Being in a small business you are probably finding it is more competitive now than it has ever been before. More businesses are starting up, existing ones are finding new ways to interact and deal with their custom base, very quickly it is becoming very easy to get left behind. This is why it is now essential for all small businesses to have their own marketing programs. At the very least your business should have its own web site which is also fully mobile configured, but your marketing efforts should not be solely based on the online world too. For example, you may have noticed many offline marketing techniques such as large pull up banners in cities such as Sydney. Use of digital print in many forms of media is also another way of attracting knowledge of your business to the outside world.
As mentioned in the introduction, your marketing efforts need to be concentrated in two areas, online, and offline. Of course, your online marketing refers to web sites, mobile marketing, apps and the like. Basically, anything that relates to people using the internet to find you. It’s particularly important for your site to be configured for smart phone use as many people are out and about when searching for what you may offer. If your site is not configured for mobile use, then people will not spend time on your site looking for the information they need because it will not be easily found. They’ll hit the back button, find another business which has a mobile configured site and find the information instantly. Result is that you lose a customer.
Offline marketing is also extremely important. This is where your business and brand will be seen in the physical world. This media will come from a digital print and be applied to many different forms. The most basic of these is the business card, and every business owner and operator should always have some of these on their person at all times. Your paperwork and stationery should also at least bear your logo on it for easy recognition by your clients. Other ways of displaying your business include your brand being displayed on pens you use and may give away, apparel or name badges displaying your logo that you and your employees may wear at work, pull up banners you may want to display outside your business premises, posters, and so on.
Bringing these online and offline worlds together, you need a plan, and some form of consistency to your brand. Everything should match so that once you are well known, people can only see part of the brand and know what it is. An extreme example, but consider the golden arches of McDonalds. You only need to see the colour to realise what it is.
This is why it is important that you use a professionals to design a logo or website. Digital print, pull up banners that you see everywhere, along with digital marketing in the form of web sites are all ways important to generate a public knowledge of your brand and who you are.