Four Marketing Tips For SMEs to Help You Connect With Your Target Audience
At the helm of a small business, creating more of a buzz for your biz is probably high on your agenda. That said, it’s hard not to become overwhelmed when you compare your marketing budget to those of large companies with massive resources at their disposal. Don’t be intimidated. If you can apply a few intuitive tips, your small business could start punching well above its weight.
Avoid Alienating Your Audience With Blog Content
Content Marketing is the King when it comes to building a following for your business and ensuring that your website rises to the top of that all-important Google search. That said, not all content is going to be helpful, as you can very easily alienate your audience by spamming them with aggressive sales pitches or impersonal content. Avoid click-bait and any content that is too aggressively advertising your product. These out-dated approaches tend not to build trust in your brand. In fact, you risk putting off potential customers.
Get On the Brand Story Telling Bandwagon
When it comes to content, go for quality, rather than quantity. Invest in the skills and resources required to produce high-quality content tells your brand story and connects with your audience on a personal level. For example, if you’re in the tourism industry, remember that Tourism Branding is Story Telling. The way to connect with your audience is to demonstrate that you can relate to them by sharing stories that chime with your brand and your customers’ values. If you can demonstrate to your audience that you know and appreciate them as individuals, they are more likely to connect with your brand.
Define Your Target Audience
Nailing the demographics of your target audience makes it easier to produce the relevant and informative content your customer wants to read and engage with. So how do you do that? The holy grail of marketing in 2019 is getting to know your target audience—if possible, even better than you know your own friends and family. If there’s data out there about your customer, you want to get your hands on it. Try to answer questions like: what gender are they? What age? What jobs do they do? Where do they like to hang out, in the real world and online?
Develop a Customer Persona
As you start to gather this data, you may start to notice that a distinct customer persona starts to emerge, or perhaps several, depending on how wide the appeal of your product or service is. The more information you have at your fingertips, the better you will understand your customer, and eventually, you’ll know exactly what makes them tick. At that point, marketing is easy: show your customer that you know what they need, and that you’re ready and waiting to meet those needs. Once you’ve done the work to get up close and personal with your target audience, your marketing campaigns will generate more engagement—and, of course, sales!
Whether you’re focused on social media channels or your own blog, producing targeted marketing material can be a challenge for a small business. These tips will help you get your marketing brain into gear and promote the hell out of your small business.