Any business’s success depends on various elements, but marketing is one of the most crucial. You’ve already established your small firm as a young entrepreneur, hired competent staff, and gathered all the necessary legal paperwork; it’s time to spread the word about your company to the general public.
Here’s where marketing comes into play. However, coming up with the most acceptable marketing approach may be difficult if you are new to the world of entrepreneurship.
When you think about marketing, you probably picture billboards, TV advertising, and other expensive marketing tactics for your small business. Marketing doesn’t have to be costly if you use your creativity where money isn’t an option.
This article compiles a few suggestions that can assist you in spreading the news about your small business. However, let’s first discuss creating a marketing plan for your small business.
Steps for Creating a Marketing Plan for Your Small Business
Since many SMEs confuse “marketing” with “social media” and “advertising” in this digital age, it’s common to see many small business owners unintentionally disregard marketing. There is no doubt that marketing is more than a few social media posts and a few Instagram advertisements here and there.
You must put forth the effort! Running a small business without a plan in place results in confusing your clients with conflicting information and, worst of all, confounding yourself with a lack of focus. Here are a few steps to consider:
Step 1: Take a step back and plan
Examine every aspect of your company with your marketing strategy, plans, and campaigns, as well as your rivals, clients, and the market as a whole. Spend some time writing (or typing) down your thoughts; doing so will help you to see the big picture.
To avoid feeling overwhelmed when it comes time to implement your plans, be as detailed as you can when developing your marketing strategy.
Step 2: Communicate appropriately
Your strategy will determine how you communicate. For instance, your message should capitalise on convenience, whether you offer delivery or residential services. Your product, target market, and price point will determine your communication style.
For instance, if you are selling high-end luxury handbags to women over 40, it is not advisable to use slang words like “slay” or “beat” or frequently allude to pop culture because your customers are unlikely to be able to relate.
Step 3: Stick to your plans
You may play up your strengths and maintain consistency and relevance in your customers’ eyes by defining your USP (Unique Selling Point) and communicating effectively.
You will be able to communicate to your customers the issues clearly and gaps your good or service addresses. Once your marketing strategy is established, creating your marketing plan for various situations, such as your launch, new product releases, and seasonal campaigns, becomes simpler.
Here Are the Marketing Tips for Small businesses in Africa
Now that you know the procedures to follow when creating a marketing strategy for your company, let’s look at some of the best strategies you can use to grow your small business in Africa.
Referrals, Reviews and Recommendations
The importance of the three Rs in small business marketing is frequently overlooked. The phrase “word of mouth” comes to mind. People are four times more likely to buy a product when a friend recommends it.
Despite everything, we still place the most trust in personal recommendations. Your clients will spread the word about your company to their friends and family when you offer exceptional items, services, and value. To put the 3Rs to work for you, do these.
People like to know that they are not just exchanging money with you; they want their thoughts to be respected. Ask your consumers for referrals and evaluations, and let them know their opinions count.
Make a simple reward system for references. You might offer your clients a discount for each recommendation they make, or you could ask them to post about your company on social media in exchange for a discount. Consider your customers’ viewpoints while creating a recommendation system, and don’t ask for more than they feel comfortable providing.
Social Media Marketing
You only need to be on the social media channels that best suit your company’s target market; you don’t need to be on them all. Once you’ve put everything in place, you need to start producing content your target audience will genuinely enjoy and relate to.
Making sure that your marketing comes off as personable and relatableāas opposed to just another profile selling irrelevant contentāis the key to success. This is how.
Make a strategy for your social media content and resolve to post regularly. It makes you stand out from the crowd.
On social media, share free advice about your goods and services. Customers love brands that go above and beyond to add value.
Give your company a face, interact with your clients, have rich conversations using free apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, reach out to people, and remain in touch.
Email and SMS Marketing
Being “always on” keeps your company at the forefront of customers’ minds. You can send an email utilising widely available platforms or an SMS, which is the equivalent of an email across much of Africa, depending on the data you gather from your consumers.
Make your customer the centre of attention in your email or SMS, personalise your messages, provide offers and deals, and inject some humour. Success in all of this depends on having a winning approach.
Websites and Blogs
Having a website, which functions as an online storefront, allows you to capitalise on potential clients who are intrigued and at various phases of the purchasing process.
You can use the space by hosting a blog on your website to inform visitors about your offerings, products, and brand history. We’ve seen people build websites solely to have content for their business cards, yet websites are a much more effective marketing tool.
SEO and Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the sum of all your actions to make your company visible online (websites, blogs, social media, e.t.c).
Make sure to promote your company on websites and blogs that search engines appreciate and reward with higher search rankings for answering queries that actual people have. Pay-per-click marketing is a quick and economical technique to attract customers who will be loyal to your company.
Wrapping Up
It’s time to start investing in at least some of the methods mentioned above, if not all of them, if you want to deliberately, creatively, and delicately acquire lifetime clients.
Due to established businesses, marketing for small businesses in South Africa may be competitive, but it doesn’t mean you should give up.
Fortunately, Africa is home to several digital marketing organisations that can help boost your business by doing those mentioned above and more for you. Atuzal Media is one of them. Atuzal Media is a seasoned business agency for companies needing long-term solutions for their business and marketing growth.