For small businesses, it can sometimes be hard to gain the recognition you feel you deserve, and to stand apart from other businesses in your industry. Here are some tips that can help you and your business gain popularity and loyal customers.
Recognizable Branding
Branding is the perfect way to gain recognition for your business. Having an attractive logo and color scheme that represent your brand is a must have for any small business and its marketing. Look for something that really sets you apart from your competitors and draws customers in. Then market your brand as much as you can, in every way you possibly can.
Research marketing strategies like on this site, that give you plenty of ideas on how to reach as many people as possible, within your budget range. The more people you can reach, the more traction your business gets, the more word of mouth, and – with that – the more popularity. Also, having reviews on as many pieces of marketing as possible will be sure to set you apart from the competition, and make potential customers more likely to return to you than go to a competitor.
Subscription Newsletter
Weekly or monthly newsletters that are offered as a subscription on your small business website will encourage customers to keep coming back. They are extremely easy to set up with even office templates to help you and are inexpensive. They can offer exclusive previews to promotions, early discounts and extra points – if you’re running a loyalty scheme for your customers (please see below).
They can also give sneak peeks of incoming stock and early sign-ups to future events that you may be holding. You can even offer a 10% discount just for signing up as encouragement. A newsletter will mean your customers will constantly be seeing your business name in their inbox, meaning they are more likely to think of you when wanting to make a purchase.
Loyalty Scheme
Even though they may seem like a hassle, a reward scheme can make a loyal customer out of even just a one time visitor. Whether they are based on a points system with so many points for every pound spent, or a stamp card – they encourage regular visits. You can also offer discounts if a customer spends over a certain amount, or have events that offer promotions just for customers signed up to the scheme. Alternatively, there are loyalty schemes like Swipii that connect small businesses together in a points-based system depending on what budget you are working within.
Social Media Presence
Having as many social media accounts for your small business as possible is a great way of sharing what your business has to offer, and showing off the reviews that you have received from customers. It has become the modern way of achieving greatness for your business, as you can reach such a high amount of people in a short amount of time. It will keep track of followers and number of views on each account per day and gives you the opportunity to interact one on one with your customers, to give the ultimate customer experience.