As a solo entrepreneur, you need to find small business marketing strategies that work and that are cost effective. There is no reason to waste your time or money.
If you are using a shotgun approach with your marketing — trying a little of everything with no real plan or strategy — then you’re probably getting very frustrated.
You need to just stop… and come up with ideas that work.
Remember that the ultimate goal of your marketing is to attract qualified leads within your target market. You want them to sign up for your mailing list in exchange for something valuable you give them for free — also called an “ethical bribe”. Once they are on your list, you can build a relationship based on trust, and that will ultimately lead to them doing business with you.
Forget about the quick sale. Most people don’t purchase right away. They want to know, like and trust you first.
Here are some small business marketing strategies that will help you build and maintain a targeted list of prospective customers.
Lead Capture Page — You use a lead capture page to gather your prospects contact information. For example, here is one of my lead capture pages — Attract Your Niche.
When creating your lead capture page, remember to focus on the benefits to your target market in signing up for your list. You do this by showing you can solve their problem, and writing copy that connects with people at an emotional level. You also want to create a compelling headline, and provide an incentive for them to provide you with their name and email address. Have one clear call to action with only one link — the “submit” button. Be sure to get your most powerful information (including the opt-in form) at the top of the page or “above the fold”.
Your Blog — Your blog is your “home” or central hub. It is where your prospects get to know you. You can create links from your blog to your landing pages and sales pages, but overall your blog should be value driven and written with your target market in mind. There should be an opt-in form on your blog, and again, keep it above the fold. You should provide an incentive for people to sign up for your mailing list, such as a free report, ezine, training resource, etc.
Article marketing — You can write articles and submit them to various article sites such as Squidoo.com, Hubpages.com, ehow.com, Ezinearticles.com, etc. Your content should provide information that is valuable to your target market. Always add a Resource Box at the end of the article which includes a powerful call to action to get people to your site or landing page. Include an offer of something free and enticing they can access on your site such as a report or checklist. You want to submit your article to relevant newsletters and article submission sites. Beware of submitting the exact same article though. You want to “spin” the article (tweak it) so you don’t get punished by Google for having “duplicate content”.
Comments: Writing content of your own is a great way to drive traffic to your site. Another good approach is to find leading blogs and articles that target the same audience, and leave comments on their content. Make sure your comments add value, and include your website in your signature. This not only increases your profile among your target audience, but also creates backlinks to your site, which improves your Google page rank.
Email marketing: To build your list, you need an opt-in form on your key web pag
es, such as your blog, website and landing page. To get people to sign up you have to provide an “ethical bribe”, which is something of value to your target market. It could be a free report, audio or video training, information-packed ezine, etc. Once people are on your list, you can continue to build relationships with them and demonstrate your value. You have to be careful to not be overly promotional or people will unsubscribe from your list.
Social Networking: There are many social networking sites, and the key is finding the ones where your target market hangs out. For instance, there are social networking groups for people with specific interests. Look on Meetup.com or Yahoo groups to find groups within your niche.
Of course, you also want to network with people on leading social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. On the site, search for groups in your niche. For instance, if you are a coach and want to connect with other coaches, search for “coaching” in the groups area. You can also look at the “friends list” of a leader in your target market and send friend requests to some of those people.
With social networking it is all about building relationship. Share valuable information, get to know people, let people get to know you. Be careful not to be overly promotional or you will NOT be someone people want to get to know.
Video — Video marketing is becoming increasingly popular. People like watching videos and they allow you the opportunity for people to really get to know you. Many video marketing sites, such as Youtube, are also social networking sites. Connect with people in your target market and build relationships. Comment on other people’s videos and they will return the favor.
Direct Mail: Following up with your prospects and customers is so 
important for building strong relationships and staying top-of-mind. While email marketing is important, people are much more likely to open mail that comes to their mailbox vs. emails. The problem is the time and money required to send cards via snail mail. There is a great solution that allows you to communicate with your clients and prospects that is super easy and inexpensive. It allows you to send one card at a time, or set up campaigns to consistently share information in a subtle and friendly way on auto-pilot. They system is called Send Out Cards and you can test it out by sending a card for free.
Phone calls: There is no better way to strengthen a relationship than talking to people on the phone (of course, seeing someone in person is even better but distance and time make that a real challenge). Try calling people who are on your mailing list to see how you can help them. You can also call people you’ve met through social media or networking.
Look at the small business marketing strategies you’re using now and decide what you should add, change or remove. Put together a well thought out strategy using a mix of these ideas, and you will build and maintain strong relationships with your target market.
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