Opening a new business involves a long to-do list of responsibilities, but marketing must be a priority even in the earliest stages. Lead generation and keeping plenty of new shoppers in your pipeline is the only way forward, regardless of industry.
Follow these tips for new small businesses in northern Illinois and develop a robust marketing plan that keeps churning even when you're focused on operations and business management.
1. Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
The first step to any plan is the plan itself. Every new business in northern Illinois needs to know who you're targeting and how to reach your audience. Begin with an information-gathering phase that details who you want to reach, what platforms to use to find them, and how (and how often) you’ll advertise.
Know Your Ideal Customer
Before beginning to target marketing audiences, you must understand who you need to reach. Without a clear picture of the types of customers who need your business, marketing efforts will fall flat.
Once you identify your audience, you can dive deep into the details of their customer avatar, or a hypothetical representation of their habits and preferences. Learn what products they buy together, what northern Illinois advertising channels they frequent, how much they're likely to spend, and more.
Know You Competition
If you know who your competitors are marketing to, where they do their marketing, and how they stand out, you can also get an idea of your strategy. You can compete when you see their blind spots, where they aren’t marketing, and audience segments they haven’t reached. With this knowledge, you can quickly fill in those gaps, getting your share of the market.
Be Able to Answer These Questions:
Before diving into your plan's tactical and implementation stages, answer these two questions. Once you have these answers, you can create more potent marketing messages.
What Challenges Does Your Business Solve?
How Will It Make People's Lives Better?
2. Build a Website
All businesses need a website. This is the central hub that all roads lead to, even if you don't sell products online. With a website, you can create a blog for organic content marketing, establish legitimacy for online searches, and make sure you own a corner of the internet.
Content marketing is an effective strategy for long-term sales and should be a part of your small business website checklist! According to Gist, "For medium- and large-sized businesses, content marketing costs up to 41% less per lead than paid search. Average customer acquisition cost for a large company dropped from $108 to $64 per lead when they switched to content marketing." All the content also makes your website more findable online and will help it rank higher in search engine page results.
3. Launch an Email Marketing Campaign
Regarding contacts, chisel time in your schedule to create or manage email marketing campaigns. This gives you a platform for one-on-one, personalized communication with interested audiences and shoppers.
Some crucial campaigns to get started on include:
- Welcome emails
- Email sequences for online browsing and purchases
- Universal campaigns with details about sales and new product releases
HubSpot says, "As of 2020, email generates $36 for every dollar spent." That ROI is crucial for new businesses looking to make wise spending decisions.
4. Stay Social
Social media for new businesses is a way to engage with your local community. Instead of focusing on just paid ads and promotional messages, use social media platforms to network with other local businesses, discuss your participation in in-person events, and be a friendly local contributor.
5. Don't Knock Tradition...
Traditional modes of advertising are still incredibly profitable, especially for local businesses. Radio ads have a high ROI, especially if you want to reach a broad but local audience.
How Effective are Radio Ads?
According to AdResultsMedia, "AM/FM radio accounts for 76% of the daily audio time spent with any ad-supported platform." You can quickly expand your reach to new audiences. If you’ve asked yourself, "How can I advertise my business on the radio?" an advertising partner can help.
6. But Don't Be Afraid to Try New Things
At the same time, don't neglect those brand-new streaming opportunities. Podcast sponsorships, YouTube sponsorships, and ads on actual streaming platforms help you reach younger demographics that don't use traditional channels as much as previous generations. A good mix of channels and advertising techniques — new and old — help you reach all of your ideal shoppers in multiple contexts.
Start Marketing Your New Business with Mid-West Family Northern IL
Ready to jumpstart your marketing efforts but don't know where to start? Mid-West Family Northern IL is here to help your new your business's marketing campaigns so you can find more leads and grow your business. Our experts can form a winning strategy that’s the right fit for your business's needs.
