Quick Reference Guide Small Business 2-50 Segment: Fill & Download for Free

The most common question entrepreneurs ask me, is “how can I improve my marketing with no or little money?’ That’s literally the million-dollar question! So I sat down and hammered out my 50 best ideas. Skim them or read them in detail, but whatever you do make sure you go through the list. Just one of these ideas may trigger a marketing opportunity that you never considered before. It only takes ONE good idea, well implemented, to launch you to greater heights. I’m betting you’ll find at least one in the batches below.Social Media Marketing StrategiesSocial media is about connecting with the people in your niche: customers, potential customers, people who are interested in what you do, or who share similar interests and circles or hubs with you. It’s about building relationships and networking, not selling, although that does come as a result.Get Out of The StoreBusiness owners with a brick and mortar store need to reach out to a bigger audience online. Social media isn’t new. People have always gathered to talk about business, life and community events. Social media is about doing that online. Establishing a presence on the Internet even if you have a physical store, is critical. Create an interactive, regularlyupdated site or blog, or by build informative yet informal profiles on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. Being active on social media sites will not only increase brand awareness, it’ll also boost your company’s rank on search engines, and prove that you’re a business that is in sync with the times.Share Your Expertise FreelyLet the public know what you’re an expert at and use that to boost your credibility and value. Publish tips, share your expertise through public speaking, even try pitching the media… make it super easy for people to associate you and your business with excellence and expertise in your field.Many communities now have online forums/bulletin boards that offer varying levels of paid memberships. Purchase a membership that allows you to advertise your business and USE IT. Every time you post with your business ID, your business name (and web page link) you’re putting yourself out there in front of potential customers. Just remember not to get caught up in community drama as every post represents you and your business!Not all exposure is online. Make yourself the expert in your field in your local community as well. Volunteer to teach seminars through your local Chamber of Commerce about your area of expertise. Your business will receive promotion through the event itself, as well as through all marketing for the event.Never Stop Growing Your NetworkExpand your network of contacts and potential clients. Ask your best, most powerful, most influential friends or business associates to introduce you to the five people they think you should meet to expand your business. Take each of the contacts out for coffee and get to know them. Discuss your plans and future goals, tell them about why your business is special and ask for their advice. You will be amazed at how these new contacts will pay off ten-fold with recommendations to you for new business and innovative ideas you hadn’t thought of.Twitter GiveawaysGive away your product or promotional item on Twitter. Ask a question about a product on your website or blog. The first person to answer wins. When you send the item write, “Retweet upon receipt,” to be entered in a second contest.Network Your NetworksNetwork with friends who then network with their friends. There’s power in numbers. Don’t spam of course, but utilize your network to get the word out to your people who know people who know people. Someone ultimately knows someone that can help you out…and believe it or not…will want to. When networking, do NOT focus on getting a referral or lead. Instead, focus on helping others. If you help them first (by adding value to their life/business), they’ll help you later.Maintain Relationships With ClientsThe difference between a successful company and a mediocre one often boils down to an owner’s commitment to building (and sustaining) relationships with clients and prospects. While it’s important to keep up traditional communication and PR, business owners should also be extending their relationships through online forums – website, blogs, and social networks. Conversations are happening all around you – are you listening, are you participating? Are you a thought leader? Be visible!Listen. Tweet. Listen. Listen Again.Identify your ideal clients and find them on Twitter. Then start following them! Spend weeks listening to them; you’ll be amazed what they will tell you about their concerns, their ideal products, their current frustrations with their vendors. It’s a great way to get open honest market research.Get a Twitter account in your business name. Post links to your articles educating people in your niche market. At the bottom of the article have links to your products & services. Also offer discount coupon codes to twitter members. This has worked very well for me.Leverage Linked-InJoin as many Linked-In groups as you can that are related to what you sell and post a question or tip on a regular basis. If you have a blog or e-newsletter, post an announcement to your Linked-In groups with a link whenever you release a new issue or blog posting. It’s free, you’ll be recognized as a leader, and you’ll reach thousands of business people interested in your field.Facebook It!Your Facebook friends can be your greatest free marketing tools so enlist their help! In Facebook, use the NOTES application to create a special, limited-time “friends and family” promotion (i.e.: enter “facebook09″ at checkout to receive 10% off), tag all your friends and ask them to pass along your exclusive deal to their own friends. A great offer goes a long way quickly…especially through our favorite social networking sites!Tweet It!Twitter is a great place to share photos (TwitPic), host contests, shout out to loyal customers, have scavenger hunts, and promote events. Think of ways you can incorporate Twitter into your promotions in a fun, engaging way. Thank loyal customers, retweet their tweets, and even host fundraisers. All the cool kids are doing it. Why shouldn’t you?Traditional Marketing StrategiesBlog TourBlog tours are like book tours, but without all the flying and cheap hotels and fast food temptations. They’re a great way to get seen and discovered outside your usual niche, all from the comfort of your own office, or home. Simply contact bloggers at any specific blog sites that fit your product and ship out a t-shirt, book or other product you offer and then also ask them to do a contest with their viewers. Point your readers to each blog site that reviews your product.Readers at the blog tour site are told to go to your site to sign up for a free sample, or chance to win a free sample, as well. By having contest entrants choose among several products you get them familiar with your other products and get their email address too!Inspire Customers To Call YouDo something really different. Send a monthly postcard instead of a hard copy newsletter. Self-printed cost is $0.46 ea. including the stamp. Make it fun and colorful with a strong “Call to Action” title, like: “100 reasons to call us. List 10-to-20 reasons, including your skills, talents, and tasks. Give customers a coupon for a discount, or a free doughnut, or something fun to inspire them to call.HARO Gift BagsEach Friday in the second edition of Help A Reporter Out (HARO) there are Gift Bag Requests. Look for decision makers with events that are a match for your product or service. Good fits mean quality networking opportunities. Make sure your gift bag offering has your website address, business card and additional offers that inspire recipients to follow up or at least check you out. For instance, if you’re giving away t-shirts, include a list of celebrities who also wear the shirt they’re getting.Be GenerousTo keep customers loyal to you, instead of a frequent buyer program, send your customers small “surprise” gifts. Customers come to expect rewards when they are members of a program. Surprises always work to instill loyalty and retention.Don’t make the mistake of thinking that promotional items are only for conferences and tradeshows. When given out with (or in place of) a business card at a lunch, a meeting or in passing, small promotional items become a gift. People expect free stuff at conferences, they don’t expect gifts. Keep a small, branded (and useful) item with you. You can be sure they’ll remember you. They don’t have to be expensive. Tip calculator cards, tea bags, pens and pads, small flashlights or things very target specific to your industry, like small packets of flower seeds for a gardener or landscaper with their contact information on it.Donate several of your products or services to a non-profit organization that is sponsoring a live auction and the proceeds will be donated to the charity. Your store name will be displayed on the products for the duration of the event and the donation is tax deductible. Plus, you’ll be helping others.Own Your “Wow”Marketing gurus often refer to it as “differentiation.” Academics who fancy themselves as marketers – they’re the ones who write marketing textbooks – prefer to call it a USP, your Unique Selling Proposition. What they’re both taking about is more correctly described as the “Wow!” factor. Whatever it is that separates your Stuff – your products or services – from the similar Stuff your competition is selling, that’s your Wow!Low Hanging FruitTurn to those in your field for the low hanging fruit. Find larger companies, or older, more experienced businesses and invite them to lunch. Ask them to consider referring their smaller cases or business they don’t have time to handle, to you. With every successful referral send them a hand written thank you card enclosing a Starbucks (or their favorite restaurant) gift card thanking them for their support. This will help you build your customer or client base without having to spend a lot on advertising.Feed Them And They Will ComeAnything involving food gets attention. At least it gets my attention. Partner up with local neighborhood businesses and a restaurant (or other service providers in a complimentary but non-competing industry if that’s your gig) to throw a special event, complete with noshing. Combining your database with other businesses will expose you to an entirely different segment of people for a shoestring of the price. Use food to generate PR for your event too — one company I know of sent S’more’s kits to local TV newsrooms to help promote a camper and RV show. They got great results. Make it fun and different.Help Other EmployeesOffer employee incentives to various big businesses, or to smaller businesses in your hometown. For example, offer Southwest Airline employees 20% off their bill. Call their HQs and ask how you can offer discounts to their employees. It’s usually called ‘Employee Perks Program’ or something similar. All you need to do is tell them what the discount is and they will post it on their website or post it in some other capacity. You can also print off coupons for their Human Resource department to distribute, or send them a digital coupon they can email to employees to print off. Don’t forget to put an offer ends date (usually 30-60 days) and a “customer must show employee ID to redeem coupon” requirement on the coupon!Online-Map ListingsOnline map listings are essential for businesses with brick-and-mortar locations. They are the first thing people see on search engines. They offer a concise snapshot of business info so customers can easily contact you or visit your store. And best of all, they don’t cost any money!” Make sure your business is on Google+ business, as well as all the local review sites and other map listings you can find.Small GroupsIt only takes one person to start a movement. So don’t hesitate to start an informal group that can provide something of value to the market in which you specialize. For example, a monthly breakfast discussion on current news and events in the smart phone app industry, or manufacturing or outdoor gear retail industry. Leaders and business owners will come together in this informal, low-pressure situation, because keeping an eye on the state of the industry is their job. Since you’re the one providing the benefit of this group, they will already be predisposed to a positive relationship with you, and it’s a short leap to noting your business savvy in their field.Content Marketing StrategiesContent is any articles, information, video, infographics or stuff people can read, watch or look at that tells them something they didn’t know already about your product or service. If you can consistently amaze and thrill readers with new content and new information or entertainment about your product or services, you’ll grow quickly!Great Relevant ContentWe all know content rules, but what kind of content should you use? Simple. Relevant and related content the reader can use. Lots of people have the relevant content part down, but also create content areas, not just content. These areas should be able to (1) attract users and (2) position you and your business as an expert in those areas. For instance, if you’re selling hunting knives, create a content area on how to sharpen knives, or how to skin certain kinds of animals, or how to filet a fish. The content area should utilize your product if possible, but mostly it should have related content that attracts knife owners to your site.Write For A Trade MagazineIf you want to get people’s attention and have them call you, there’s nothing like writing an article for a trade magazine (for B2B) or local magazine (for B2C) to gain credibility and get the exposure you want. This may be content you have in some form on your website already, but having it in a trade magazine dresses it up and sort of puts a tuxedo on it. I mean it makes you seem more credible because a publication is publishing your content. Demonstrate your expertise and position yourself as the go-to person for your product or service with this service. You’ll attract people in the “ready-to-buy” stage. Here is a list of trade mags to help get you started.Memorable StoriesA convincing (and free) marketing strategy you can use to sell your service or product is by telling true, credible stories (hopefully that include awesome facts and incidents involving your product)—give specific and practical examples of what you have accomplished for clients. Use real-life examples of projects you completed, specific problems you solved or successes you achieved. If you’re a new entrepreneur, create a realistic scenario about how you would help your ideal client overcome a typical challenge. Relate your story through articles, blog posts, public speaking or by publishing a special report.Cell-It-UpMobile marketing connects businesses and each of their customers—through their mobile devices—at the right time and at the right place with the right message and requires the customer’s explicit permission and/or active interaction. Kim Dushinski’s “5 Steps to Creating a Dynamic Mobile Marketing Campaign” are 1) figure out what your target market wants and offer it, 2) align what your target market wants with your desired outcome, 3) choose the right mobile marketing tool for this campaign, 4) launch your mobile marketing campaign and market it, and 5) track what is working and make any necessary adjustments.Free ContentWho doesn’t love free, right? Offer your customers, potential customers, and visitors to your website a free resource, such as a guide or report that is packed full of solid information related to your product or services in exchange for their name and email address. The guide is delivered electronically to their mailbox so there’s little cost involved. Every two weeks, or so, follow up with more useful content, not a sales pitch, but do include your company’s info at the end. You’ll be building credibility, establishing trust, and reminding those potential customers of your product or services. When they’re ready to buy you will be the first company they contact.Write A BookWrite a 150-175 page business book and self publishit with on-demand printing. Heck, write a 50-page book and self-publish it. The status of being a published author provides you with unprecedented access to media, speaking gigs, and other opportunities like nothing else can. (cost = $0 other than some time). You say you don’t have the time, knowledge or expertise to produce a book? Then write a white paper. Don’t have the time, knowledge or expertise for a white paper? Then write a series of short articles. Article marketing is a subtle way companies can gain exposure for their business by writing articles that provide information about news and trends occurring within their respective industries. Companies that incorporate article marketing into their marketing campaign demonstrate their expertise in their respective industry while simultaneously attracting new customers. If you can’t write, find someone who can and pay them to write your content for you. That’s legit.Online ReviewsLet your fans review your business, then incorporate their reviews in your blog post — good or bad, unless of course it’s obscene, not-safe-for-work bad. Online reviews are a critical component of your business’ reputation and can do wonders for converting new customers. Services like http://RateItAll.com/Promote allow you to submit anything for review – whether it’s a local business, a blog, a website, a product, or a brand. Other popular review sites include Yelp (local businesses), TripAdvisor (travel related items), and Viewpoints (products). And you can use this strategy for getting countless, legit, reviews on Amazon.Get EndorsementsIf you are introducing a revolutionary new product, an endorsement from a top expert makes all the difference. Read your trade magazines and write the expert. You will be surprised at how generous some of them are. Include their comments, or if you can snag an interview, put the highlights of that in your blog post as well.TeleseminarsHost a one-hour tele-seminar with time for content, a specific offer and questions from people on the call. People are hungry for information and like to learn. Create a web page with a sign up form and use email and social media to announce the call. Then make sure you have a really meaty, information dense, rocking teleseminar. Be awesome and attendees will return again and again.Be The Local ExpertVolunteer to write a “Dear Abby” type Q&A column for your local newspaper on whatever your area of expertise is. Whether it’s plumbing, or chimney cleaning, or car repair, volunteer to answer readers’ questions in exchange for a link to your website and business name. If the paper isn’t interesting in paying or swapping you for the column, then pay for it yourself — and make it an ad. Once readers get used to seeing it and it disappears after three to six months, most papers will do what it takes to get it back if it’s popular.Web Branding Marketing StrategiesA web presence is more than just having a website. Heck, even the animals at the local animal shelter have websites, some of them better than mine! A web presence is how people find you as well as what they find. To get found in good ways, like winning awards etc. is better than getting found because you have a booking photo or mug shot. To get found for the good stuff, do this:KeywordsStatistically, 3-out-of-4 Internet users live in North America, making exposure on the web critical. Even with all the changes to Google and to search algorithms, having a website that is keyword optimized is critical. You need to be SEO optimized for what your small business does and where you are located. Your website works as an online brochure as well as a “24 hours a day” sales person for your services and products, so make it work efficiently.Participate in Trade AssociationsBusiness-to-business professional service organizations get the most bang for their buck when they impress prospective referrers with their capabilities. One of the best ways to do this is through active involvement at trade associations where prospective referrers’ congregate. This participation enables them to a) increase their visibility and b) gain the opportunity for the consistent and frequent interactions it takes to build lasting relationships.”Google AdWords On The CheapRun market research on the cheap by using Google Adwords to target an audience. Make the landing page a question survey. A snappy question to attract people, along with Google’s Geo-targeting can provide great results, for next to nothing.Enter a Business Award CompetitionThere is nothing like entering a business award competition to strengthen the reputation of your small business. Winning an award can catapult your reputation within your industry and with the sales audience you aim to attract. Many competitions cost nothing to enter – except for the time it takes to prepare your entry.Professional and trade organizations, chambers of commerce, Better Business Bureaus, universities – even churches are all organizations that host business competitions. Keep your eyes open for opportunities. Don’t forget, the secret to winning is taking the time to prepare well-written entries. If you can’t write, then pay someone who can to prepare your entry – or barter services if you’re trying to save money. The rewards for winning a business award can last seemingly forever. Brag about winning on your website; send a letter to clients; post the award in your office or store so whoever comes in will see it. And of course, send out a press release and get your picture in the paper!Email ListsI can’t say this often enough. Build your email listwith quality names. Use opt in email marketing to talk to your best customers – this means the ones that want to hear from you and have signed up to receive your marketing messages and offers. No spamming! Be sure to deliver relevant, unique and valuable messages to their inbox. This can build loyalty, drive sales and cut other costs. Don’t be shy about creating a short but compelling video that succinctly explains your product or service. Short is under 3 Minutes MAX. Compelling is that not only informs, but entertains and/or personalizes you and your company. This can be done quickly and easily using a camera like a flip video. Post the video to your site and as many video sharing sites as possible.Be On YouTubeSeriously consider starring in your own YouTube Series. I don’t know if the camera loves me, but I sure love the camera! You can learn to love it too! Take your product or service and dramatize it through a simple, homemade YouTube movie. Go a step further and script out a four-part series that you can post on your website. Heck, run a loop of the videos in your business.Study the ad campaigns that get people’s attentions and come up with something of your own — unique counts. Virally spread your marketing message by making sure influential local bloggers see your video. Twitter short messages, driving traffic to specific pages of your website; Send a Network Update via LinkedIn conveying what you’re working on that will pique the interest of those needing similar services. Use Facebook to give your small business a “personality” so that people feel comfortable doing business with you — ask your customers to become Fans.Leverage LocalGet online locally, like on Craigslist, Yelp, and Angie’s list. There are hundreds of websites that people use to search out local businesses. Most are free to use and easy to find. Make sure your business is listed. Go the extra mile and upload pictures, menus, or something relevant for your service or product.Host Educational EventsPartner with companies which target the same audience as your firm to host “educational” events. A small accounting firm can partner with a small law firm and a marketing firm to hold a seminar on “strategies for surviving the recession,” and invite small businesses to attend. Split the cost and the work that goes into creating the event, including inviting prospects and clients. It’s a cost-effective way to market to the other firms’ clients, to prospects, and to build a relationship with these other partners in order to gain future referrals.Join forces to create posters, contests and other things that benefit all companies involved.Pay Per ClickThe fastest way, bar none, to create a strong Internet presence and get in front of potential customers when they are in active “search and buy mode” is pay-per-click search engine advertising. Start with Google – set a budget and bid, select your keywords and write a quick ad. Now you’ll be there when some “Googles it!”Logo It UpUse Your Logo- Now that you have a logo it is time to use it everywhere both online and in print. Put it on all of your marketing materials including business cards, letterhead and even envelopes. Include it in your email signature, on your Web site and use it in all correspondence to reinforce your company and encourage repeat customers and referrals. Once you have a solid logo that makes an impact, it should be synonymous with your company name.PR Marketing StrategiesBlog, blog, blog and blog some more. PR is all about getting your business in front of people’s eyeballs. Keeping your own blog updated, and writing guest blogs for other well-known or popular bloggers in exchange for a credit and blog link, or a reciprocal post is a major part of getting publicity. You can also:Make Reporters’ Jobs EasierInstead of always pitching reports with story ideas, schedule a coffee or lunch meeting with the local (relevant) beat reporters in your market. Start the conversation by asking, “How might I be able to make your job easier.” When reporters know you’re out to genuinely make their lives easier without trying to sell them your story, you become a valuable resource, not a pain in the neck.Local CharitiesThere are hundreds of charities you can help, but you’re better off picking one or two charity organizations or causes and only donating to them for the year. You’ll be able to do more and give more that way. That will make you more visible plus, the organization will get to know you and who you are. When you’re highly visible in one or two organizations, it’s easier to say “No,” politely, firmly and credibly to the twenty others who also want your attention, but who aren’t in your target market.Sponsor Your Local Sport TeamsSponsor a local sports team. For less than the cost of a 1/4 page ad in a local paper, you can buy team uniforms for a local soccer, basketball, baseball or other sports teams. Not only will you get the team, and their friends, family and fans attention and show that your business is a genuine part of the local community. It’s a great PR technique too.Create An E-News For Your BizHaving a great e-newsletter with valuable content may sound old school, but it works. E-News doesn’t have to be or sound like a sales pitch. Consider it an opportunity to position your business as an expert, provide relevant information, and to add another layer in relationship building. Build a strong database with a focus on media/bloggers. Give your clients the opportunity to subscribe. Publish frequently, but not obsessively. Done right E-News is one of the least expensive, but most effective marketing tools in our arsenal. Don’t be surprised by how often your content will be tweeted or covered by bloggers, or open the door to a more extensive PR pitch.Tell Your Real StoryThe best way to get noticed in today’s market is to tell a personal story. The more authentic, amazing and relevant, the better. As newspapers and magazines continue to lay off thousands of reporters across the country there’s an even bigger demand for well-written stories. Have ready-to-run articles prepared to send off at a minutes notice will create a great relationship with papers. They may edit or rewrite parts of it, but you’ll get their attention.Long Shelf LifeLeverage your exposure by putting yourself into situations where your marketing efforts have a LONG shelf life. Web radio shows are a great place to start. Email or call those who are looking for guest interviews. Don’t forget to make sure you tell the host that “if your line-up is already scheduled, I’d make a great filler-inner when someone has to cancel”. Those words alone will get you remembered.Network With The Media In Your NicheMaintain relationships with media contacts that cover your industry, even when you don’t have news for them. Check in with them every month or so and ask how you can help them as an expert in your field. Better yet, send them tips and insider news they might not otherwise have access to. Become a resource. Follow reporters’ stories and take time to read their articles and comment on them without pitching yourself. Develop a professional relationship where you can spark dialogues about your community. Then, when you do have news, it’s that much easier to get them to print it!Be OutrageousBe outrageous, or weird, or truly innovative and wacky. Reporters want to cover the unusual/wacky/even controversial. One article about your business can be worth thousands of dollars. Give them what they want, but make sure that there’s steak after the sizzle is gone. Once people are attracted to you, you want to offer them something to keep them coming back or staying put.Survey Your CustomersReporters love numbers! It validates their story pitch to editors and piques the curiosity of their readers. So, look for surveys other companies have done on a national scale, and then conduct a survey with your customers and prospective customers to get a local angle to a national story. Most papers won’t look at a locally conducted survey unless it ties into a larger survey or is done by a major company. Compile the results, put them into a press release, and pitch to editors at your target publications. Write an article about it and post it as a downloadable PDF on your website. And of course, blog about it.Leverage Existing CustomersMost companies do a poor job of leveraging existing customers to create new ones. If your company does events, give people a discount or free gift to bring (or just invite) a friend. If someone buys your product online, send them a coupon for the same item suggesting that they pass it on to someone they think will use it.Mandatory Reading!The foundation of marketing is being different. Be different enough that prospects, customers and the world takes notice. If there is one book that I can recommend on this subject, I strong suggest you read Purple Cow by Seth Godin. It is mandatory reading for every entrepreneur and every marketerhttp://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=http://www.mikemichalowicz.com/the-50-best-marketing-strategies-for-small-business/&ei=toKgWZzE&lc=en-IN&s=1&m=306&host=www.google.co.in&ts=1477341274&sig=AF9Nedlwl9q4csJDW-z5JNnn0vrFOCF1HA

16 AWESOME MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESSESToday, I’m going to show you 16 different marketing strategies that have gotten a proven history of success for small businesses worldwideProbably most of these options will probably be viable growth strategies for your unique business.These work really well if you want to find inexpensive ways to promote your mobile app.Once you’ve achieved product/market fit, your growth is simply a matter of smart marketing on the front end and a good customer retention on the backend. By the end of this article, you will know exactly what to do next with your marketing.But before we get started, let me share a secret with you.There Is No Magic Marketing StrategyThere is no magic bullet.The goal of marketing is to connect your business’ value to the right customer base. It’s a simple concept but it can take on a million different shades.What demographics make up your customer base?Where do they live?Where do they hang out online?How do they look for products in your niche?Who do they listen when making decisions relative to your product?The answers to these questions determine which marketing strategies will be viable and which will be a waste of time.In other words, the key to success for your business is not Facebook Ads.It’s not SEO.It’s not conference networking.There is no magic, universal strategy that will revolutionize your business. I have literally no clue what will work for you, because I don’t know you. I don’t know your business. I don’t know your customers.But fortunately, you DO know your business! You DO know your customer base!And after reading this guide, you will have an expanded awareness of viable marketing channels, any of which could hold the key to your future growth.Eight of the channels i will disclose here are strictly digital strategies, which will be conducted online. The other eight are a bit more general, with strategies that can be conducted offline (although many have online applications as well).Let’s get started.1. Facebook AdvertisingTwo million small to medium sized businesses advertise on Facebook; it’s an inexpensive and effective way to market to virtually any audience.Facebook ads excel at advanced targeting. They allow you to target a specific audience based on location, interests, age, sex, online behavior, and many other factors.Creating Facebook ads is very easy. You just need a solid headline, a bit of descriptive copy, one image, and a link.The Facebook Ads Manager also makes it fairly simple to run and test multiple ad sets, allowing you to hone in on a winning formula and reach profitability without needing advanced technical expertise.That said, many new users have a lot of difficulty succeeding with their initial campaigns. It takes some persistence, but on the plus side, Facebook’s popularity has produced numerous 3rd party tools that can help you succeed.If you decide that Facebook is the right channel for you, I’d recommend using a tool like AdEspresso to run your campaigns and speed up your journey to positive ROI.If you run a business that has a strong visual component, it might be worth trying out Instagram Ads instead. As a subsidiary of Facebook, Instagram Ads benefit from the same data base and targeting options, while allowing you to connect with an audience that is better primed for visual sales.2. Google My BusinessRanking your Google My Business (GMB) listing is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business.In fact, if you run a local business targeting local clients, I would dare to say it is THE most powerful strategy available to you.Google My Business combines all your different Google platforms into one central place, which includes your Google+ profile, Google Maps profile, your Google reviews, access to data on Google Analytics and Google Insights, and more.If you have a unique brand name, you can even get a large display like this to show when people search for that name:GMB immediately gives your business credibility and visibility, and as I said before, if you run a local business, it should be #1 on your priority list.And best of all, ranking your GMB listing is really not that hard. It simply requires you to optimize your profile and then collect reviews and citations.3. Google AdwordsThere are more than 40,000 search queries on Google every second. No other advertising method has the potential to get your business before that many pairs of eyes.Google Adwords is sort of the godfather of online marketing channels. It’s been around a long time. It’s competitive. It’s expensive. And if you know what you’re doing, it can work very, very well for you.Despite being a paid channel, Adwords’ goal is still to deliver relevant search results to users, and as a result, it will be less expensive for you when you are utilizing proper on-page SEO.Google assigns a quality score to your ad, which is dependent on CTR (Click Through Rate), relevance and the landing page your ad sends traffic to. This quality score factors into the bid rate you will need to get an ad displayed, with higher scores lowering the bid cost.Unlike many of the channels we will discuss today, Adwords is a remarkably symbiotic channel that can be paired with many other strategies to maximize output. As a paid marketing channel, it also allows you to obtain immediate results and can scale as far as your budget allows.4. Content Marketing18% of marketers say that content marketing has the greatest commercial impact on their business of any channel in 2016.Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience and drive profitable customer action.Unlike paid advertising, content marketing focuses more on long-term results. The initial payoff tends to be low, but the long-term, sustainable growth in visitors, leads, and customers can single-handedly carry a business.Content marketing is not easy, however, and requires every element to be done right:Content is not limited to blog posts. It includes videos, podcasts, online courses, and a host of other mediums in which people consume information.If you are considering this strategy for your own business, make sure you have the time and capital needed to get going with no initial ROI, and then DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Too many businesses these days are just wasting resources creating mediocre content with no payoff, now or ever.5. Organic Social MediaUsing social media for business is really a non-negotiable.67% of consumers use social media for customer support, and 33% prefer using social media instead of the telephone. If people can’t find your business via social media, they will look for your competitors who ARE present on preferred social channels.The real question isn’t whether you should have active social media accounts, it’s how much time and resources you should be investing in growing your social audiences.For some businesses, it makes sense to invest heavily in organic social media growth.For example, Instagram users that follow fashion influencers are actively looking to purchase new styles. By building an active, fashion-savvy audience, a clothing retailer can build a consistent direct sales channel.For other businesses, investing in Instagram might not make sense.The key is identifying where your customers are and how they like to be approached. If social media is the answer to both those questions, it’s the perfect channel for your business.6. Coupon Deal SitesWhether you sell a product or offer a service, you can use coupon deal sites like Groupon to quickly promote your business.Coupon deal sites amass massive audiences, grouped by location, and then allow local, regional or even national businesses to offer limited-time discounts to their members.Benefits include mass exposure, targeted local advertising, increased brand awareness, and an influx of new customers. The cost comes in the form of low revenue per sale. In the case of Groupon, you are required to discount your product by at least 50%, and at least half the revenue goes to Groupon.In other words, unless you are running a 300% markup, you will lose money on your Groupon deal. It’s essentially paid advertising.The primary purpose for using coupon deal sites is not sales. The more significant your discount, the more popular your deal will be. The goal is to get people in your door or trying your product, and from there, your customer retention strategies kick in.As an added bonus, many new potential customers will browse your website even if they don’t decide to purchase the deal.But be warned!If your deal gains traction, you can quickly be overcome by more customers than you are prepared to handle, and if you don’t do the math correctly, you can lose a lot of money. It’s important to be ready and to have a plan for handling different tiers of new business.It’s also important to have flawless customer service during the period after running your deal, with the expectation that your coupon-driven customers will be even harder to please than normal customers.DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Follow deals going on in your area and see how they play out. If you can, talk with fellow business owners who have run deals and learn from their experience.And make sure – for the love of all that is good and decent – make sure you do the math.7. Email MarketingEmail marketing is the cornerstone of digital marketing.Most of the people who visit your site will not buy from you immediately. Capturing contact info for additional marketing and “lead nurturing” is the best way to sell in 2016, and email remains the highest converting channel for interacting with leads.Email marketing funnels begin with a “lead magnet”. This is something compelling you offer your website visitors in exchange for their email address. Possible options include a free digital download, a free service trial, a “seat” at a webinar, site membership, a coupon, etc.Here’s an example from HubSpot:HubSpot offers a reliable and feature-packed email marketing tool that’s suited for growing businesses — for free. The tool allows you to create professional marketing emails that engage and grow your audience. You can start from scratch, with the easy drag-and-drop email builder, or use one of the goal-based templates available.Other benefits of email marketing include:Low costGlobal reachEasy to automateEasy to segmentImmediate communicationEasy to setup and runEasy to track and optimizeThere are a lot of marketing channels that are hard. As you may have noticed from the above list, email marketing is one of the few that can be described as “easy”.8. WebinarsA webinar is essentially a seminar that takes place online. It can be in the form of a presentation, demonstration or discussion.Webinars are often used as lead magnets for email marketing and the right topic can drive a large batch of new subscribers to your list. It can also be used to build credibility with your current subscribers.Webinars can also be recorded and used as standalone products or even a series of products. They are a great medium for both live and recorded training.Webinars tend to be more engaging than simple videos, even if they are used in exactly the same way. The actual start time and live Q&A tends to make people feel like they are receiving significantly more value than if they were watching a video with the exact same information.You will need webinar software to run a webinar that utilizes the following functions:2-Way Audio – the presenter speaks while the viewers are muted, but the presenter can “turn on” individual viewers so everyone can hear their questionScreenshare – the presenter can share their screen or switch to video for whiteboard teaching or live demonstrationPolls – the presenter can invite viewers to take a poll or provide feedback in other waysWebinars work very well in certain niches. You’ll have to test one out to see if it works with your target audience.9. Promote A Free ConsultationWhen it comes to professional services, people want access to expertise.If you have done a good job of positioning yourself as an expert or authority in your niche, promoting a free consultation is a great way to generate new leads. If you have a good interpersonal sales process in place, it also sets you up to close a large percentage of leads.A lot of service providers worry about disclosing too much info in a free consultation. They feel like potential clients will just take the info and run.In reality, the exact opposite is true. While freeloader types might grab and go, they were never going to buy anyway. The type of people interested in paying for quality will be impressed by the value you provide in the consultation.After all, if you can provide so much value in 30 minutes to an hour, they will believe that your claims are true and that hiring you is the right decision.This can be used both online and offline. It can be advertised via pamphlets, newspapers, signs, or even word-of-mouth. And it can be prominently displayed on your website and social media channels.This strategy won’t be ideal for every businesses, but if you offer an expert service or a high-priced service, it is very much worth considering.Referrals are one of the best ways to find new customers, and who better suited to obtain referrals than your current staff?Your employees know your product or service. They know your customer base. Some of them will take initiative without financial motivation, but most won’t, and those you bring in new business should be encourage to repeat the process with financial or otherwise meaningful reward.Offer incentives to your staff members who refer new clients. Research proves that it doesn’t necessarily have to be monetary; incentives can even come in the form of:A sleep-in day: staff get to to sleep in late for a certain period of time.Membership to publications (of their choice).Vouchers for massages, movie nights, restaurants.Like any type of compensation, incentives are about matching your business’ goals to the goals of your employees. If you can find out what they want most, you can motivate them to help grow your business.It’s also important to give them the tools they need, whether that’s a customized landing page, printed coupons, a special discount for employee referred clients, or whatever.Hold training sessions and teach your staff how to effectively promote your business, but remember that this form of marketing will only work if they genuinely feel good about your business and are properly motivated to pitch it to friends, family, and acquaintances.11. Advertise In Niche Print MediaWhile much of the world has moved online, print media still exists, and in some niches, it still thrives.In fact, as recently as 2014, retail consumers cited printed materials as the chief sources of information behind their purchasing decisions.As print media continues to decrease in overall popularity, pricing for ad placement lowers as well. In the right niches, it is now possible to run effective ads at incredibly affordable prices.That said, print media is rarely effective as a solo marketing strategy. It is best used in conjunction with online marketing strategies, with the two channels arranged to compliment each other and create an engaging experience for potential buyers.12. Write A ColumnIf you are a decent writer, sharing your expertise in the form of weekly or monthly write-ups can do wonders for your brand.This isn’t usually a situation where you get paid, but it’s also not a situation where you have to pay. These columns give you the opportunity to make consistent contact with an audience, building an actual relationship with the publication’s readers. That audience then begins to think of you when they think of experts in your field.On the more accessible end, local newspapers or non-profit magazines are often looking for quality contributors. One the more exclusive end, publications like Forbes, Inc, and Fast Company are made up almost exclusively of unpaid expert columns.But believe me. These experts make bank thanks to their place on these influential platforms.Make sure that what you write about is valuable to the target audience. This isn’t lowkey advertising. It’s a chance to access and build trust with an audience someone else worked really hard to build.Plus, even if you don’t land a column, you might be able to land a guest post, which can be incredibly valuable as well.Some ideas for articles you can write include:How-to guidesCurrent events commentaryInterviews with interesting peopleList postsReporting on trends or events13. Join Local Business GroupsJoining local business groups will give you the opportunity to meet up with other like-minded people who already share some common ground with you: owning a business. While a lot of more general entrepreneur groups exist, there might also be some niche-specific groups and meetups in your area.These groups are a great opportunity to bounce ideas off other smart people, share referrals, find talent, and identify new opportunities.They are also a major catalyst in expanding your network around the city in which you live. Connections tend to multiply, and if your group takes networking seriously, you can leverage your seemingly minor connections into much significant ones.While these groups are typically best found online, it’s preferable to have in-person meetups for the bulk of your interactions.Lastly, these groups can lead to joint ventures and profitable partnerships, which we will discuss more in the next section.14. Partner With Other BusinessesTeamwork is always more effective than singular effort, and combining resources with another business can help you do things you could never accomplish on your own.It’s typically best to target companies in your local area, even if your clientele isn’t local. Your goal is to work out a complementary arrangement that provides mutual benefit for both businesses.Some joint venture examples include:A PPC agency could partner with a CRO agency to refer clients to each other.A coffee shop could offer free coffee vouchers to a plumbing company’s customers.A marketing company could partner with an accounting firm to recommend each other’s services during new client onboarding.A beauty therapist could offer free manicures for a hair stylist’s clients.There is really no limit to what’s possible. Simply identify crossover in your audience and a non-competitor’s audience and then find a way to tap into that crossover in a mutually beneficial way.15. Direct Mail MarketingLike print media, direct mail marketing is not dead.As online channels become more and more saturated with content, fewer companies look to direct mail, and that means opportunity for you.Like with any marketing strategy, success comes down to targeted creativity. You can’t just spam people and expect a return on your investment. Just like you need to compel people to click your blog post headline, you need to compel mail recipients to open your letters.Start with the envelope, which will never be opened if it looks like a run-of-the-mill promo piece. Stand out. Use a colored envelope. Use an unusual shape, size or material. Make it look interesting.If possible, handwrite the address on every envelope or include something bulky inside to make the envelope lumpy – anything you can do to grab attentionThe next thing to focus on is the content. If you want the best results, your headline has to be enticing, and your copywriting needs to hold the reader’s attention through the duration of your pitch.Like most offline campaigns in 2016, direct mail is typically run in conjunction with an online marketing funnel.16. Speak At EventsIn terms of branding and establishing yourself as an authority, few things are more impactful than being a speaker at popular events in your niche.While invitations to speak at larger events are often extended as a result of accomplishments or visible influence, you can also work your way into these opportunities by becoming a talented speaker and delivering great talks at smaller events.Or you can simply use it as another marketing channel, by speaking at some of these types of events:Local clubs – think Rotary, Lion’s, Chamber of Commerce.Business networking groups.Specific interest clubs (photography, hiking, sewing, etc.)Browse local events on Eventbrite.com and Meetup.com.Schools.Churches.Check events in your local newspaper and magazines.Big companies and their employees.Be prepared, and treat every event like a big deal.Conclusion & SummaryWell, that’s the scoop: 16 proven marketing strategies that have worked for thousands of businesses and can work for you tooTo Get Started This is what I recommend https://bit.ly/3d6dRzg

My professional experience of growth is with larger businesses more than start ups, ie covering the 50 million to billions range. So I will offer simply some resources, having investigated this question for myself, and I will comment from my direct experience with a focus on the people and culture issues with which I am most familiar (my expertise is in staffing of key roles, talent management, learning and development, organisational design and culture change - sorry, these are all buzzwords but they are convenient short-hand).Three fantastic books for explaining how to figure out business growth strategies are:"Blue ocean strategy" by Kim and Mauborgne, two professors at INSEAD business school. It is a highly practical strategy book, that explains - referring to many case study examples - how to find uncontested market space where the competition are irrelevant. They look at how different businesses have positioned themselves for success by examining the market place, competitors, and deconstructing how customer needs are currently being met or not, and so defining a proposition that expands the market place and moves into new territory (ie blue ocean). The book offers a simple tool to analyse competitors, and come up with your blue ocean ideas. This approach to strategy is applicable to growth as well as start up situations. However, if differentiation or innovation is not that important, you needn’t read this book!"Traction: how any startup can achieve explosive customer growth" by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. This book examines the rapid growth stories of real startups (Silicon Valley mostly, but also some offline businesses) and is based on interviews with key founders of successful startups, such as DropBox and many others. The key conclusion from these interviews was simple: most startups find that one sales/marketing channel is the key engine of their growth. For Dropbox this was referral marketing, for example. They document 19 different sales/marketing channels that can drive a startup's growth. They advise that all the fast growth startups tend to focus on one of these core channels only, since this is the fastest and most effiicient way to grow, rather than disperse effort and money across too many channels. They describe a process of experimentation to find the right core channel, spending the least amount of money you can. Through this experimentation phase, you identify which channels work for your business. The core channel can be - and usually is - supplemented by a few other channels, but only one is the core engine of growth. That core channel can change over time of course."Small Giants: companies that choose to be great rather than big" by Bo Burlingham. This is a book aimed at people who value freedom, independence, and the control of a business to develop it in ways that are not all aimed at simply fast scale. Typically, really fast-scaling a company involves bringing in investors at some point, when the financial resources of founders are exhausted or business just needs working capital to cope with fast growth. Ether venture capital investors are sought at the earlier stages of growth, or private equity investors once a business model is proven in say one country or one market segment, and the owners want to scale an already successful business to the next level. Investors are brought in for many reasons. VC investors are often expert investors, including individual angel investors, that know a particular market or industry and so are willing to make 'higher risk' bets on things they understand. They offer investment in exchange for ownership and control, ie appointment rights to the board so that they can guide the business with their expertise. But there is a price to pay: loss of control. And more than a few founders end up owning very little of the business they started, as every round of financing dilutes their ownership stake and control. Small Giants is aimed at the sort of entrepreneur who wants to build a special business, and is willing to trade control and freedom for slower organic growth, free of investors and bank/other financial stakeholders.Once you have a clear vision of what you are trying to build, and a strategy to get there, you can then think about the stuff I have more expertise in: people and organisation.Since I don't know the size or strategy or business model of your company, I will have to try and comment generically. But I understand you sell golf towels, so I will try to comment on this type of business.The early years of growthQuite honestly, you can build quite a large business without being sophisticated about people and organisation. I have mostly been involved in startups (with a few exceptions) above a certain size, when private equity investors get involved. By then, the business has already achieved considerable success and a certain scale (usually tens or hundreds of millions, possibly billions), so they have a business model that is proven and a growth story that investors will back.What I've observed of such companies is that they often are grown through the expertise of the founders, who basically control every aspect of the business. Many don't even have a proper management team as such, and arguably don't need one. All decisions surface to the top, and the business is reliant on the judgment and entrepreneurial skill of one person, or a few founders. This seems to work for some surprisingly large companies, until they run into problems related to complexity, size or a need to change strategic direction and enter into different businesses, new growth segments/new geographic markets. The problem then becomes that they do not know how to run the business successfully in these new directions.So in the early years, the focus is almost exclusively on hiring the right talent. Simply put, if you get this wrong you either slow your growth or miss opportunities. And on top of this, these recruiting mistakes cost money: recruitment agency fees, salary costs, training costs, and slow learning curves that mean that it can take months before people are productive, and so on. The result is poor execution, and unhappy customers. Plus lots of stress.What this means in practice, is that you should think very carefully about hiring decisions. And I mean, this should be regarded as one of your MOST important activities. When you have good people, the busines will run itself. The key, as always, is to put plenty of thought into the experience and skills that you need. You should hire for one of two main reasons: to bring in experience that you don't have, or to bring in talented people with great skills that will learn fast and contribute their skills to growing your business.Hiring for experience is key when you want to mitigate risk. So for example, let's say you decided to expand your golf range into clothing, and decided you wanted to get into wearable devices. What do you know about wearable technology? If the answer is nothing, or very little, it is a high risk strategy unless you can bring in someone who has the right experience. What is the right experience? That needs to be tightly defined through research, so that you get to a point where you know the knowledge and skills required to be successful with this new range. You might decide to partner with suppliers that provide end to end product design, but you then have to figure out how to manage this relationship (ie contractually, but also to get the best products out of it, and to still make a profit) and how to then produce the final product. Or you might outsource all the product development and production, and just sell it. Or even simpler, you might just source existing products direct from factories, and resell them under your own brand. The question is then whether you can sell it through your existing sales channels, or whether such a product would be sold to a different set of buyers or via different types of retail outlet. Can you or your sales team be successful in these channels? Do you have the contact book to open doors and get fast sales traction, and quickly recover your product development investment before the cash runs out? And so on. Hiring for experience usually means higher salary levels: you need people with a clear track record, that you can work with (ie culture fit), and you must be willing to pay the market rate and incentivize these people properly.Hiring for potential and skills is simpler: this is about capacity to resource growing levels of work activity, and getting in the right people to get the job done. You already know what skills you need, and how to manage these people. You know what success looks like. You might be willing and able to hire for potential, knowing you can train and coach people.Scaling: expanding the business through new sales channels, new products, new geographic markets, and acquisitionsThings are now getting more complex. And investment levels require business cases to ensure that you can fund your growth and make an acceptable return on investment. Suddenly you need professional finance controllers who can set up the metrics to run a complex business, and analyse profitability of products, sales channels, factories. These are specialist skills. You start to build an organisation that can cope with increasing complexity of how you design, make, sell, and move products (perhaps internationally as well as nationally) and how you manage the customer relationships.With increasing size and complexity comes increasing difficulty of leadership: a strategy can no longer be executed by one person being on top of all the details. It becomes a team game. The larger the team, the more complex are the communications, management structures, IT, and so on.This is typically where founders start to need help. So they hire in a professional management team. Usually these people are hired because they have ‘been there, done that’ since you don’t want to pay people to learn on the job, make mistakes and slow down your growth. If you are not profitable, you can’t invest in the people, products and systems you need to grow faster. Often professional managers at board level will want a share in the ownership of the business, or in the growth of profits. Investors will want to be involved in these hiring decisions due to the risk of getting it wrong. Usually the Chief Financial Officer is appointed by one or all of the investors as 'their man/woman' inside your team.Founders often exit during this transition to a professionally run business. They find they don't enjoy it any more, or don't like being challenged every day by these smart and assertive professionals they hired that don't just take orders from the boss. Or they simply miss the good old days when things were simpler. The temptation to cash-in becomes strong.Other founders go from strength to strength, and love the challenge. Like James Dyson, Lord Sugar, Sir Christopher Gent and so on.Why do I mention all this, even though it's a long way off? Because you need to know where you want to take the business, and what this will mean.Best of luck, hopefully something here has been of use!