
• A prominent call-to-action (CTA)

Don’t be afraid to experiment with your email marketing strategy, to ensure that your brand’s personality comes through, while remaining focused on your marketing goal. Finally, track your performance to see what worked and what needs improving, and optimise future campaigns accordingly.

6. Attend networking events

Marketing is not only about connecting with consumers, but also with other businesses. The ultimate goal is to promote your brand; networking is a great way to do this. 

Before attending an event, be sure to have a confident elevator pitch ready, in case the opportunity to present it arises. This pitch is your main marketing strategy in this scenario. 

Of course, that opportunity might not always arise, but if it does, you should deliver your pitch naturally, without sounding overly rehearsed or forced. This will allow your audience to connect with your character and make your business memorable. 

Even if you don’t get the chance to pitch, networking has many benefits, such as building relationships and sharing valuable knowledge. These are also great ways to educate others about your business and form professional connections that could be valuable for your company’s long-term growth. 

And remember to always have a few business cards in your pocket, ready to hand out. This way, you can continue meaningful conversations beyond the event and keep your brand in people’s minds. 

To find a networking event near you, we recommend using Eventbrite. Simply search for ‘networking’ and specify your location, and you’ll find hundreds of results – many of which are free.

7. Enter industry awards

Entering industry awards is another excellent marketing strategy for small businesses. Many are free to enter, and even if you don’t win, simply being shortlisted can be extremely powerful for promoting your business to new customers and boosting your credibility. 

Whether you’re a winner or a runner-up, you will typically be featured on the organiser’s website, communication channels, and in PR materials. You will also receive a digital logo to showcase your accomplishments (often called trust badges). 

Be sure to display this logo on your website, social media, product pages, and in PR opportunities, to maximise your brand’s credibility and shout about your achievements.

By entering relevant industry awards, you can market your small business as trustworthy and successful, which can help instil confidence in your customers, investors, and future business partners. 

8. Ask friends and family to help

A simple marketing strategy, but one that’s easily overlooked, is asking friends and family for help. They’re likely to know your business well already, putting them in an ideal position to introduce and promote it to others. 

Depending on what you do or sell, chances are they’ve also tried your products or services first-hand, making them valuable customers who can share their experiences and testimonials.

If they need guidance, give them a stack of business cards, flyers, or any other marketing material you might have, and simply ask them to hand them out to friends and colleagues. 

Asking your loved ones for help won’t cost you anything, and it will equip you with a larger army of advocates to recommend your business to those who may not have known about it otherwise. 

9. Try referral marketing

You’ll be surprised how many times a satisfied customer is happy to recommend your business to others, if they’re pleased with their experience. Benefit from this and turn happy customers into an effective marketing strategy by creating a referral scheme. 

You must choose an appropriate incentive to launch a successful referral scheme. This doesn’t have to be a high-ticket item, but should be desirable enough to convince your existing customers to get their friends to shop with you. 

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For example, an introductory offer for the referee and, say, 50% off on the existing customer’s next order. Whichever referral model you choose, run a thorough cost analysis to ensure that your chosen freebie is financially viable for your business. 

Then, you’ll need to advertise your referral programme. You could do this via a dedicated email send-out, SMS communication, social media promotions, offline materials, or various techniques. And don’t forget to shout about the offer on your website. 

An attractive offer, coupled with the right promotional tools, can make referrals an effective marketing strategy for boosting sales, growing your customer base, and creating noise around your brand.  

10. Automate your marketing strategies

Running a small business can be very full-on, and as we mentioned earlier, you’re probably short on time as it is. The good news is that you can streamline your processes and market your business effectively, by taking advantage of automation tools – and there are plenty out there to explore. 

Here are some of our top picks:

• Social media: Hootsuite and Sendible (mentioned earlier) can help automate your social media marketing strategies. You can schedule posts weeks – or months – in advance, share posts across multiple channels in one place, and use integrated AI support. 
• Email marketing: For your next email marketing campaign, try Mailchimp, HubSpot, or Moosend. These platforms allow you to create and manage targeted, engaging emails to help boost all your key metrics, like revenue, conversion, and clicks. 
• Content and SEO: Try Google Console or Yoast SEO for automated assistance with your SEO. 
• Marketing analytics: Manage and adapt your marketing strategies using analytics tools like Google Analytics and Semrush.  

As a small business owner, we recommend making the most of automation tools. They can simplify your operations and make marketing more manageable in the start-up phase. 

So, there you have it – marketing strategies for small businesses

It can be tricky for a small business to enter the market successfully. With such a wide range of marketing strategies to explore, it can be an overwhelming process for a new founder. 

However, whether you’re a solopreneur or have a small team behind you, we hope you found this article helpful in identifying suitable marketing strategies for growing your small business. If you have any questions or comments about this topic, please post them below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.