9 Marketing tips to kick start your small business!

Let’s face it, the last two years have been a challenge, difficult and full of worry.  Alongside this though, there have been some positive elements. 

It has enabled many to hit the pause button, take time and reflect on what is important to us.  Many have taken time to consider our roles – are they rewarding? Do we like the company we work for?  Do their brand values match ours? 

With all of this in mind there is a lot of talk at the moment in the media around “The Great Resignation”, with different numbers being quoted from different sources, but a survey by CV Library at the end of November 2021, cited that three in four people were reviewing their career and were keen to make a change.  Some maybe just changing companies, others to take a complete career change and many are opting to set up their own small business.  There is certainly a realisation that if you are not happy, change it – why wait to set up my business one day – what is wrong with tomorrow? 

Women in particular have been the greatest segment hit by the pandemic.  Often having to take time out to home school children alongside having to continue with their day job.  For many there is certainly a draw to re-address the work/ life balance, do something for themselves and step away from the corporate workplace.  In a recent report by McKinsey, they show that women are feeling more pressure in the workplace than men, with about 40% of senior level men feeling exhausted vs about 55% of senior level women.

With all of this in mind, if you do decide to take the plunge and set up your own small business, we wanted to share 9 marketing tips to help get your business off the ground:

1. Be clear on what you wish to achieve. This is the start point for any new business, having a clear plan and direction on where you want to go and how you wish to get there is key.  You need this to not only work out where to focus your energies, but also aim to put measures in place to track success.  We do this by defining our SMART (Specific, Measured, Achievable, Relevant and Timed) objectives, writing our marketing strategy (strategic approach) and our marketing plan (tactical breakdown of what we are going to do and when).
2. Define your Target audience: Defining your target audience is critical to the success of any marketing activity.  This insight will inform your messaging, products or services you provide, website imagery, creative and the media selection you use.  Gaining a clear understanding of who they are and their challenges, will help you provide relevant marketing communications.
3. Be clear on your products and pricing. Once you know who your audience is and the challenges they have, you can craft your proposition to help them solve those challenges.  This will also help to inform the price points you charge.  For example if you are a fitness studio, you would plan to have a suite of packages available to suit all budgets, needs and abilities.  There would be no point in offering a premium all-inclusive yoga and Pilates pass if your target audience were students with no budget.
4. It’s all about content. In today’s digital world, content forms the basis of our marketing.  It should run across our social media activity, email, blog articles plus any other media we invest in.  Think about creating mini campaigns across the year, for one or two months, depending upon your business. 
5. Routes to market. Once you know what you are doing, who you are talking to, it is important to then decide how you are going to get the message to market.  Different media have different roles to play, some will be driving awareness and others will be more tactically focused. 
6. Get Creative: Creative forms a key part of your marketing – whatever your message, it needs to resonate with your audience and inspire them to take action. Less is more, be visual and don’t forget to include a call to action!
7. Did it work? Ensuring you are able to assess if your marketing has worked is key.  How else will you be able to work out where to focus your future marketing efforts?  There are many ways we can do that.  We share more on this in our article here https://www.rimumarketing.co.uk/7-key-marketing-campaign-metrics-for-2022/ 
8. Talking to existing clients. It is far more cost effective to speak with existing clients, rather than having to keep finding new ones. As part of your planning, don’t forget to build strategies and communications which engage and talk to this audience and encourage them to buy from you again – keep in touch, you never know what else they might need from you!
9. Enjoy and have fun! Marketing is fun and creative, if you have a passion for what you do then let that shine through, as a small business owner, that is what your clients will buy from you.

If you wish to find out more about RIMU Marketing and how they can help a small business get to the next level visit: www.rimumarketing.co.uk. 

If you are considering setting up your own small business, why not join RIMU Marketing on the 26 April at 1pm for their free webinar – “Small Business Growth | Marketing Transformation in a changing landscape”. 

About the author

Sophie Comas is an award winning Freelance Marketing Consultant, speaker, coach, mentor and Chartered Marketer from RIMU Marketing, based in Windsor, Berkshire. Sophie has a 15yr corporate marketing from the hospitality and leisure sector.  Since setting up RIMU Marketing 8 years ago, Sophie now works with inspirational small business owners to help them connect with their ideal client, through results driven marketing solutions.  They work with a variety of businesses across a number of industries but with a particular focus on creative, media, charity, wellbeing, sports, leisure and hospitality industries.  To her clients, she is their “virtual marketing team”.