Let’s Talk: Winning strategies for small business marketing

Developing a robust marketing strategy is crucial for small businesses to thrive and stand out from the crowd.

With limited resources and budget constraints, small business owners must make strategic decisions to maximise their marketing efforts. 

By implementing best practices tailored to their unique needs, small businesses can effectively reach their target audience, drive growth, and achieve their goals. In today’s edition of Let’s Talk, our experts dive into the realm of small business marketing strategies. With their wealth of knowledge and experience, they offer valuable insights and practical tips to help small business owners develop a winning marketing strategy.

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Subhendu Pattnaik, Principal Analyst, MES and CMO Advisor, Forrester

“As a small business owner, you want your marketing organization to drive massive impact for you – achieve great brand positioning, drive mindshare, and bring in bigger and more opportunities which augment your revenue pipeline. It is challenging already but what makes it even more challenging is when you have less marketing budget, less resources and lack of prioritization of what to focus on, resulting in too many things to ‘do’. This aggravates the risk of spreading too thin across various marketing initiatives and putting undue stress on the system. And worse, marketing’s focus inherently shifts to marketing tactics for the short term and loses track of the big picture, organisational goals and objectives, finalized during the business strategy exercise.

“To get this fixed, you need to start from the basics. Build a marketing strategy which is clearly for the long-term (3-5 years) which articulates what marketing has to do over the years to deliver what organisation expects from marketing over the years. The key will be building a marketing strategy by breaking cross-functional silos, bringing in your sales, marketing and product teams together to identify and finalize areas which marketing will and will not focus on, prioritize areas of focus, determine shared cross-functional goals & KPIs and setting up a governance mechanism to review at regular intervals.

“It is important to acknowledge the critical role marketing can play not just in demand generation and branding, but also in post-sale customer lifecycle for retention, upsell and cross sell opportunity generation. Knowledge about your customer personas, about their perception of value, will help you put together a strategy which is data-driven, rather than based on past experience and intuition, which will help you build an agile, high-performance marketing organization which is built to scale and is future ready.”

Lisl Pietersz, Communication and Transition Coach, University of Sydney

“A marketing strategy is one of the most important documents you will create for your small business as it guides your promotional efforts and helps you to progress your brand goals. As a small business owner here are my best practices to develop a strong marketing strategy:

• Define your objectives, budget, and timeline. Get clear on what you are trying to do and ensure your objectives support your overall business purpose, while using the funds you have allocated within a specific timeframe.
• Define your customer. Identify your target customer and understand how your product or service empowers them. Once known, you can then develop your brand positioning to differentiate yourself in your market.
• Develop engaging content and get digital. Leverage social media and search engines to acquire new customers and ensure you have a strong content marketing plan. Don’t forget to use public relations to help drive and amplify your strategy.
• Plan campaigns and automate processes. There are a range of platforms that can help you to streamline and automate your campaigns e.g. Hootsuite, Hubspot and Mailchimp.
• Set metrics. Be sure to set clear metrics so you can measure the success of your campaigns.

“Once you have launched your marketing strategy, things may not go to plan and so it’s important to be flexible, stay curious, and adjust your tactics where needed.”

Kristen Pimpini, Regional Vice President, FLEX APJ, Twilio

“Tday’s omnichannel environment means that customers expect more from every provider they choose. Every interaction should be seen as an opportunity for the business to foster the customer’s relationship with the brand. A marketing strategy needs to consider the following best practices for digital engagement:

• A holistic approach to customer data – Different types of data exist, such as behavioural, transactional and channel engagement data. To truly understand a customer, the business needs to unify the different types of data so they are actionable and accessible. Teams armed with this data can provide experiences tailored to each customer, driving loyalty and retention while growing customer lifetime value.
• Be precise with personalisation – Customers want to be treated according to who they truly are. Twilio research found that 79% of Australian consumers say personalised experiences increase brand loyalty. With Aussie consumers spending 19% more on brands that personalise, businesses need to ensure every customer-facing team has the same up-to-date information, taking into account different interactions across touchpoints to offer a customer experience that stands out.
• Earn their trust – Businesses need to be able to source and leverage zero-party data, as the cookieless future becomes a reality by 2024. Zero-party data is the customer data that customers trust brands enough to volunteer in order to improve or further tailor an experience, like preferences about products, lifestyle and habits. Brands need to earn customer trust and investing in good data policies and practices will also help with precise personalisation, driving not only loyalty but also ROI.”

Kate Musgrove, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Bazaarvoice

“For a small business, developing a marketing strategy can be very daunting and also seem like a big investment. But it’s a necessary one to grow and compete in today’s market. As a small to medium business it’s often hard to find the time, funds, or expertise to execute a complete marketing strategy.

“A key part to creating a successful marketing strategy is leaning into your customer feedback. Use the reviews, testimonials, and visual media that comes from your customers. It would be remiss to let that valuable content go to waste, so make sure you repackage it across your marketing channels. This is known as User-generated content (UGC)! It’s free, effective, and the customers who also follow your brand online are the ones crafting the content. They’re representing themselves in the best light possible online, and when they look good, so do you.

“Approaching your business’s marketing with a UGC-focused strategy will not only allow you to realistically accomplish your goals, but research also shows that UGC significantly increases conversions and revenue per visitor. If you haven’t tried it, certainly consider bringing UGC into your marketing strategy, it is a great way to promote your business and customers!”

Theo Hildyard, VP Demand Generation Marketing, Brightcove

“Video is a powerful marketing tool that small businesses should incorporate into their strategy. By harnessing the power of visual storytelling, businesses can differentiate from competitors and reach wider audiences.

“Video marketing doesn’t need to break the bank. Small businesses are often surprised by 1) how much video content they already have, and 2) how effective lower-budget, authentic videos are.

“Tailored video content drives engagement and enhances the user experience. By personalising content and recommendations based on viewing preferences, businesses can create a more tailored and captivating video strategy.  This targeted approach increases engagement and is cost-effective, allowing businesses to maximise return on investment (ROI).

“Analytics are essential for any video strategy, as video performance monitoring informs smart investment decisions. By choosing a reliable video hosting platform, businesses can effectively convert raw data into actionable insights. Assessing video performance and engagement metrics allows businesses to evaluate impact and make data-driven adjustments.

“In today’s digital landscape, video content is crucial in a business’s marketing strategy. For small businesses, the key lies in leveraging audience insights to make smart decisions. By ensuring that video content remains relevant and resonates with consumers, businesses can maximise ROI and create a more compelling brand presence.”

Roni Millard, CMO at Equifax ANZ

“When developing a marketing strategy, it’s important to start with positioning statements such as a company mission, vision, value propositions for customers and employees, and core values. These form your north star and will keep you honest and on track.

“It’s vital to know your audience – who are you trying to engage with? Be clear on what keeps them up at night, their pain points, and how you’ll support them to achieve their desired outcomes. Does your solution translate well into a compelling reason for them to invest with you? This can enable quality conversations that have higher potential to convert into sales and revenue.

“It’s also important to understand the lead workflow, lead time to close a sale, and buyer behaviour so you can optimise prospects moving through the sales funnel and know what your opportunities are for return on investment. Not all marketing channels will work! For example, pay-per-click can be expensive if not done well. Events, social media, emails, and public relations can all be effective if they align to tell your story of ‘why-you-over-others’.

“Finally, the most important factor for me is your team. Surrounding yourself with people who share your vision and goals, and are all-in on the journey to achieve them, is the path to success. High performance and excellent results will only come when you have comradery, unity and passion!”

Amy Miocevich, Founder of Lumos Marketing, author of The Very Good Marketing Guide

“Developing your marketing strategy as a small business is all about taking small steps that you can execute with consistency. Although it is tempting to think big and grand, and plan months and months ahead, the best outcome will always come from small, considered experiments with the budget that you have. This ensures you are able to pivot, commit and learn from what you think is the best strategy today – to develop the best strategy for the future.

“Your marketing strategy therefore needs to resemble a series of small experiments and trials where the results can be examined against your goals. For example, if you think that Facebook Ads is a good strategy for you to implement as a business, you should look at running that strategy consistently for 90 days before you can really say you know for sure if it will resemble your long term strategy.”

Elise Balsillie, Head of Thryv Australia

“Whether you’re a new small business ready to launch or an existing business who’s looking to grow, having a marketing strategy and plan is essential in setting goals and objectives to build awareness and attract customers.

“The first step in developing a marketing plan is to decide if you can manage marketing your business on your own or if need a solution, such as software and automation. Technology will help ease the pressure of the day-to-day running of your business and will do all the heavy lifting for you.

“Once you’re ready to develop a marketing strategy, knowing your customer and their online behaviour is imperative in building your digital footprint. These days, having only a website isn’t enough to sustain your business and build your online presence.

“Social media is the preferred method for consumers to connect with local businesses. Using it properly can help your small business stand out.

“Another best practice marketing strategy is to feed your customers information that they are interested in. You can use email marketing and even automated tools to help you achieve this. And finally, a strong SEO game can help bring your business marketing strategy to life by underpinning the rest of your marketing.”

Kieron Wogan, CMO, Carbar

“Businesses typically launch into things without the foundations for building a sound marketing strategy. So before you start spending on ads or other marketing initiatives, take a step back and ensure you have the fundamentals in place.

“Successful strategies start with a deep understanding of your market. This means understanding who your customers are, how you differ from other offerings and your core product(s). Don’t spread yourself too thin: Focus on doing one (or a few things) really well.

“Once you sort this out, make sure you have a clear value proposition (a statement which addresses those points above) and ensure this is clear and prominent on your website.

“Armed with the above knowledge and a clear and compelling proposition, you should be able to develop and implement marketing strategies — make decisions on product, price, promotion and distribution — that foster growth from current users and trigger prospects to re-evaluate and choose you over other offerings in the market.”

Dean McPherson, Co-Founder, Paperform

“Growing a business largely depends on what you’re selling and how tough your competition is. These two things can force you to explore channels that are more sustainable and naturally compound over time. When my wife Diony and I kick-started Paperform, we entered a saturated market. We knew we couldn’t compete with the larger players on paid ads alone. So, very early on in our business strategy, we shifted our approach to be ‘product-led’, where we focused our energies on leveraging the product experience to grow our acquisition of new users.

“Here’s a three-step overview of how we did it:

1. Word-of-Mouth: We worked hard to wow our customers with great customer service. Our team might have been small to start off with but customers were always the number one priority. This effort resonated with our customers who loved the personalised experience, causing them to pass their feedback on to friends, and ultimately playing an integral role in keeping our business base stable.
2. Product Virality: We made it obvious when people were using a Paperform form. Our name was everywhere, with each user reaching the bottom of any page with a ‘Powered by Paperform’ reminder. Our forms were also branded on a Paperform URL and auto-response emails from Paperform were sent directly after a customer interaction. This was critical in boosting brand awareness and driving new sign-ups.
3. Organic Search: We decided to make our form templates findable on Google. This is an amazing SEO opportunity in that there are a lot of low-volume yet high-intent long-tail keywords in the forms space. This helped drive a lot of free traffic our way.”

Chris Dahl, Co-CEO at Pin Payments

“We work with many small businesses across a number disciplines and one thing remains true across all, marketing is vital to their overall growth and longevity. As a new business, it can be easy to fall into the trap of questioning ROI without truly understanding the importance of brand recognition to a business’s overall success.

“Marketing isn’t an overnight solution. It isn’t about quick wins or easy fixes and brands who fall into the trap of seeing it as a sprint, instead of a marathon, often drop off in their marketing and branding efforts. When building a brand, especially for startups and small businesses, consistency is key. Continuing to put in the effort, even when you’re not seeing immediate wins, will result in long-term brand recognition.

“However,  it’s worth emphasising that you can’t (and shouldn’t) try to use all forms of marketing and media. Pick the right avenue that makes the most sense for your business and focus on that.”

Vincent Nair, CEO and Executive Chairman, SMARTECH Business Systems

“At SMARTECH Business Systems, we use social media channels (predominantly LinkedIn) to publish frequent and consistent high-quality content relating to our employees, customers and products. We ensure that our workforce and company culture and company values (i.e., staff and customer recognition and celebrations, philanthropic activity etc.) are shared and amplified via social media platforms to users.

“We use email marketing by sending out regular EDMs with product solutions, campaigns and new initiatives.

“Search engine optimisation (SEO) is also important. We invested in building a best-in-class website that is search-engine friendly by ensuring that it is made visible on Google and other search engines.

“This activity is reflective of our attitude to communicate with employees and customers, the lifeblood of any business, at a rapid pace.

“We identify marketing as a strategic measure for our growth and digital strategy and see it as an essential part of our business success.

“By deploying the above tactics, our revenue grew 24 per cent year-on-year from a standing start with zero marketing in 2020, and then a further 21 per cent in 2022 compared to 2020 levels.”

“Developing an effective marketing strategy for small businesses is crucial. These businesses are often the embodiment of personal passion and start as a labour of love, so it’s essential for the marketing strategy to radiate that passion.  Just like a tailor hand-stitches a bespoke suit, the marketing strategy should weave together its values, story, and aspirations.

“Every marketing touchpoint, from social media posts to the website, should exude the authenticity and dedication that make the business special. This invites customers to connect on a deeper level and resonate with the brand’s story. To foster this connection, engage with customers by responding to comments, use handwritten notes or thank-you cards, and offer behind-the-scenes glimpses. These actions will connect with the target audience and craft a unique value proposition.

“By connecting back to customers, small businesses can gain valuable insights and feedback, allowing tailored offerings and providing exceptional value. Understanding your customers’ needs and preferences helps differentiate your small business and sets it apart from competitors. The personalised approach, embracing authenticity to leverage the unique story will capture hearts, and propel the business toward long-term success, and sustainable growth.”

Jenny De Lacy, Content Marketing and Social Media Consultant and Mentor, Talking Digital

“Let’s simplify marketing for all the time strapped business owners that just want to get on with the business of business.

“Here’s a great shortcut that breaks some traditional marketing ‘rules’ but will give you a clear strategy and plan for your marketing that will generate results:

• Purpose + Proposition + People = targeted marketing that connects and converts
• Purpose: Firstly set your goals. Are you launching a new thing? Want more brand recognition in a certain segment of the market? How will you measure your marketing results?
• Proposition: Your promise to the market. This is your unique value proposition and includes what you do, for whom, and possibly how and why. This simple statement is your litmus test for all your marketing efforts. Ask ‘does this marketing activity prove our promise to the people we help?’
• People: Who is your marketing targeted to? What do they need from you? What problems do they have that you solve? Where do they hang out online and offline?

“Put these together and then match your marketing efforts to them to make decisions about what’s in and what’s out. Marketing doesn’t have to be complicated.

“Keep it simple and reach more ideal clients.”

Michael Haynes, SME Business Growth Specialist, Listen Innovate Grow

“Service-based SMEs such as Accounting, Law and IT firms operating in a B2B context must ensure their marketing strategy adheres to the following 3 key principles:

1. Be BUYER Driven not simply Customer Driven.
   To do this, you must know:
   • Who Buys (i.e who makes the purchase decision)
   • What are the Buyers’ Priorities?
   • How Do They Buy (i.e what self-research and education do they undertake)

Your first step in developing your marketing strategy should be to gain an in-depth understanding to these 3 questions by using effective B2B buyer listening techniques.

2. B2B Buyers are overwhelmed with Information
   • They are inundated with more content then they know what to do with and have very little time to digest it all and determine relevancy for their business.
3. B2B Buyers seek “ A-I-R”
   B2B Buyers want Advice, Insights and Recommendations to help them navigate and make sense of all of the content and determine:
   • What it means for their business
   • How best to move forward

Therefore, the focus of your B2B marketing strategy should be aimed at both providing “A-I-R” as well as opportunities to start the conversation with buyers and demonstrate how you can help them achieve their objectives.”

Steve Jaenke, Founder and CEO, Digimark Australia

“The foundation of a successful marketing strategy lies in clearly understanding your business objectives. These objectives should guide every decision, particularly in selecting the right marketing channels. It’s tempting to dive headfirst into the marketing tactics that are in vogue, but your choices should always align with what you aim to achieve in your business.

“The key is to identify the objectives that matter most to your business right now. Are you looking to quickly generate leads to bolster short-term revenue? Or are you focused on establishing brand presence and awareness that will fuel long-term growth?

“Once you’re clear on your business objectives, you can make more informed decisions about which marketing channels are most appropriate for your needs. For instance, if immediate lead generation is your primary objective, certain direct response channels might be more appropriate. On the other hand, if you’re looking to nurture a sustainable customer base over time, you might lean towards a content marketing or SEO strategy.”

Chanie Hyde, Freelance Marketing Manager, ChanieHyde

“As someone who has been wrangling digital marketing tactics and strategies for multiple small businesses and startups for over a decade, I’ve seen a LOT! My best advice is, ‘Start small, start with what you know and expand from there.’

“It’s so easy to want to go in guns blazing and open up marketing channels on every form of social media, to have the most prominent and snazziest website and to promote yourself in PPC ads everywhere. Still, if you’re doing it yourself, you don’t have the time to do everything well. You likely need more money to make data-driven decisions to optimise your efforts across all channels.

“Pick one tactic or channel your audience plays in that you feel you can put appropriate budget and effort into, make sure you measure your efforts, always optimise, then rinse and repeat.”

Ishani Chattopadhyay, Founder and Managing Partner, Arctic 90

“Running a small business is all about juggling and getting the most out of your expenditure. With that in mind, marketing can often be a big cost item without the business capturing the tangible benefits or returns. It’s therefore imperative for small to medium sized businesses to take the “test, learn and tweak” approach rather than blanket amounts into google adwords, social media or other marketing channels.

“As a first step the business should have a very clear definition of their customer segment(s) as part of their marketing strategy and understand exactly what their value proposition is to each of those segments. Secondly it is critical to have a hypothesis and/or data to understand what channels are effective for those customer segments and then stipulate small amounts of funds to “test” or “validate” the hypothesis and map how customers are travelling along the marketing funnel from awareness to purchase/conversion. Monitoring the data and understanding the efficacy of which marketing channel is working for which customer segment is essential before scaling a particular marketing strategy.

“Last but not the least it would also make sense to monitor the data or outcome of the marketing strategy on an ongoing basis as things are continually changing both for the customer and the market dynamics within which the business operates.”

Ged Mansour, Director, Same Wave Communications

“Start by defining your audience and what you offer them. What pain point are you addressing? What experience are you creating? What claim can you make that competitors can’t?

“Next, look at your approach. Don’t try to do it all at once. Focus on one or two tactics to start with. For instance, if you have a great story to tell around something ground-breaking, different or with a strong human-interest angle, consider media outreach.

“Business owners are passionate, but often need someone to help shape their story. Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of an expert who will give it to you straight and help build your approach. When you have great content, think about all the ways you can use it, from media outreach to sponsored content, on your website, social media and elsewhere. Sweat your assets.

“If your business is focused on specific local areas, consider a targeted paid social media strategy. Is your business heavily reliant on partners or otherwise channel-centric? If so, your partners may have amazing marketing going on be looking for fellow partners to join forces with.

“Marketing and communications are like any other discipline. Be structured, measure, ditch what doesn’t work, iterate and repeat the stuff that works.

“Remember there’s more than one way to get to success.”

Thomas Fu, Founder and Executive Director, Motor Culture Australia

“Developing an effective marketing strategy was a key element to our overarching growth strategy when we first started Motor Culture Australia. As Gen Zers who’ve grown up with technology, we knew building brand awareness and trust was crucial to our success, and so that was something we invested in from the get-go.

“However, before investing in any marketing, it was important for us to properly understand our target audience. Conducting thorough market research can help you identify your customer’s needs, preferences, and pain points. This knowledge will help you tailor your messaging and choose the most effective marketing channels to reach your audience. Likewise, building a strong dedicated team was key to helping us create a brand we felt accurately reflected our unique selling proposition (USP) at Motor Culture Australia.

Identifying your USP and highlighting your unique selling proposition as a business, helps to set you apart from competitors and determines what makes your products or services different. At the end of the day, you want your branding to emphasise the value you provide for your target consumers, in order to showcase the passion you and your team have for your industry.”

Hugo Pinto Villalba, Consultant and Founder of Avila Consulting

“To get noticed in business you need to have a marketing strategy in place. In my opinion, these are the four key elements that you need to consider:

1. Identify and Understand Your Target: Conduct market research to know your customers. Tailor your message and offer and make sure they resonate with your target.
2. Review Your Buyer’s Journey: Map or identify the steps (touchpoints) your customer does to purchase your product or service both online and offline (if relevant). This will help you to identify areas of opportunity to improve conversion.
3. Measure and Adapt: Implement activities that respond to the opportunities or problems you have identified and assess their impact. This is key as you will learn what works and what doesn’t. Adapt your activities based on data-driven decisions.
4. Ensure Alignment: Maintain consistency in your branding and communication. Adapt messaging for each platform while maintaining a cohesive theme. Align visual elements for brand recognition.

“Implementing these best practices, on top of offering a great customer experience will help your business to establish a strong marketing foundation for the future.”

Emma Alexander, Managing Director, Studio Caviar

“Developing a marketing strategy can be challenging and often something that people push aside, however it’s crucial for the success of any business.

“To get you started it’s best to define your target audience. Who are they? What are their needs? What motivates them? Then, set clear goals and objective and ensure they are measurable. Those goals could be to increase sales, create brand awareness in the market, to generate leads or convert sales. Once you have defined your goals best practice for your marketing strategy is to conduct a competitive analysis. Ensure you understand their marketing strategies, their strengths and weaknesses and where they are gaps in the market or areas where you can develop your unique value proposition.

“Your unique value proposition is what will differentiate you from other businesses. You need to ensure you are communicating why your customers should choose you, over your competitors. Once all of this ground work has been laid out, it’s time to select you marketing channels (social media, email marketing, paid advertising, events etc) and create a content plan and creative for your marketing mediums.

“Lastly, ensure you are tracking your results. You don’t want to spend money for the sake of it, especially as a small business so, be sure to set up metrics to track your marketing performance and adjust as needed.”

Brianna Vidal, Director, Affinity Marketing

“Marketing strategy for small business is often done most effectively with a simple, straightforward marketing plan that is manageable for your team and gives all stakeholders a clear view of your objectives and how you will measure impact.

“Answering these five simple questions will help you rapidly pull together your action plan:

1. Who are we targeting?
2. What are our objectives? (Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or driving conversions, setting specific goals helps guide the marketing activities.)
3. How will we achieve our goals?
4. What’s our time frame for tactics and campaigns?
5. How will we measure our efforts and channels and communicate this clearly to stakeholders?

“Planning activities quarterly provides enough structure, allowing you to optimise by reviewing and resetting according to the changing business environment and needs.

“Marketing strategy is your overall game plan. It clearly outlines your ‘who, what, why’, your business and marketing goals and measurement/reporting methods. Tactics are the specific activities you will use to execute your strategy, they outline the activity plan you will implement to achieve your goals as outlined in your marketing strategy.

“During a downturn, businesses can use resources wisely by optimising their owned assets and improve marketing efficiency. Focusing on activities such as SEO, optimising websites and U/X, implementing automation for efficiency, and creating simple and authentic content will help improve conversions and engagement goals, whilst improving the overall performance of key channels for when budgets are upweighted again.”

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