The Small Business Marketing Checklist When you’re operating a small business, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. There are so many demands on your time, so many details to tend to, that the days can fly by. Next thing you know, a month has passed and you haven’t had a chance to focus on growing your business. In this hypercompetitive business era, it’s critical for your small business to have a repeatable way to attract new customers. It needs to be something that is affordable and doesn’t require too much of your time. In other words, you need an actionable plan that works. With that in mind, hibu has created this Small Business Marketing Checklist. Consider this a roadmap that can show you the way to greater business success.

Small Business Offline Marketing Recommendations While every business is moving towards an online environment (after all, that’s where your customers are), we recommend beginning by considering the offline world in which you’re operating.

Step back. Think about your market and your competition. Consider who your competitors are and make a list. How are they different from you? Is there anything you can learn by observing them? Consider times that you’ve beaten them for a new customer, and times they’ve beaten you. Are there any lessons you can take from those instances? Also, analyze how your customer base has changed over the past 12 months. Have their needs evolved in any way? Has the way you communicate with them changed over the last year?

Set goals.

It’s been shown time and again that the act of writing down goals is a foundation for achieving those goals; it makes them real, and removes ambiguity for the rest of your team. Think about what growth means to you and determine revenue or customer acquisition goals for the year ahead.

Examine your sales process.

Questions you should ask yourself include: Where do your customers come from? How do you currently sell your services? How long is the sales process? What is the difference between people who buy your services, and those who choose not to? By answering these questions you’ll be able to determine what’s working, what needs fixing, and what aspects of the sales process work best.

Take a close look at your customer relationships.

Be honest with yourself. As you’re undoubtedly aware, word of mouth and customer referrals are the backbone of business development efforts for many small home services businesses; very often, happy customers lead to more customers. Therefore, it’s vitally important for you to pay attention to creating positive customer relationships.

Get involved in your community (but don’t spread yourself too thin).

Whether it’s sponsoring a little league team, a local 5K or a park clean-up, being involved in the community helps to create a positive image for your company.

Small Business Online Marketing Recommendations Once you’ve considered offline factors, it’s vitally important to think about how business is taking advantage of the Internet. While you may not be an online business, your customers are certainly online. And when it’s time for them to get something fixed or a problem solved, that’s where they turn. This means that your small business website design matters – done well, it can help your company flourish.

Determine whether your website is effective at bringing you new customers. Your website is very often the introduction to your business for would-be customers. It must be a great salesperson! When you consider where your customers come from (see the section above), you’ll hopefully find out that some of them are finding your website and contacting you in order to hire you. Smart businesses make it a habit to ask customers how they heard about them. Better yet, having a contact form on your website that enables prospective customers to contact you makes it clear whether your website is working for you.

Make sure your website is showing up in search engines.

If your business doesn’t show up on the first two pages of a Google search, you’re going to struggle to win business online. A recent report showed that first five results on a Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) account for 67.6% of all clicks. The second five only account for 3.37%.1

Consider a “Search Engine Marketing” campaign. The nature of search engine algorithms means it takes time to move up to the first page of a Google results page, where you want to be. A lot of small businesses will accelerate the process by launching a search engine marketing (SEM) campaign. With search engine marketing, you buy ads that show up on the result page – they’re designated by a small box with the word “ad.” Most web surfers view these ads as viable answers to the questions they’re trying to answer, and this can therefore be a very effective strategy.

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Make sure your website is mobile friendly. We’ve reached the point where more people are accessing the Internet from their phones than from desktop computers. If you look around, this isn’t hard to believe – it seems everyone is looking at their phones as they walk down the street. Many times, when people need the answer to a question or problem, the first place they look is their smartphone. This reality makes it critical for your business to pay attention to mobile web design. Having a website that is optimized for mobile means that the site is easier to use and navigate for visitors to your website.

Build an email marketing list. Having a database of customers’ emails can be hugely valuable. Once you have their email address, you have the opportunity conduct online target marketing efforts; in other words, you can have direct access to contact those customers and create a relationship with them. Many small businesses provide monthly letters that include updates on the business, helpful tips for customers and occasionally even coupons or special offers (for example, “Refer a friend and your next service call is free!”) Important note – don’t abuse the access they’ve given you! If you send too many email blasts, they’ll surely get annoyed and/or unsubscribe.

There’s much more to learn on each of these checklist items, but these are the basics and can guide you on having a smart discussion with any possible providers.

If you’d like to speak with a hibu representative on how to improve online marketing and advertising for your small business, call 855-408-3750.

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“A New Click Through Rate Study For Google Organic Results” Marketing Land