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There’s always a push-and-pull between long-term marketing and short-term financial goals, but there are several small business marketing tactics you can implement today that will bring you short-term results while also setting you up for long-term success. Here are five of them.
1. Re-engage leads who’ve gone cold, and put a system in place
There are plenty of former leads sitting in your customer relationship manager (CRM), email inbox or even your social media direct messages. These people were once interested but didn’t buy, so you moved on. But things may have changed, and it’s worth checking. So check.
Create a list of contacts who went cold 3-6 months ago
Send them a simple message by email, SMS or social media to re-engage them (example below)
If you already have the tools, create an automation to message unconverted leads every 1-3 months
If you don’t have tools to automate, just put it on your to-do list to periodically send campaigns
A simple message you can send is: “Hi [First Name], it’s been a while since we last talked about how [Company Name] could help you [accomplish your goal]. Is now a better time to consider that more seriously? Hope you’re doing well!” You won’t get every cold lead interested again, but you’ll get enough, and you’ll get them fast.
Related: 5 Scrappy Ways to Create Quick Marketing Wins
2. Ask for (and earn more) Google reviews
One of the best small business marketing tactics to see results both now and later is to earn more reviews. For most companies, the best platform to earn reviews on is Google. If you have more Google reviews than competitors, you’ll rank higher in Google search results and win more customers. To get more Google reviews:
Get your Google review link (go to your profile, select “Get more reviews,” and copy the link there)
After you’ve finished working with customers, ask them to leave you a review
Ask via SMS, email, verbally and/or by using a QR code in person
Be sure to respond to every review
Asking for reviews needs to become a standard process, but if you’re new to earning reviews, you can start by sending an email and SMS campaign to all of your customers asking for their feedback to give you that initial boost.
3. Create backlinks (external links) for your website and key pages
Earning backlinks — where other websites link to yours — is one of the most effective ways to increase your search rankings and also earn referral traffic from those websites. The best part is most small businesses aren’t doing this, so it’s easier to see results.
Most small businesses can focus on a few areas to earn quality backlinks.
Local business directories, like those from your Chamber of Commerce
Business review platforms, like Google, Yelp, Better Business Bureau, Bing Places, Yellow Pages, TripAdvisor, Angi, etc.
Contribute articles to digital outlets, like local news stations, neighborhood magazines, associations’ newsletters and industry blogs
Offer to contribute a quote to those outlets for other articles they’re working on
Consider sponsoring nonprofits, government organizations and athletics — most will put a link to sponsors on their website
A quick Google search for “Top [my industry] businesses in [my city]” will also show you a few lists that are worth trying to earn backlinks on.
Related: How to Build SEO Backlinks: A Beginner’s Guide
4. Get people to opt in for future marketing
You need a growing subscriber list for effective marketing. It takes time to build that list, but you can quickly set up ways for people to subscribe. The easiest place to start is on your contact forms, wherever customers purchase or become a lead. Make sure you’re collecting cell phone numbers and email addresses and that you have a checkbox for folks to opt into marketing communications from you.
Blog pop-up forms that appear after 60 seconds or halfway down the page and exit intent pop-up forms on product pages are both very effective for getting new subscribers. Most CRMs, website builders and email marketing platforms have these options.
SMS opt-ins are also increasingly popular (because they work), prompting customers to text a keyword to your number to opt into deals and other updates, in exchange for 10% or 20% off their next purchase. In most cases, you can set up any or all of these options within just a few minutes. How’s that for quick and effective marketing?
5. Post daily on social media and proactively engage
Your target audience is spending time on social media, so you should spend time on social media marketing, creating content and engaging with them. Choose the one platform where your target audience spends the most time. Not sure what to say or do? These ideas will help get you started:
Take all the questions you get from customers and employees, and create posts addressing each question
Share what you do, why you do it, who you do it for and what benefits they’ll get from it
Show a day in the life of someone in your position or in your customer’s position
These social media posts don’t have to be super professional and flashy. Some of your audience will even appreciate things a little less refined. Depending on the platform, you can post just text, a short video, a picture or a few, or whatever else feels right.
You also need to be proactively commenting on other people’s content and starting conversations. That helps you build connections with them and also tells the algorithms to give you and your content a boost the next time you post.
Don’t forget: Great marketing doesn’t have to take a long time to pay off. Implement these small business marketing tactics, and you’ll see quicker returns than your competitors.
