Inside Sales Lead Management Featured Article

You’re a business that falls into the SMB (Small to Medium Business) category. You’ve got good stuff to sell and offer, and you know you have to market your goods to make some money. There’s a wealth of information out there on getting on social media, getting email addresses, how to write good content, but really, it’s all about strategy. Without strategy, none of the aforementioned tools are going to do you any good.

According to Business2Community, there are four key elements you should put to work so that you can effectively market as an SMB. Plan your approach, build a solid foundation, execute the plan, and of course, maintain the plan. That all sounds well and good, but exactly what do any of these mean, assuming you have little to no marketing background?

It has been said that if you fail to plan, then plan to fail. This is especially true among small businesses and is the primary cause for the very high business failure rate in our country. A good marketing plan helps you identify your customers and competitors and develop a strategy to make your business stand out. It helps you to integrate your total marketing effort and ensures a structured approach to developing products and services that meet and satisfy your customers’ needs.

In order to plan, answer the following questions: What is the good or service that your business will offer? How is that product better than the competition? Why will people buy it? How much can you charge? Which sales channels will you use? Will you sell by telephone or will your product be carried in retail outlets? Online? Socially? Which channel will let you economically reach your target audience?

Thanks to the Internet, digital marketing is a bit easier, but limited resources and an overabundance of options requires filtering and prioritization when it comes to where marketing investments are made, whether it’s content, blogging, social media, or SEO.

Once you have your plan, figure out where you’re going to launch your marketing approach and execute with diligence. Oftentimes, getting a third-party marketing perspective is a solid investment, as some things can be done by the SMB and some by the consultant. Know what you can do on your own; ask when you’re not sure.

The modern small business owner is faced with the decision of where to invest advertising dollars to bring back the best return on investment. A good plan of attack with a carefully executed campaign can have promising results.