Small Business Marketing

Effective marketing is crucial to a small business' long-term success. We have noticed that each business has different marketing needs based on their product/service, value, pricing, customer, sales cycle, etc. Business owners have different goals too – one may want to be Top in Company or hit the lower level trips another owner may want to earn a specific compensation goal.

Some people are driven by money and others by recognition, appreciation, or even trips. Some entrepreneurs can flourish off of only receiving referral business via word of mouth, but others may need a mix of referrals, mailers, live leads, networking, reviews, online marketing, and more.

It all depends on the small business owner, their team, and capacity – marketing investment will vary based on those areas (and cash flow).

For example, Susie loves networking and earns most of her sales from business referrals and networking. John doesn’t want to interact with people on that level and doesn’t have the right team member to do it– he earns most of his business from mailers, online marketing, and cross-sell (even though he knows that some tactics may have a higher acquisition cost).

There are many variations from one business owner to another – in terms of their goals, motivations, marketing and investment, and satisfaction aspirations and/or fears. However, one thing that successful small businesses have in common is a tracking and measurement process for marketing tactics. It is very important for Small Businesses to know where to invest their marketing funds based on actual performance of the business.

In order to determine what the metrics are – lead sources must be tracked and measured daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. When a prospective customer calls the business or walks in the door, one of the first questions should be – How did you hear about us?

Then, that information should be stored in a lead management tool, spreadsheet, or application system that can easily generate a report on performance, sales person, close rates, trends, and return by lead source (or tactic).

Those metrics can be reviewed over time to determine where marketing funds are best spent and which sales person should receive specific lead sources based on their close rates. The metrics are only as good as the data, so it is important that small businesses have a process for introductions that includes asking and documenting the lead source.

Owners also need a process to inspect what you expect to ensure that the process is being used properly and consistently. Listed below is a an example of a simple spreadsheet used for tracking and measurement by tactic.

If your small business needs help with marketing tactics, planning, or measurement, please reach out to us to see how we can help!