Successful marketing isn’t about having the loudest message, but the most accessible one. Here we look at how small businesses can create a marketing strategy that resonates with customers.

At its core, marketing is about communicating with customers and building relationships that allow a company to introduce or expose its products and services again and again. That means that building a successful marketing strategy doesn’t need to break the bank and can, in fact, be accomplished by harnessing several cost-effective strategies.

“Marketing can be difficult and even painful, but it’s a huge opportunity for your company to grow, find new customers and expand,” the United States Chamber of Commerce’s Campaign for Free Enterprise advises. “Without an effective marketing program, a business may never find success. But, even if you know marketing is important, it can be tough to find the time to market while you’re trying to get your business off of the ground.”

Although the process may seem daunting, a small business cannot afford to ignore marketing if it hopes to remain competitive in an increasingly interconnected corporate environment. Investing time and money into a marketing strategy can be invaluable for securing new customers. Here we look at some of the latest marketing strategies useful for small businesses.

Define Your Customers
Your company can’t be all things to all people, so it’s impossible to build an effective marketing campaign without narrowing your focus to a specific range of customer types. This will enable your firm to construct a more streamlined and, ultimately, more appealing campaign to raise awareness about key products or services.

“With whom do you want to build relationships? Start by specifically identifying who will buy your products and focus on them. In ‘marketing speak’ this is called your target market,” small business coaching blog Path of Purpose explains. “It is critically important to identify your target market so you don’t spend time and money haphazardly conveying your message and building relationships with non-buyers.”

Common criteria used to evaluate target customers include age, profession, gender, education level, income, ethnicity and location. There are also less tangible traits important in defining a customer base, such as their psychological/emotional needs and personal interests. Try to create a profile of your ideal customer and use that as a template for future marketing efforts.

Harness New Media
Social media tools have opened up broad new channels for reaching out and connecting with customers directly, whether to win new clients or build stronger relationships with existing ones. Establishing an Internet presence no longer requires an elaborate website or widespread advertising (though both certainly help), as marketers can now harness social networking platforms to get involved with their customer base.

“Simply ignoring Twitter and Facebook and dismissing them as ‘time wasters’ no longer flies. In fact, it hasn’t flown for a while,” online design and development firm Websolvers explains. “Remember, social communication is going to happen with or without you. If you don’t formalize your firm’s stance, you may be missing important opportunities and asking for trouble.”

To expand your reach, try to incorporate a Twitter feed into your company’s site, build a corporate Facebook group, perform keyword research to determine what phrases your customers are using, refine your e-mail messaging capabilities and try to track your company’s online performance by identifying the content that generates the most interest among customers.

Build Personal Connections
While an online presence is a vital marketing asset, the importance of building strong in-person relationships with potential clients cannot be overstated. In fact, many people prefer receiving information about products or services through more traditional means, such as face-to-face conversations, presentations or over the phone.

“Online businesses benefit most significantly from social networking, search engine optimization and pay per click campaigns, but most solopreneurs will benefit by creating relationships offline — regardless of the type of business you run,” Inc.com advises.

“To meet like-minded people go to classes, lectures and other events that interest you,” Inc.com continues. “Keep your eyes and ears open at the grocery store, coffee house and other local establishments. Look into your local Chamber of Commerce and networking groups to see if those are up your alley as well.”

Control the Information Flow
Avoid spreading your marketing efforts thin by delivering too much information to too many people at once. It’s often more effective to have a central, overarching concept that you can reinforce and build a marketing campaign around. This is especially true when introducing a new product or service to the market.

“Resist the impulse to say everything everywhere. You need one big idea — that will stick. Support that idea with three to five key messages that position you competitively. The next tier down should be product features and details, such as FAQs and competitive comparisons,” design and marketing firm Larsen recommends.

“It’s critical to control the flow of information. You’ve heard it before: If you try to emphasize everything, you end up emphasizing nothing. Too many great new products get bogged down at launch in endless detail,” Larsen says.

Collaborate When You Can
Depending on the customers you’re attempting to target, a marketing strategy can become a multi-staged process that consumes a significant amount of time and money. Considering that many companies are still rebuilding business losses from the economic downturn, small businesses may gain an advantage by partnering together on a marketing campaign.

“The economy is still struggling, which means small businesses can benefit from economies of scale by partnering with complementary businesses to develop co-marketing programs in 2011,” Entrepreneur.com explains. “Promotional partnerships not only lead to reduced costs but also can lead to increased exposure to new audiences.”

Collaboration can help cut costs and expand what can be accomplished on a limited marketing budget. Of course, a collaborator should have products and services that complement your own rather than compete with them. Apart from saving money, this process can also provide cross-marketing opportunities, opening access to new customer groups.

Earlier

Guerilla Marketing: Advertising on the Sly

Creating Your Small Business Web Site

Expert’s Corner: 6 Steps to New Product Success

Social Media Etiquette 101

Resources

Marketing Musts for Small Business
by Brittany Aguilar
Campaign for Free Enterprise, Jan. 10, 2011

The 5 Musts of Marketing
by Helaine Iris
Path of Purpose, Feb. 19, 2010

10 Internet Marketing Musts in 2010
Websolvers, Jan. 24, 2010

10 Marketing Musts
by Marla Tabaka
Inc.com, Jan. 10, 2011

Product Launches: 7 Marketing Musts
Larsen

10 Marketing Trends for 2011
by Susan Gunelius
Entrepreneur.com, Jan. 12, 2011