How Small Businesses Can Use Marketing in Dayton, Ohio
Many small business owners ask themselves every day if today is the day that they should invest in marketing for their business. Marketing is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.”
Many other definitions are different, but through actual experience, I believe that marketing in Dayton, Ohio is everything that a business owner does to grow their business. There are multiple breakdowns of marketing, and the first is defining your marketing system.
Defining Your Marketing System
Defining your marketing system is broken down into 5 principles. These principles are used to make sure business owners have a system in place to actively make their business grow.
- Focus on the entire strategy
- In this stage, you need to determine how your marketing strategy can be considered effective. It is important to define at which points the marketing strategy is no longer working. Marketing can be very experimental at times. Learn more about the services that Five Rivers Marketing provides by visiting our service page.
- Make sure that Sales & Marketing flow together
- Marketing & Sales are the two key departments of making sure your company grows efficiently and effectively. These two departments should understand the fundamentals of the opposing department. This can be done with a weekly 30-minute meeting to align sales and marketing or by creating defined goals for each department that mesh well with the other.
- Define the customer journey
- Understanding why a customer buys your product or service can be very important when doing marketing for your business in Dayton. You can make a marketing system that creates happier customers that would refer you to anyone!
- Create a plan to measure performance and drive strategy
- Measuring performance is the key to a working marketing strategy. If you are not measuring your efforts, then it may not be doing as well as you think it is! You need to define your Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and create a system to measure your efforts. Once you have your results you can adjust accordingly and drive your strategies and decisions!
- Live by the calendar
- Defining a marketing system takes time, and just like any other task, you have to plan it all out. Marketing is never-ending in a business and can constantly change. Defining a marketing system with quarterly goals is recommended.
Use Social Media
Social Media is the number one channel for return on investment (ROI) positive marketing efforts. There are currently 4.2 billion active social media users which have doubled in the last 5 years. Each individual that uses social media is actively on it for 2.5 hours every day!
The first step is determining which platform your customers will be on. If you are selling old Harleys, then Pinterest is probably not the best place to post your content! If you are not sure which social media platforms are the best for your business, visit this article: Choosing the Right Social Media Platform for Your Business. After determining which social media platforms are the best for your business, then you can start creating a content plan. The best way to do this is by sourcing a free social media content calendar template like the one linked that is provided by Hootsuite.
At the top, it is split into 8 columns. On the left, it defines the day and the social media platform. Creating a plan for your social media posting will allow you to see which posts perform the best and allow your customers to be on a set schedule!
Now that you have a good idea of what you are going to do on each social media platform, it is time to create goals and objectives! Using the SMART goal framework bases your goals on metrics that will have a real impact on your business. This means that if you are a local construction business, then your goal should be to have people give you a call for those free estimates you are offering. Researching the competition will give you a good idea of what to expect on your social media page. The best way to do this is by performing a competitive analysis. Hootsuite also has an amazing tool for this right here!
Not only is social media a great way to connect with all of your amazing customers, but it is also an amazing way to connect with other entrepreneurs and influencers in your niche. Working with influencers has grown tremendously in the last few years because it has proven to be very effective.
Social media can take up a lot of your time! If you are looking to have an agency like Five Rivers Marketing in Dayton, Ohio take care of your social media marketing, then visit our service page to learn more about what we offer. You can also learn more about how social media can help your business by reading more of our blogs!
Offline Marketing
Offline Marketing is just as important as online marketing because it allows you to create a more personal connection with your customers. Attending networking events or trade show events can be a great way to build your network because, remember, “It’s not what you know but who you know.” Networking is a great way to work your word-of-mouth sales funnel. Word-of-mouth marketing will always be the best way to gain more customers. Attending trade show events will allow your business to gain the awareness that is desperately needed by getting your product or service right in front of people that want to learn more about it! Trade shows can also be a great way to educate yourselves on your competitor and the latest and greatest.
Hosting events can also be a great way to perform offline marketing that converts potential customers. This can be a retention and growth event by inviting all of your best clients and asking them to bring their friends. Not only does it show that you care about your customers, but it also allows you to mingle and talk with all of the new faces.
To be prepared for all of these network and trade show events, you have to remember to create business cards, pamphlets, and flyers. Having a professional look goes a long way with new potential customers. Be sure to invest in well-made business cards that set you apart from other competitors and brands. Make sure you hand out a few because you never know when they will need to share your amazing business with their friends and family. Print advertising can make your business feel like a industry leader and a authority figure.
Measure Your Efforts and See What Works
After implementing all of these marketing strategies, you need to determine how you want to measure what works and when. I would recommend monitoring your strategies weekly, but measuring and optimizing monthly. You need to monitor where your customers are coming from to determine which marketing effort is performing the best and the worst. This is the best time for you to optimize your campaigns and make adjustments if needed. Marketing is always going to be around and you mustn’t let a marketing strategy go on for too long without measuring because marketing can change quickly. Five Rivers Marketing has a goal to gain partnerships with small businesses in Dayton that want to grow their marketing efforts. We have a plans and strategies that will work for you.
Contact us at info@fiveriversmarketing.com or 937-815-1950
