Your Marketing Playbook: 10 Tactics Every Business Needs
- Small businesses want to enhance their marketing efforts and attract more customers without requiring a substantial financial investment. It can be done! Here are ten topics about advertising, marketing, and acquiring more customers without breaking the bank. We’ll discuss each of them in greater detail in the coming weeks one at a time.
- Maintain Visual Brand Consistency: Resources and tools for creating professional-looking graphics, logos, and visual content to maintain a dependable brand image across various marketing channels.
- Leverage Outreach Efforts: Local targeting and customer outreach are vital for businesses looking to attract customers within their geographic area. Many low-cost, high-reward options are available.
- Optimize Your Website: Ensuring excellent user experience (UX) on a website is crucial for businesses, especially in this age where consumers expect seamless, responsive, and intuitive online interactions.
- Develop Excellent Marketing Material: Strategies to build an email list, craft compelling newsletters, and update your sales literature and processes to nurture leads and convert them into customers.
- Execute Social Media Marketing Strategies: Guidance on leveraging platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, etc., effectively to reach a wider audience and engage potential customers.
- Implement Content Marketing on a Budget: Tips on creating valuable and engaging content such as blogs, videos, or podcasts that resonate with the target audience without requiring a huge investment.
- Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Techniques to improve website visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) organically, driving more traffic without spending on ads.
- Employ SEM: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a crucial aspect of digital marketing for businesses, particularly for increasing online visibility, driving website traffic, and generating leads or sales.
- Engage the Targeted Community: Ideas for promoting the business within the local community through events, sponsorships, collaborations, and grassroots or ‘influencer’ marketing efforts.
- Track Analytics and Performance: Use free or affordable analytics tools for your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to monitor marketing efforts, measure ROI, and optimize strategies for better results over time.
Yes, SEM absolutely deserves its own spotlight! It’s not some overlooked, red-headed stepchild of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I can say that—I used to be a redhead. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a powerful tool for driving targeted leads and sales through your website. Done right, it delivers quick results, precise targeting, increased visibility, and an impressive ROI (return on investment). So, what exactly is SEM? It’s all about boosting a website’s visibility on search engine results pages through paid advertising. Think of it as giving your business a front-row seat in the dynamic marketplace of search engines. SEM generally encompasses two key strategies: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising : Here you bid on keywords relevant to your products or services. When users search for those terms on platforms like Google or Bing, your ads can appear right at the top of the results, catching reader’s attention even before organic listings. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad—hence, “pay-per-click.” Display Advertising : While PPC focuses on text, display advertising takes a more visual route. This involves placing eye-catching banners or interactive ads on websites within networks like Google Display. By targeting specific demographics, interests, or even particular websites, you can get your ad message in front of the right audience at the right time. At 1Vision, SEM is as much art as science. We start with in-depth keyword research to uncover high-value search terms tailored to your business. Then, we craft custom campaigns that target demographics, interests, and locations. Our Digital Media Specialist closely watches performance metrics, tweaking bids and strategies to ensure your budget works as hard as possible. Whether your goal is brand awareness, website traffic, or lead generation, there are SEM techniques that can help. Over time, SEM can feel like a trusted and productive member of the marketing family.
Growing up, we didn’t really have a budget—we had a father. Requests for frivolous items or fleeting joys (no matter how much I begged for candy) were met with a sympathetic smile and a gentle pat on the head. Looking back, I realize dad was teaching me the value of deferred gratification and the art of managing resources wisely. Perhaps that’s also where I learned the importance of investing in what truly matters. In today’s world, content is king, and creating impactful content requires the same discipline my father had: focusing on what’s essential and resisting the temptation to let distractions drain time and money. To clarify, I define “content” as any media that communicates a message. This includes blogs (like this one), podcasts, social media posts, websites, videos, and ads. The best content reveals something genuine about its creator, leaving the audience feeling like they know them better after engaging with it. Great content is relevant, original, authentic, engaging, and actionable. It should inspire the audience to act while resonating with their needs and interests. Informative blog posts, entertaining videos, or engaging podcasts can be developed with creativity and expertise, capturing attention and driving action. Importantly, you don’t need an extravagant budget to create meaningful content. By using cost-effective distribution channels and repurposing content across multiple platforms, you can amplify your message and maximize your reach without overspending. It’s a great mentor/parent lesson: prioritize what matters most, focus your efforts, and invest wisely. Whether in managing a family’s finances or creating communications content, the principle remains the same.
Successful companies do. Successful companies typically allocate a growing percentage of their total revenue towards marketing and advertising expenses. Is that self-serving advice? YES, if you hire marketing professionals! Is it true? YES, as backed up by experience and research (below)! Of course, this percentage can vary based on the industry, business size, and specific marketing goals. By industry, here are some reported average expenditure percentages. 1 INDUSTRY MARKETING BUDGET (% OF COMPANY REVENUE) Banking/finance/insurance - 9.49% Communications/media - 14.27% Consumer packaged goods - 25.19% Consumer services -11.74% Education - 11.50% Healthcare - 6.80% Manufacturing - 3.75% Pharma/biotech - 12.83% Professional services - 7.08% Real estate - 10.61% Retail wholesale - 14.52% Service consulting - 21.00% Tech software/platform - 11.80% By devoting a significant portion of their operating budget to marketing and advertising, successful organizations can continuously drive brand awareness, maintain customer and donor loyalty, and drive growth. Are you? 1 Marketing Budget: How Much Should Your Team Spend in 2024? [By Industry ]; June 17, 2024; The CMO Survey , Statista, September 2023 release date, 316 respondents https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/marketing-budget-percentage#marketing-budget-percentage ;
