Micro businesses don’t need a complicated marketing strategy. Instead, key marketing tactics that fit within resource and reach the correct target audience are absolutely sufficient.

In my last blog I explained the 3 simple elements that make up a marketing strategy fit for a small business. Refer back to it here if you haven’t yet read it.

Put simply, the strategy should define the product or service you provide, together with the target audience. The final step is to establish which marketing tactics to employ?

There are many options! Here are some of the tactics I recommend to my clients:

Branding

Having a recognisable brand is an excellent way to raise awareness of your business and to build customer loyalty.

As with much of my advice, you can keep this pretty simple. A logo combined with a set of brand colours and fonts is all a micro business needs. Using these consistently across all of your marketing efforts will aid recognition and help build trust. When you have a recognisable brand and offer a consistently good service, customers spend less time researching you, and their buying decisions become easier.

I do recommend getting proper support with this though; to get all the benefits it does need to look like it’s been professionally done. I personally recommend Wondrous, who I use for my marketing communications. Ensure you find someone to help you get this right.

Website

Another fundamental is to have a company website. Apart from anything else, many prospects will want to look you up when completing their research prior to deciding whether to spend their money with you.

If you sell products, a website can be an additional revenue stream. Likewise, done well and with regular, useful content being added it can also draw potential new customers to your site.

Networking

If you can’t afford to pay a sales team, then networking could be your answer. This involves promoting the products and services of other members to your own clients, and crucially, they do the same for you! This creates warm leads.

Networking is another great way to raise awareness of your business but also has the hidden benefit of making great contacts for your own business. Meeting with like-minded business owners can help with sharing advice and problem-solving.

There are many free and paid events, check them all out and see which works for you. Find out more about the benefits of networking in my recent article: How to create strategic alliances that win sales.

Social media

71% of people say they are more likely to make a purchase from a brand they follow on social media (source).

Which channels to employ really depends on the product or service you offer. For B2C products, Facebook is a no-brainer while LinkedIn is best suited to B2B businesses. That’s not to say they can’t work the other way around though. Test the ones you think could apply and monitor responses and engagement to decide where you should focus your efforts.

There are lots of social media specialists out there who can help with this, and depending on your budget, you can could choose from one-off or ad hoc audits and training sessions, right through to full management including content creation and scheduling.

If you do decide to go it alone, just remember that social media should be social! So be conversational rather than overly promotional and be sure to also share content from other sources that your audience may like, it will help place you as an expert in their eyes.

If you need any help implementing any of my advice, or would like to investigate other marketing options available to you, why not contact me for a free new business review? I’ll spend two hours giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

Doug D’Aubrey.