Marketing is not optional, but essential for business success and growth. This is even more critical for small businesses, which lack exposure and reputation.
According to Exploding Topics, 22% of startups fail because of ineffective marketing strategy, not necessarily because of insufficient investment in marketing. Therefore, choosing the right marketing strategies can be critical to the success of your small business.
In this article, we will have a look at the 10 most effective marketing strategies that small businesses are using to attract and retain customers and grow their revenue, so you can find the one that suits your business the most.
What is a marketing strategy?
A marketing strategy is a roadmap of what you want to do to achieve your marketing goals. It defines the general approach to how you meet those goals. An effective marketing strategy explains not just what you’ll do, but why it matters. Choosing your marketing strategies is a prerequisite for developing your marketing plan.
1. Local SEO and Google Business Profile Optimization
According to Fit Small Business, 96% of people learn about local businesses through SEO. It’s not surprising that the number is so high. When people want something, what they do is they search for the product, service, or restaurant on Google. That’s why it is important to optimize your Google Business Profile if you want free traffic from Google.
Google Business Profile optimization involves providing accurate business information, high-quality photos, reviews, etc to help others know your small business and build trust without having to pay a visit to your physical store. Apart from that, optimizing your Business Profile will help you rank higher on Google, which means greater exposure.
For more tips about how to rank your small business higher on Google, there is no better guide than Google itself.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing relies on creating valuable content in the form of blog posts, videos, podcasts, case studies, e-books, and more to gain exposure and attract new customers. The most common form of content marketing is blog posts and articles. By creating a “how-to guide” and “the best” articles, small businesses can gain exposure, build trust, and at the same time, recommend their product or service in the articles.
Leveraging AI
Content marketing is one of the most affordable marketing strategies for small businesses, and it has never been easier since the emergence of generative AI. You can use Gemini, ChatGPT, or Claude AI to help you find interesting topics to write, create outlines, and draft your article.
However, content marketing may not be suitable for all types of businesses. If you are a small online business selling skincare products, you can write topics like “A Guide to Essential Oils for Skincare,” or “DIY Bath Bomb Recipes. But if you are running a local restaurant, you might want to hold back from sharing your secret recipe.
3. Email Marketing
Email marketing has the highest ROI with an average of $44 for every $1 spent. 80% of small businesses surveyed say that it is the most important tool for customer retention. The reason is that you can reach customers who are already interested in your business at a low cost and build a community through regular communication and engagement.
Before you can leverage email marketing, you will need to build a list of people who you can send emails to. This requires you to create a lead magnet, a valuable form in the form of e-books, templates, or more in exchange for your target audience’s information, in particular their emails.
Email marketing is an excellent marketing strategy for most small businesses to help build relationships while promoting their products, services, and events.
4. Referral Programs
Imagine that your favorite running shoe brand just told you that you can get paid for recommending their shoes to your friends, would you do it? The success of referral programs lies in the genuine enthusiasm of loyal customers and the inherent trust in recommendations from close connections.
Apart from that, referral programs often reward not just the referrer, but also the referred individuals. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, you get more customers, and your customers get additional benefits. Plus, referred customers are 37% more likely to stay with your brand and 4 times more likely to bring in new customers according to Invesp.
5. Strategic Partnerships and Cross-Promotion
Similar to how influencers collaborate, partnering with other complementary businesses is an effective strategy to grow your customer base. By partnering with other businesses, you both share your expertise, and resources and tap into each other’s customer networks.
Examples of strategic partnerships and cross-promotion:
A hotel offers a discount on car rentals to its guests, and the car rental company promotes the hotel to its customers.
An apparel brand partnering with another brand to create limited-edition clothing.
Just like other marketing strategies, partnerships are not without their challenges, with 60-65% of strategic partnerships failing due to various reasons such as unrealistic expectations, disagreements, and lack of trust. Therefore, clear, consistent, and collaborative communication is essential for success in strategic marketing.
6. Social Media Marketing
Smart Insights reported that 63.9% of the world’s population uses social media, with an average usage time of 2 hours and 21 minutes. Social media marketing is also the most utilized marketing strategy for small businesses to build brand awareness and find new customers according to Campaign Monitor.
It’s logical to present your business where there’s the most visibility. Social media has become a massive part of everyone’s life and if your target audience is on social media, you should definitely leverage the platforms.
Although social media marketing is getting increasingly competitive, small businesses are still able to achieve measurable success in social media marketing. They do this by leveraging user-generated content (UGC). The benefit of UGCs is that they are more real and genuine, which builds trust and incredibility, and they are more affordable than paying for ads.
7. Targeted Paid Advertising
While organic strategies provide long-term value, strategic paid advertising delivers immediate visibility. Paid advertisements are necessary to give your business an extra boost. When you have a clear understanding of your business strengths and your target audience, you should give paid advertising a chance, although it may not be the best strategy for small businesses with limited capital.
Running paid advertisements also requires testing and analysis. Putting thousands of dollars into campaigns without knowing if they’ll be effective is a costly gamble. Starting with a small test budget before scaling successful campaigns should be the right way to run advertisements if you are inexperienced. Additionally, identifying and focusing on the right platforms is the most effective way to maximize your reach.
Don’t be hesitant about running paid advertisements because of the potentially expensive costs. if it generates more than you invest, it’s a smart business decision. Measuring ROI and other metrics is the way of overcoming the fear of expensive advertisement costs.
8. Community Involvement
Creating a community is like creating a home for your customers who share the same passion to interact, exchange opinions, and engage with each other. According to Higher Logic Vanilla, having a community enhances customer experience, and increases loyalty and retention rates, which eventually leads to higher profits.
You can set up a Facebook group or Discord server, run contests and giveaways on social media platforms, and host in-person meetups and workshops, or charity events. Creating a community, whether online or offline, is a powerful way to connect with your audience and give them a home where they feel connected.
Starting marketing with one of the strategies today!
Don’t try to implement all these strategies simultaneously, it will be overwhelming and difficult to measure their effectiveness individually. Instead, select 2-3 approaches most aligned with your specific business goals, target audience, and available resources, and commit to consistent implementation for 3-6 months before evaluating results and making adjustments.
Ready to take your business to the next level? HubSpot’s free tools offer everything you need to attract more customers and grow your revenue. From CRM to marketing automation, see how HubSpot can transform your business. Start for free today!
