Small businesses usually have two things: a lack of time and a  passion to better the customer experience. The two work surprisingly  well together. Many of the small business owners, shop managers, CEOs  and marketers we work with are on the hunt for the best marketing  practices which can be achieved quickly and have an obvious effect on a  key business aim. In this post, we put our best minds to work to outline  21 marketing practices for your small business to employ. Enjoy!

Customers don’t just want to feel connected to your business, they  want to feel connected to each other too. Just look at Pokemon Go as  proof and how it bought endless communities together through  location-based marketing.

Find ways to connect your customers to one another. Offer Mom Meet  Ups, where new moms can meet others. Host a book club, or create your  own book swap shelf and get customers to write notes explaining what  they did and didn’t like about the story. Have a flat lay photo-taking  competition of your coffee cups and let customers vote on their  favorite.

Find ways to help customers reconnect with your business by making  them feel connected to each other. Many small businesses are experienced  alone by customers - coffee shops, stores and so on are solitary  experiences. Find ways to join the dots between customer, your small  business and their experience. 

As well as being the biggest search engine in the world, Google is  also pretty clued up on helping local businesses to reach their  customers. Forget PPC for the time being - there are plenty of free  tools you should jump on first that will help raise your presence.

If you haven’t already, set up a Google My Business  account, where you can add business hours, phone numbers and plot  yourself in Google Search and Maps. This will raise your visibility and  ensure you get seen by people in the area. 

You can check what information is already registered with Google by simply googling your business name. 

You’ll also see how the Google My Business page can show menus or price lists and links to online ordering or booking systems.

As well as ensuring your business is seen by the locals, you should  personalize your offering to each location. If you have multiple stores,  get to know your customers. 

If your store or cafe is in a predominantly Muslim area could you  arrange opening times around prayer times or offer a kosher menu? If  your deli is in a central city spot with lots of commuters could you  offer a pre order coffee service where it can be ready and waiting at a  specific time? 

With online marketing, it’s often a machine doing all of the work to  personalize the offering. In a small business you have the potential to  really learn about your customers and what offers may entice them to buy  from you. 

We’ve done a lot of research around the use of digital signs for  small businesses and there are two things we like to call universal  truths:

Hardly any small businesses are using it, despite evidence of its effectiveness.

Digital signage in public venues reaches more customers than videos  on the Internet or Facebook and it makes people buy more and make more  repeat visits.

That’s a whole lot of opportunity to engage with your customers.  Plus, for any small business, saving on cost is key. With digital  signage, displays can be updated instantly and as often as there is  content available. No more static signs ruining the walls or wasted  printouts. Use digital signage to share social media updates from your  community, provide promotions, update digital menu boards, show off  advertising content and even share testimonials from your audience.

Read the full guide to using digital signage in a small business.

How many customers engage with your small business once then never  again? Building your own method of communication with them is where it’s  at. Relying on word of mouth or face-to-face interactions will only  reach a percentage of customers. Social media can also be a difficult  channel to manipulate as channels such as Twitter and Facebook want to  urge small businesses into paying for ads.

When you build an email data list, you have the power to connect with  your customers any time you like. Many large retail stores now offer  e-receipts over paper as a way of capturing email addresses. You could  also run a contest, have a ‘businesscards in a bowl’ entry system or  just plain old ask your customers if they’re happy to join your email  list. 

According to benchmarking studies,  small businesses can achieve anything from 16-38% open rates and a  clickthrough rate of up to 5%. Create an email list then send out a  regular e-newsletter once or twice a month. Measure your clickthrough  rates and obtain feedback from customers to figure out why they might  want to hear from you.

6. Answer customer questions on social media

Create a consistent customer service centre on and offline for your  small business. Use Twitter bios and Facebook about pages to list the  times when you will be online to answer questions, or where customers  can turn to for a faster response. 53% of Twitter users expect brands to  reply to their Tweets in less than an hour so minimize any disappointment by providing all of the information your online customers need. 

If you have a dedicated marketing manager, ensure they have social  media notifications turned on for mentions or an alert system that  allows them to respond to customers quickly.

The unfortunate truth is that even if you don’t seek reviews,  customers are going to leave them. Studies show that 72% of consumers  trust a local business more based on positive online reviews and 88% of  customers actively go looking for them. 

For that reason, it’s best to get ahead and find out where you need  to set up an online profile. Google your company name to see where  customers are talking about you already. Usually, after your website,  the next 3-4 listings will all be review sites. 

From TripAdvisor, to Time Out, Top Table, Yelp, Google Local and  more, there are a lot of opportunities to spruce up your top entries in  Google and encourage customers to leave more reviews. 

See if you can set up a profile on each site that lists your relevant  information - usually you can do this for free. Then ask customers  where they go for trusted reviews and check that you’re set up there as  well. 

What makes your small business stand out from amongst countless  others? Finding ways to add additional value to your customers above and  beyond the service you offer will provide a unique selling point. Grocery store chain Morrisons  has made more of its space by opening it up to customers through a  series of events and relaxation spaces, to differentiate itself from the  discount stores (who perhaps don’t have the same space or budget). 

Offer up your car park or cafe to a local group or meeting. 

Another simple way to add additional value is to use digital signage  screens that offer truly relevant information to customers. For example,  displaying train times, travel information, weather reports, stocks,  currency and more to those passing by or entering your small business  that will make them linger longer. 

As a small business, word of mouth or local referrals can be a key  source of new customers. Think about how you could network with and help  out your local community, who in turn will help recommend your  business.

Hold a networking event, or a talk on a subject of interest for your  audience. If you’re a small independent bank, provide sessions on saving  money, finding discounts and rent financing. As well as holding your  own events you could also team up with other small businesses and offer  out your physical space for their events. 

Get to know the typical routines, needs and buying habits of your  customers. Split them into cohorts, either by the type of customer they  are, their spending power or even the time of day they visit.

This will help you to personalize your offering, products and deals  as well as change the type of service you offer at different times of  the day, month or year. 

If you’re a restaurant or cafe you might want to have one menu for  your weekday visitors (mainly workers) and another for your weekend  visitors (friends having brunch). 

If you’re a convenience store you might want to offer coffee in the  morning and beer in the evening. Personalization and knowing what  customers you see and when, is key to more success at selling your  services and products. 

11. Add value to customers with loyalty schemes

Other than the coffee stamp card, how many local businesses make use  of loyalty schemes? Create a member’s club and sign your visitors and  customers up to a loyalty scheme just like you’d get online.

Give customers points for buying from you, referring your service or  providing an online review and allow them to build up to a reward, free  gift or discount.

You could even create an in-house leadership board, allowing your  customers to see who is the top customer of the day or month. This is a  great incentive to turn a loyalty scheme into a competition as your  customers can’t help but get involved. 

92% of people  trust personal recommendations over brands – even if they don’t know  the individual making the recommendation. That’s why blogging and  influencer marketing has become so popular! This isn’t just for the big  brands either. Find influencers who are within your local area and see  if they’d be interested in collaborating with you on a project, blogpost  or event.

Chances are, their readers will also be people from your area.

When working with influencers it’s key to remember that they have  spent potential months, or even years, building up an audience. For that  reason, think about the opportunity to reach their followers as a  partnership.

What can you offer in return for them promoting or reviewing your  restaurant, cafe, bar or store? Perhaps a free gift, meal or membership  is enough. For those with larger reach, perhaps you could offer to hold  them a meet and greet with their followers for free, or a special  intimate event just for them and their friends. Another incentive could  be an exclusive discount code that they can offer others or you may want  to pay them to run a sponsored campaign or ad series on your behalf. 

To find them, search ‘blogger’ plus your area on Twitter or Google, then reach out with an offer they can’t refuse. 

Customers are often keen to affiliate themselves with brands that are  more socially conscious, or that contribute to a bigger cause than  their own profits. Small businesses are often huge advocates of local  charities, recycling, sustainability and public initiatives.

Find ways to show off your social conscience by encouraging the use  of reusable coffee cups or shopping bags, encouraging guests not to  waste or even offering a drop-off recycling point or collection. 

Look at the type of features or angles your local magazines and  newspapers cover. You might be surprised at the reach they can have with  your potential audience. 

Often there are two approaches to gaining coverage.

Firstly, you can reach out to editors and journalists or look on the  publication’s website to determine if they have an upcoming features  list. This can help determine where your local business may be able to  provide an expert opinion, special offer or piece of editorial.

Secondly, look for the story that you can pitch to a local journalist  or writer. Think about what makes your story newsworthy - are you the  first, the fastest or the biggest? Are you helping a charity or group of  disadvantaged people? What benefit is your story having on the  community and why would local readers care?

This will help you to develop a killer pitch that needn’t be no more  than one or two paragraphs and send it out to the local press. 

Outside of your products or services, how else could you help  customers to solve problems in their lives? Some of the most useful  content in the world is educational!

If you’re a smoothie bar, why not create a leaflet of recipes your  customers can make at home? If you’re a cake cafe, show what exercises  your customers could do to work up enough calories to earn their puff  pie! 

As a restaurant, you could write blogposts on quick recipes for your  customers to make that would have them returning to your site, even if  they aren’t eating there that night. 

Educational content for your customers is probably stuff you already  know and talk about everyday! Turn it into a product as an easy  marketing practice for attracting more interest.

You may think your customers are only interested in saving money but  actually, time could be their most important commodity. Think about how  you could use marketing to save your customers more time. Can they tweet  you their coffee order before they arrive?

Could you offer a “speed lunch” menu for those hoping to make a quick getaway? 

Perhaps you can set up a play area or a worksheet for their children while they do the shopping?

Marketing incentives are a great way to save your customers time and have them think of you more fondly!

Stay on top of any customer queries that come in online or via the  phone. Chances are, if a customer’s calling they’re going to be seeking a  fast response that will help determine their decision on whether to  shop, eat or buy from you! 

Have an answer in three rings or less policy and have useful  information printed up near where you take your calls. Having to put  someone on hold to find out your opening times is not ideal!

Instagram has over 2.3 billion monthly active users from a range of ages (unlike other social channels such as Snapchat) so  it can be a useful way to connect more visually with customers.  Instagram also ties in with Facebook - in fact, Instagram ads are served  to Facebook audiences for free!

Getting your small business on Instagram and using your business’s  location is a great way to get your company in front of more potential  customers. 

Each time you post an image from your store, restaurant or studio,  add a GeoTag in the location field, that checks you in to your business.  This will encourage others to do the same and ensures your image shows  up in the location search. By setting up a Facebook Local Page and a  Google My Business page, you can help your location to be found more  easily on Instagram. 

With each image you post, share it then add a new comment containing  some of the hashtags you think will be relevant to your audience. These  could be location-based hashtags such as #LA or #London or subject  specific such as #fashion or #artdesign. 

As you begin to write each hashtag you’ll see a list of suggestions,  ranked by popularity, helping you to determine which hashtags are worth  using.

We’re now way over the tipping point of websites being accessed on more mobile devices than desktop. This calls for every site to have a responsive web design which allows it to adapt to smaller mobile or tablet screens.

You can usually check if your website is responsive by dragging the  corner of your browser smaller and smaller and seeing how the site looks  as the screen decreases in size. 

If you’re a local business you can also assume that customers will be  searching for your business while on the go, using their mobile device,  so it’s essential that they find a site that’s easy to scan and  navigate. 

20. See where your web traffic is coming from

We’ve already mentioned sites such as TripAdvisor and Top Table which  can be useful for collating reviews. But how else can people find your  business? With Google Analytics you can quickly see where your web  traffic is coming from, a strong indication of which marketing practices  work for your company.

Marketing practices for small business owners who want to increase longevity, generate more sales, reviews and repeat customers through the latest methods.

Every small business needs to have its marketing head firmly on. But what ideas are out there and how can you use them?

21 Best Marketing Practices for Small Businesses

21 Best Marketing Practices for Small Businesses

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