Building marketing strategies for small businesses is one of my favorite things. In my first marketing role, I worked in the marketing department for a small company before moving on to Distilled, where I've been lucky enough to continue working with small businesses that have enormous potential. Despite the various industries, locales, and personalities, one of the prevailing similarities between them is that small businesses often don't position their company or use the web as effectively as they could. While this is partially due to the time and resource crunch small business owners feel, it's also because, beyond building a website, they don't know where to begin.
It doesn't have to be so overwhelming though. I'll walk you through the preliminary steps I take my small business clients through.
1. Define the brand
A number of the small companies I've worked with didn't have a brand. That's not to say that they didn't have a name, a website, and a logo. It's that they didn't stand for something.
For example, what comes to mind when you think of Apple? Innovative and well-designed products? Exactly. So many small businesses are built from an individual wanting to work for themselves or because they see an opportunity to improve on an existing product. They figure, build the website and they will come.
But it's not that way. You need a brand. As we've seen throughout history, the companies that have staying power have a brand, something that differentiates them from their competitors, something that people connect with and, coupled with good products and customer service, something that keeps people coming back.
I'm sure you're thinking, "Well that's all fine and good, Morgan, but I don't know how you go about building a brand." That's fine. There are people who make careers out of building brands you could contact, market research surveys you could pass out, and focus groups you could run, but, realistically, small businesses don't usually have the financial resources to invest in these strategies. This doesn't mean you can't have a brand though; you'll just have to run a lightweight brand building exercise which goes something like this:
1. Think about your origin story
Ask yourself: "Why did I start this company? What am I proud of?" Oftentimes what drove you to start your own company and how it's reflected in your business practices is what makes you unique.
2. Talk to your customers
Ask your customers: "What do you like about our company? What don't you like? Why did you choose us over our competitors? What are your pain points?" When you listen to customers talk about your business, you'll have a better understanding of the aspects of your company that resonate with people and what should be reflected in your brand messaging.
3. Do competitor research
Take a look at your competitors' websites. Ask yourself: "What are they doing well? What aren't they doing well? How do they talk about their company?" You're looking for holes in your industry, a way to make your company different than your competitors.
4. Compile all information and develop a brand
Once you've researched your origin story, competitors' tactics, and customer sentiment, it's time to start building a brand. What from your origin story and customer conversations stood out and got you excited? How can you talk about those things in a way your competitors haven't? Once you have that figured out, you have a brand position.
Let's make this final step more concrete with an example. I worked with a tech consulting and recruiting firm that had a history of success in the immediate area, but was looking to attract people from the greater region as well as gain new client companies. In order to stand out from the other technical consulting firms and get people excited about working for them, we knew that they had to have more than a website that stated they were a consulting firm. They were going to have to develop a brand. We ran through the steps above with the following takeaways:
- Origin Story: The owner started the company because he liked working with really competent developers, and realized that the best way to ensure he did so was to start his own company.
- Customer Research: Customers preferred going with this particular company because the quality of work was always so high. People liked working for this company because there was always a lot of challenging work.
- Competitor Research: The rest of the companies weren't run by people with technical backgrounds. This company was, though, and as a result was able to do more rigorous testing and find the best people.
The main theme here was that the company only hired the best (origin story), because they had the technical chops to know who the best were (competitor research), which meant that this company's employees did exceptional work (customer research), which in turn made sure they landed challenging contracts (customer research).
Due to this insight, we positioned the company as the elite option, heavily citing the fact that only 4% of people could pass the technical interview—to work for this company was to work with the best and that to hire them was to have the best working for you. This resonated well with both target audiences, and they saw a heightened brand awareness with both potential recruits and clients.
2. Review the website content and language
Although most small businesses have websites, it's necessary for owners to take a step back and review the website through the eyes of a consumer. Too often people assume that website visitors have a certain level of company knowledge, or that they speak the same jargon. That's not always the case. For example, the aforementioned tech company originally wrote so vaguely about their services using insider jargon that neither target audience understood the company's mission. Once the text was rewritten with specific consumers in mind, people started coming to the owner and saying "Now that you've redone your website, I finally understand what your company is about." In order to not find yourself in that position, ask yourself:
1. Does the website have the information my target audience needs?
A company website is useless if it doesn't have the information your target audience needs. On the most basic level, this should include what your company does, in-depth product or service information, prices associated with your services, and contact information.
It's actually astonishing how often companies, both large and small, don't do this.
Just the other day, I was looking at marketing software and even now I couldn't tell you what their product does. If they had taken a step back and assumed that people didn't know what their company did, their website would be more effective and they'd likely increase leads.
2. Am I using the language my target audience would use?
Oftentimes, we get so wrapped up in our industry that we forget that others, especially customers, don't necessarily use the same terms as us. By using terms that are different from those of your target audience, your organic traffic will suffer and your website won't be nearly as effective. When you talk to your customers during the branding exercise, see what terms they use. Use keyword research to validate your findings and use this language on the website.
Remember that your brand position is at the heart of this language and content. You want to talk about your core competencies in a language that's accessible, but through the lens of what makes you different. The tech consulting firm I worked with, for example, rewrote their text so that there were pages dedicated to both their recruiting and consulting services. Both of those pages used the terms that those specific audiences would use, spoke in depth as to what these services were, and did so by concentrating on the 'elite' factor in a way that appealed to both sides. The content and language need to be there for your audience, but use the defining aspects of your brand to spice it up.
3. Develop overarching marketing strategy
So at this point, you have a website that reflects your brand and differentiates you from your competitors. I'm going to assume that your website is already
optimized for search engines and that you have
a good user experience. You're done, right? Yes and no. You could be done if you're not relying on online to be a huge source of business. If you are counting on online, it's time to start working on your overarching online marketing strategy.
This is the part that tends to feel the most overwhelming for small businesses. With so many different avenues out there, it can be stressful knowing what to pursue. My first piece of advice? Don't pursue them all. It's okay not to. You're a small business owner with limited resources, so only go with the ones that will have the biggest ROI.
So how do you know which ones are worth your time?
Content strategy
In the online marketing world, content is king. Google wants you to deliver value to your site visitors and unique content is one way of going about this. Building a content strategy isn't easy though. You don't want to write the same thing that everyone else in your industry is writing about. There's no unique value in that, and because your site likely isn't strong from a domain authority perspective (yet!), you'll usually find it difficult to rank against the big sites who are writing the same content.
Instead, you'll need to take stances on issues or solve your clients' unique problems, giving them a reason to keep coming back to your site. If you can do this, great, but don't just write content for the sake of it. If you're a small ice cream shop for example, it's going to be difficult to write content that's on-brand and relevant to your audience. In this case, focus on other marketing strategies.
Paid
Doing paid, whether search, display, or social, can be really effective if done correctly. The downside? It can take a lot of time and money to monitor and improve on your campaigns. Highly competitive terms can have extremely high cost-per-click (CPC) rates, and the cost-per-action (CPA) is usually even higher. For example, terms in the insurance industry can have CPCs of $50 in a search environment.
In order to be as cost efficient with this strategy, you'll have to constantly monitor your campaigns and see what is working well and what isn't. Even though it can eat through your time and money, it's a good option for people who aren't showing up in SERPs or driving traffic from other avenues.
Social
Social can be a really effective way of engaging consumers and building brand loyalty, but I normally only suggest starting a social strategy once a company has built out their brand and website. You're going to need unique content, images, or deals in order to have a social marketing strategy. It's often easier to start in other areas and build a catalog of resources before you launch into social.
Once you have content to share, decide which social platforms best fit your company's mission. For example, LinkedIn and Twitter are usually better for B2B while Facebook is better for B2C. Just like you don't have to chase every marketing strategy, you don't have to have a social campaign for every platform. Concentrate on the one or two that will best reach your audience. Make sure the content you're sharing will do well on that platform. For Facebook and Pinterest, you'll need image based content while Twitter and LinkedIn will be best for article-based content or quick updates.
Email
Email marketing isn't an effective method of gaining new customers, but is a great avenue for businesses trying to increase retention or brand loyalty. If this is your goal, make sure your emails contain value. For example, you open email from your doctor's office reminding you about an appointment or from a local ice cream shop that offers discounts because these emails contain value. When people open these emails, their lives get easier or they're given something that gives them tangible value. It's vital that your email marketing communications do the same whether it be content or deals.
Local
If you're a small business using the Internet to drive traffic to your store, I absolutely believe you should be invested in local. While there's the initial time investment to get it set up, there's a minimal time investment needed to keep it up-to-date.
Promotions
At Distilled, we have a whole team responsible for reaching out to bloggers and publications in order to get our clients and their content featured in the right places. Their work not only helps build brand awareness but, when our clients' work is covered and linked to, also has the added SEO benefit of natural links and, in turn, a stronger site.
Most small businesses don't have the resources for this kind of promotion, but if you want your brand and organic traffic to grow, it's vital that you partake in a variation of this. Instead of scoping out bloggers and target publications like the New York Times though, start small. Build relationships with other businesses in your area or be active in industry specific forums. Building those relationships and positioning yourself as a thought leader will help your business as well as your own name grow which can then result in brand awareness and links. For small businesses, it's important to network even in a way that isn't necessarily 'online first.'
There's a lot that goes into marketing for any size company, but it can be particularly overwhelming for small businesses which have limited time and resources. It'll be a lot of work, no doubt about it, but will feel a little more manageable, even for one-person teams, if you take it one step at a time.
Start by figuring out what makes your company different and communicating that. In my experience, this alone will put you ahead of many of your small business counterparts. Then it's time to think about your customers' needs and how you'll address them. Having content that's valuable to your customers and their problems, content they'll actually want to consume, is a huge part of the battle.
Now that you've got the content, decide which marketing strategies will be most likely to help you reach your target audience. Just remember that you don't have to overextend yourself and use every possible marketing channel to do this. So: Brand. Language. Content. Share. You've got this.
Tell me about your small business branding adventures in the comments below!
At Distilled, we have a whole team responsible for reaching out to bloggers and publications in order to get our clients and their content featured in the right places. Their work not only helps build brand awareness but, when our clients' work is covered and linked to, also has the added SEO benefit of natural links and, in turn, a stronger site.
Regarding the idea about doing promotions, I cannot agree with and emphasize that enough. One of my personal mantras: "How would you market your business if the Internet did not exist? Answer that, and it will help your online marketing."
Here's a Boston-based example because I was once a reporter there.
Say your small business is a coffee house. I hear it's been wicked cold there lately. I'd hire an army of baristas to dress in branded winter clothes and jackets and give free branded cups of coffee to people who are waiting outside in the cold for buses and the T. Tell everyone from The Boston Globe to Universal Hub (a website feed of the posts of local bloggers, if it still exists) and more beforehand. Get the people who get the free coffee to take photos and videos and spread them online.
Really, your cost is only the coffee, the cups, and the labor (time). But if you do this publicity stunt well, you'll get brand awareness and social media exposure as well as coverage -- and, yes, links -- from tons of places to your small business website.
The Internet really didn't change that much. In the end, it's still just doing good marketing. Get creative!
Samuel, This is a great example. I love the idea of going off-line to score online links. Why not write (hand-wriitten) hashtags on the coffee cups as well before handing them out to create social buzz too.
This is happening right now in Pennsylvania, I think, where a pizza owner is helping homeless people. He is getting links from some of the biggest news outlets, appearing on Ellen, and getting more social and links than he can keep up with.
Exactly! This is a perfect example of how the best and greatest numbers of links are just by-products of doing good PR and publicity!
Here's a link I found with a lot more on the story -- think about how many Facebook "likes," links, and more this pizza parlor is getting from creative publicity! (Even if he had never intended to get the attention.)
This is a great tip, it reminds you to always keep your eyes open for an opportunity!
Hi,
Very Nice post. But my question is How to do all these efforts if you have a small man power?
Hi Kushal,
That is definitely the million dollar question! When I freelanced, I always use to say to my clients to not commit to doing too much early on. There is nothing more demoralising than saying to yourself you'll post to Facebook twice a day, send two email campaigns a week and manage a PPC account, but in reality you just don't have time. You end up doing nothing particularly well.
I'd say start small and build out the rest once you're happy with how each element is working. When I took on my current role, we ignored PPC for the first three months because we knew we didn't have the resource to do that channel justice. Once we had a decent SEO and email strategy underway and felt comfortable with it, we had the confidence to focus on other channels too.
I agree 100% with Lewis' advice. I was the only person thinking about marketing in my first role, and know firsthand just how much there is to get done and how there's always more you could do. What I did then, and what I suggest now, are starting with the one or two avenues you believe will have the largest ROI. Once you're comfortable with those and how they're running, add more to the mix. However, only add more if you have time to add more.
In terms of actually getting things done for those particular strategies: I've found that if you block off time in your schedule for those activities, it also feels more manageable. For example, "from 10 - 10:30, I'm going to develop a social post on Monday's." It will become part of your routine and integrated into your overall business plan.
For small business I think there is a major think: focus, focus and focus :) select one or two aspects of your marketing strategy and give them a clear goal. When you have reached them it is time to go to another goal.
I definitely agree with Lewis' advice as well. Another tip would be to get a motivated college marketing student to intern (paid or unpaid) that will be able to pick up things quickly and help with a lot of the more tedious items. Having someone with fresh ideas come in to your marketing team can offer a new perspective on your business or current marketing efforts as well.
Loved loved this post! I love when Moz post small business focused articles. I loved number one and the break down of developing a brand. These questions can easily be applied to any company who is needing a place to start. I believe it could work for both online and offline marketing and by understanding your brand you can have a overarching strategy that will be effective.
It suprising me how many small business owners do not understand what sets they apart from their competitors and how often we have to walk them through the process. This is great thank you!
Very useful post for those who want to make their own brand. It's an extremely time consuming process and these tips come in handy to save time :)
Is this possible if you have small manpower and how far it reflects with business.
Great article Morgan, very informative yet brief.
I'd have to disagree on one thing: suggesting to start using social media after a website has been created.
I think that many businesses can start 'telling their story' on social media, before a website even exists, especially if as you said correctly, the 'brand' was already created.
The platforms are free, the target group is already there (choosing the right social media platform is important), and it usually takes much less financial efforts than creating a website.
For example, a new business can easily use social media to share with its target audience the process of 'becoming a business', and ask them to become an engaged part of that process, get feedback, etc.
Hi Adrian,
You raise a great point here! As long as there is a brand in place, some companies can definitely build up a social campaign before a website. For example, an ice cream shop might not even need a website, and at the very least, a good social presence would definitely be enough to get them started. This won't necessarily work for every type of company though. For example, a tech consulting firm needs to build up their brand authority and content first so that people trust them as a resource, both of which are much easier with a website. It definitely depends on the brand strategy, your target audience, and what kind of content you're trying to share.
Great point, Adrian. At my last company we did a few projects for companies that were re-branding or starting fresh altogether. Once we had their branding and logo finalized then we were able to start on social media profile build out and local citations, even with just a "coming soon" page on the website. This also helps to get a bit of SEO momentum started so that the site can be found at least for the company name when it is launched!
Good analysis Morgan, I just created my second based companies offering video marketing and initially believed that the percentage of time online marketing designed to be about 15%, but the average being 30% and is likely to increase as I'm checking that all points of which you speak requires good dedication.
So I recommend, if you can afford it, have professional help in paragraphs that can make you lose more time to devote to your projects and clients.
Thank you very much for your article!
Good stuff Morgan. Having a brand culture in place allows us to coast off that when we approach prospects with link opportunities. Having great content on a site is important. But from a purely SEO perspective I'll take brand over content any day.
Great post Morgan! Establishing a definitive brand is a huge part of proper marketing and overall client outreach. A good way for small businesses (who already have the fundamentals in place) is to ask existing customers what lasting impression they have--whether it's a small mom-and-pop shop or a more cutting-edge company. Once you have a clear vision which direction you want to move in and how you want to personify your business, the marketing strategy will be much easier to develop. Also, you have to be patient as it does take time for a brand to reach the masses. After all, Apple didn't become a success overnight :) ~Vishal
What would you do if you would have a really low budget (common situations when it comes to small businesses)? What strategy would you use?
I'd start with the one or two avenues you believe will have the largest ROI. Once you're comfortable with those and how they're running, add more to the mix. However, only add more if you have time and you're reasonably certain the new avenues will have a payoff. You can do a lot without a huge budget, but it's going to take a lot of time and effort on your end.
Hello !!!
Very interesting post!
Online marketing today opens important new business opportunities in a time where inventiveness and being different is crucial to have a good performance.Online marketing is not a matter of necessity but of survival. Having good marketing strategies is crucial to know your product and to talk about it.
I agree with all the points you have mentioned in the post.
hey Morgan great post and yes I agree there are lots of different approaches to take. love the idea that distilled help small businesses in this area, being a brand myself I know how difficult this can be
Hi Morgan,
There are some really great points to take away from here. I do like that you've touched upon language, it's easily forgotten to keep it relevant for the audience, but to also switch it up depending on age demographics. I found a lot of brands are afraid to 'go hip', but if you have a younger audience as well as an older one, it's worth noting. And Vice versa.
Great post, Morgan. I work as a marketing coordinator for a start up company, and I've found myself going through a similar process. Definitely agree with you that breaking down your origin story is key! Resolving to find out the "why" behind branding choices has been immensely helpful to me. Thanks for this!
Congrats Morgan for the great contribution start at MOZ :)
BRANDING is the cutting edge solution for business growth, much recommended. IMO, people never rely on a business that they had never listen about in past. Feedback, positive/negative reviews, Online reputation, presentation are some of the factors people look upon before buying anything. Branding is a must thing which should be taken care of; A couple of good points over there, so yes it's a win-win situation.
We all talk about this platform and this strategy is useful but if Client takes interest and initiatives into the real stuff, it will result into BETTER for sure. Nevertheless, you mentioned valid points Morgan. Great!!!
Hi Morgan,
Nice summary for new businesses, I would like to add something in it,
Totally agreed on your content point, Shariq. When I wrote about content in the post, I was talking specifically about articles and whitepapers. In a broader sense though, anything your brand publishes can be considered content and you're right that it's impossible to get your marketing message out without some form of communication.
You're also spot on with your paid and conversion comments. Paid not only gives you certain ROI information, but can help boost your visibility when organic is struggling. And conversions are certainly a huge factor in the overall picture, not just traffic. Small businesses need to know who they're targeting and what they're likely to be interested in in order to increase conversions.
Nicely encapsulated Shariq! dealing with small business and asking them to pour some money is a tricky task. But it is more about educating them first, show them your first month's result and explain how they could double their ROI or Branding by investing in more.
morgan chessman thanks for sucha a nice article i love it . i hope it will help in my blog thanks again for that
www.gofortricks.com
While there are all kinds of benefits that are associated with learning and furthering your educational goals there are even more benefits to those who wish to pursue online learning in order to achieve those goals.
https://distance-edues.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the article Morgan :)
Branding definitely should be the first and foremost priority in any businesses there maybe. As a web designer, it is disappointing sometimes that some small businesses don't really have a clue or any inspiration on how to brand their business. Others are also keen to go for keywords as their name which sometimes does not really sound nice. Nevertheless, we are doing our very best to advice them on the best possible options. Hopefully more and more starting businesses realize the importance of branding as this is a step that's hard to undo.
Hi... very interesting post.
i have already implement it on my on going small project and i am really amaze to see the success. i like your post its well structured and useful to me. thanks for sharing.
Very comprehensive insight - connects with reality,well done !
This article gives several important and major steps to take in bringing a small business closer to being on par with the bigger and more financially able super corporations. It takes an overwhelming task and breaks it down into smaller and more manageable pieces using categories and sub-categories. It begins with defining what a brand should and shouldn't be. It also outlines several helpful resources that can be utilized to greatly increase chances of success, such as online opportunities, social media, etc. It provides tips to really narrow down and determine your target audience to even further maximize overall success. The strategies explained are easy to understand and follow. The information given is very knowledgeable and should be taken advantage of by any and all who want to grow their small business and make it better than ever.
Hello,
Nice article on "small business marketing strategies". I completely agree with you that small businesses don't use the web as effectively as possible. I believe it's a big challenge for small businesses to reach their customers online. They don't know where to begin their marketing. Small companies should build a brand in order to connect with their customers.
A brand is something which customers are able to recognize. For building a brand, small businesses needs to do a competitive research and customer research. After building a brand successfully, businesses should develop a marketing strategy for promoting their brands online.
Writing a content that is relevant to your audience is an effective way of online brand promotion. Social media marketing is also an effective way of building brand loyalty. As discussed in this article, after you have a relevant content to share, choose the right social media platform that best suits your brand.
Check this link: https://www.logodesignteam.com/blog/7-ways-build-authority-brand-online/
I found this link useful. This blog post explains step by step ways of building a brand online.
In order to gain the trust of your audience, build a trusted brand.
This are some great remminders for small business owners and importance of establishing brand. Thank you!
Great Article Morgan! Its a difficult process... but lets give it a go and see what happens. Thank you! :-)
It has been my experience guiding entrepreneurs building service oriented businesses, that they attempt to sell their service rather than the actual value and benefit to the client. This reflects itself in their website content and virtually all the interactions they have.
Oftentimes, they often don't even know their prospective client's real needs or pain points so they can't connect to the part of their prospect making the buying decision.
In the course of our work together, they learn that ultimately no one buys any service. People only buy a solution to a problem. This shift in thinking is quite profound and opens up a whole new possibility and expansion in their business.
This piece comes across as extremely negative in tone. Both the intro and conclusion focus on how small businesses have limited resources and how overwhelmed they feel. What a great way to make a small business owner just give up before they get to the useful parts.Both intro and conclusion could be reframed to convey that there is untapped opportunity here. Furthermore, it is something of a greenfield since most small businesses do not have a well-develeped web presence. Thus, if they put in some time and effort, they can be the only small business in their niche that anyone can find online. The example you use for your case study is also off putting. Even very talented people suffer from self doubt. It makes it feel like you can only help me if I am totally awesome. What if I feel very ordinary?
Meh, talking to customers is a mixed bag. Very few people can actually articulate why they buy or don't buy something (or do anything really). You will learn a lot from their vocabulary and reading about the lines of what they say, though.
Developing a marketing strategy is incredibly important in avoiding wasted time/money exploring channels that are not necessarily the most effective. However, a website that functions properly, has information that is easily digestible by the consumer, is of genuine use, and also converts users into customers is the first step. Once you have covered this off, you can then move onto the marketing. Do it the other way around and you will find yourself spending a lot of money with few returns...
Thanks Morgan, nice article!
Once you have covered this off, you can then move onto the marketing. Do it the other way around and you will find yourself spending a lot of money with few returns...
Thanks Morgan, nice article!
Each and every strategy does matter for me. Define the Brand and know your concept and users can be helpgul. Competition research and content marketing strategy does matter. Also ever foreever. And something cant be changed
Wow! Thank you for this awsome post! But i think to be able to perform this strategy you really need a team of people, if you are alone ( like i am atm ) will be difficult, but anyway i will take some your tips for the new project im starting :-)
Br
It is difficult to perform this strategy on your own, but it can definitely be done. :-) Before coming to Distilled, I was responsible for building the marketing strategy for a small company from the ground up. Since it was just me, it was certainly a slow process, but within a year I had everything in place. You can do it; it just might take a longer time to get everything in place. Good luck!
Informative post Morgan Chessman but how to execute these in small budget and limited resources, I mean for startups, especially bootstrapped. We understand, there are no particular answers. It's a continuous never ending process.
You're right, Soumya -- t's difficult to do all of this when you have limited resources. I was the only person thinking about marketing in my first role, and know firsthand just how much there is to get done and how there's always more you could do if only you had the time and money. What I did then, and what I suggest now, are starting with the one or two avenues you believe will have the largest ROI. Once you're comfortable with those and how they're running, add more to the mix. However, only add more if you have time to add more.
Just because companies don't have a lot of resources, it doesn't mean that they can't do all of the above. It might just take longer to get to the final destination and your goals.
This is a fantastic article Morgan, a really good expatriation on how to reach out and promote your brand. Cheer's.
First of all thank you for the post, very well structured and good information. I have only one doubt the whole marketing strategy is focused on the relevance but not in the authority of the page. It should be noted that there are many other factors to consider in a marketing strategy.a greeting
Hey Morgan,
Great post for all the marketers.. I'd say every marketer who loves to serve his small customers should read it once.
Morgan, I'd like to know the way you approach them for pricing. How do you quote them? How do you convince them to pay if they really do not have budget?
Thanks,
Hi Umar,
"How do you convince them to pay if they really do not have budget?"
That's the million dollar question, isn't it? Budgets are always tricky, especially if they don't have a lot of money. If they can't give you the budget you need to build a good retainer project, you can:
1) Spread out what you do for them, so that you tackle only as much as they can pay you in a month. For example, if they only have the financial resources to pay you for the branding work in Month 1, that's all you do. Temper their expectations with this approach though; it's going to be a long time until they actually see results.
2) If they don't have a large enough budget to keep you on retainer but do have enough to do some upfront work, use what money they do have to build a strategy and train them on how to do things.
Unfortunately, there may be some clients that just don't have the money to pay you. In these cases, the companies aren't great fits for your services.
Hey Morgan,
Thank you so much for answering the million dollar question :)
You're absolutely right, if the client really have no budget we should look out the other retaining aspects.
Hi Morgan,
great Anwser. So true.
Best Regards,
Chris
Great post here Morgan! But not all businesses are easy to promote like, adult niche or escort services.. How would you promote a service if you have a client like this? I know it's not really necessary to create content when you're in an adult industry, but I just want to read your point of view when promoting adult related services/products. Thanks! :-)
No matter how difficult a niche may be to promote, as long as there's a need for your business model, I believe there's a way to promote it. For really difficult niches, I'd look at what other people are doing in the space, and what seems to be working. Use that as a springboard for ideas, and then think outside the box.
Thanks for the structured post Morgan. It does help when a startup is clear about its USP and is able to translate that into its website, its content and its digital strategy so that there is a cohesive and integrated approach. Its harder said than done because even getting a clear understanding of the USP can take a long time.
Great point, Vikas! It certainly isn't easy to develop a brand; it can take a long time. Definitely worth it in the long run though!
Very Informative guide about brand awareness. Thanks Morgan
This is must for any new website but still a point worth considering that a newly developed website should be responsive - for targeting Mobile Users.
Great point, Rajesh. Mobile is a huge opportunity, and should definitely be part of your overall marketing strategy. Thanks for bringing it up!
Thanks a lot. It was a wonderful structured article though a long one :-) I want to share another link which briefly breakdown important points about the subject https://www.kamkash.com/digital-marketing-plan-business/
I like this article, contains very much detail and it is a guide to build your brand step by step. Having a website is not the end of the way, is just the begining. Thanks for sharing!
Great article,Its very helpful for business.Email Append enables you to rapidly and cost-effectively improve your email marketing programs by expanding your reach, lowering your cost per contact, and increasing the net contribution and profitability of every campaign.Please visit www.appendsolutions.com
Very nice post and very instructive!
It is very difficult for small businesses compete with big brands made with professionals and big budgets, so all information and advice is good. Especially slowly and patiently, Apple also built in a day;)
Should I vectorize my brand?
Not sure what you mean...?
Thanks Morgan Chessman.... Your Articles is very helpful for my small business.......https://himanshucabsolutions.com/