Top small business marketing tips in 2020

Some people like to throw things at the wall to see what sticks. While this is a good technique for cooking your pasta to a perfect al dente, it’s not the best approach to marketing your small business.  

If you’re not getting anywhere with a “spray and pray” strategy, let’s talk. YellowDog knows how to dig deep into audience segmentation and targeted campaigns. On top of that, our team has all the strategic know-how and creative talent to help with initial branding and ongoing brand maintenance.

Here are a few of our tricks.

Tips for your Google My Business (GMB) Listing

When it comes to getting found locally, your GMB listing is your BFF. Reserved only for local brick-and-mortar businesses, Google listings are often a searcher’s first touchpoint with your brand. How to make that first impression count?

Ask people to leave a review. The quality and quantity of your Google reviews count! Ask people to leave a review—complete with a direct link to your listing—on at least two customer touch points. Good examples: include the ask on your invoices and in your email signature.

Be sure to answer all your reviews. Whether the review is positive, neutral, or negative, the best practice for listing administrators is to respond in a timely and professional manner. This signals owner engagement with the listing, and it’s just good online etiquette as well.

Add photos and posts regularly. Adding fresh content to your listing signals owner engagement, which helps your listing stay authoritative and rank highly. I recommend new photos or posts twice a week. Pro tip: request a 360 video tour to complete your listing.

Track your success! Check out the Insights on your GMB at least monthly. Keep tabs on indicators like “total views” and “total actions” to see how your GMB is performing over time.

Owned vs. Earned vs. Paid Marketing Channels

You own your business website, but do you own your Facebook business page? Yes and no. Just like real estate, marketing channels are worth investment based on how much ownership you have over them. Here’s how we prioritize channels based on the level of ownership.

Owned. These are channels that you own and have total (or near-total) control over. Investing in the strength of these channels is long-term, delivering increasing returns over time. 

• Examples: company website, email list, basic social media accounts.

Earned. These are channels of other brands or platforms that you earn exposure on, usually through partnerships, memberships, or sharing high-quality content. 

• Examples: Successful PR and news coverage, association websites and directories, guest posts, a far-reaching Facebook post ‘share’.

Paid. These are channels where you buy exposure on an ongoing advertising basis. Often, auction-style pricing increases costs and delivers decreasing returns over time.

• Examples: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, advertising display networks. 

Print Marketing is Having a Moment

During these pandemic times, we’ve all herded up for what we could call “The Great Digital Stampede of 2020.” So many offline experiences and objects — from workouts and concerts to menus and textbooks — have moved from physical to digital, and startlingly fast. Yet print marketing is alive and well. Here’s why.

Digital saturation and fatigue. While consumers are working from home and maxed out on screen time each day, this is a good time to surprise and delight them through their physical mailbox or with branded swag.

Amplify a digital marketing campaign. Whatever digital campaign you’re running—whether it’s paid advertising, a press release, or an email blast—be sure to develop a print asset to reach the same audience and reinforce your digital message.

Support the US Postal Service! The US Postal Service has been hit hard during this crisis. Using your marketing budget to pay the postage on a direct mail campaign goes a long way to support our post offices and the important work they do. 

Have questions about your small business branding and marketing? YellowDog is here to help. Let’s talk about your big idea.

(This sponsored content was provided by Yellowdog)