Small business owners often ask me how they can effectively market themselves. Whether you’re a start-up organization or a company in business for several years, the necessity to market yourself is always constant. Promoting brand awareness, positioning your product and services in the marketplace and obtaining retention customers are a necessity for you to thrive in a competitive environment.
Organizations of any size are often challenged by resource constraints. The question is not if you should or can market your company with limited cash, time and expertise. You must. However, understanding how you will get from A-Z is another matter. 
For example, if you’re an insurance agency who sells residential and commercial lines, you have more than one product line targeted at more than one type of customer. Creating a singular piece of content will not suffice. A multi-pronged approach is vital to showcase your products and services to both individuals and businesses who need insurance products. By first determining your marketing goal and how each insurance segment fits into your overall mission, you’re better off. From there, a marketing strategy can help you reach the vision you have in mind.
A broad viewpoint is necessary to tie the plan together, so you weave a consistent story and presence to your customers. What is your reason for existence as a company? What product or service do you offer? How do you differentiate yourself from the competition? How do customers view your brand and how can you sufficiently portray your offerings in an enticing light?
This critical strategic step sets a good organizational marketing framework. The company can use this blueprint to create its next marketing task by now developing the tactical elements that match with each specific strategy.
A travel agency, for example, may need to quickly escalate its sales and can do so by developing a consumer loyalty and retention program. With the strategy in place, ask yourself how you can achieve the overall goal? The details or the tactics help determine whether the campaign is successful or not.
Marketing deliverables can be defined by content, such as a blog, a press release, a website, a flyer, a post or a tweet. Put more weight on the tactics that will more likely resonate with your target audience. Does your audience have a lot of traction online? Then, a sizeable social media presence can be beneficial. Be where the target market is. It might be that traditional forms of marketing, such as tradeshows, presentations, radio and print advertising are more applicable. However, with such engaging technological advances, some form of social media and online marketing is probably viable for most small businesses.
Create 1) the goal, 2) strategies that will help achieve the goal, and 3) the tactics for each strategy. Think of this as a building block. As you build each step, you go from concept to strategy to actual deliverable.
Stick to a plan and execute upon it. The marketing does not occur on its own, but, you can do it. So, get started now!
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