So you have downtime? Is nobody rushing your doors to purchase your goods or services? Use this time to start marketing your business locally, in Alaska (or beyond).
Business owners motivated to achieve success and meet their sales goals know they need new marketing ideas and can’t leave any stone unturned when connecting with new customers or re-engaging with their existing client base. Unfortunately, marketing initiatives often get pushed to the back burner when you’re busy with day-to-day business tasks. But, in reality, marketing never stops. It isn’t something you do once a year or on one specific day and then hopes it produces results.
Companies that market consistently reaps their rewards over time and build a growing customer base loyal to their brand.
If you are marketing “to be marketing,” you are likely missing the mark. Instead, business owners should consider marketing to provide value to their current customers and reach new ones.
Here are 10 marketing ideas and initiatives that every Alaska small business owner should consider implementing this month.
Create a Marketing Plan
Successful marketing is all about consistency and delivering consistent marketing messages to your target audience across every marketing channel you use. For your marketing plan to be successful, it should include strategies for marketing on social media, marketing via email, and marketing through your website.
Plan out your marketing initiatives so you know what you’re doing each month and when. By doing so, you can facilitate better budgeting. Include marketing ideas for the coming months to keep things fresh and innovative. Consulting with a marketing expert to guide your marketing plan is highly recommended if going it alone is beyond your capabilities.
Put Some Personality Into Your Brand
Step back and analyze the marketing materials, such as your business cards or print ads. Do they look cookie cutter? Does every other logo in Alaska have the state’s outline in its design? Your marketing material should reflect who you are as a business owner.
Your marketing material should also be on-trend if you are marketing a trendy business to the millennial generation. So what’s popular right now? And what’s going to remain popular months from now?
If you are marketing to families, consider adding kid-friendly marketing materials. If you are selling to seniors, consider an older-friendly marketing look.
Take an Honest Look at Your Small Business Website Design
A marketing initiative that every business owner should do this month is to take a hard look at their website. If you haven’t looked at or made any updates to your website in years or even months, it’s time for the reset button to push critical updates. Finding a local Anchorage web design company could help make this happen sooner than later.
Your company’s Anchorage website is among the most powerful marketing tools you have at your disposal. Consumers use the Internet more and more each day to research businesses, compare prices, and research marketing messages before purchasing.
You might be shocked to learn that people spent $791.70 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2020. That’s a lot of money! The U.S. Department of Commerce statistics show an increase of 32.4% from the year before. Not surprisingly, eCommerce growth in the United States is high. It has more than doubled from 2019.
If your website is dated or lacks information and functionality that potential customers want, invest some marketing dollars to get your site up to speed and realize a monetary return from your efforts.
Invest In Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
It doesn’t matter if you have the best marketing messages in town in today’s marketing world. If people can’t find your company in search engines when looking for a business like yours, your marketing efforts will be wasted.
Most consumers rely heavily on search engines to learn more about a product or service and find the best deals available. Therefore, your marketing messages should focus on marketing to these searchers because that’s where the money is.
If your website has high visibility in search engine results, you are marketing your business to more people looking for what you have to offer. You can reach a more significant number of potential customers by optimizing your site to increase search results for longtail and local keyword search phrases.
Consider Launching a Mobile App
Considering that more than half of marketing executives report planning to increase their mobile marketing budgets this year, it’s time to look at your marketing strategy for mobile devices. Launching a mobile app is a marketing initiative that every business owner should consider. Why? One word: engagement. More marketing dollars are being spent on mobile marketing than ever before because the return for this marketing investment is clear.
A mobile app allows your company to engage with customers and prospects whenever and wherever they use their smartphone or mobile device. From push notifications to marketing messages that pop up as they’re searching for a business, the marketing possibilities from a mobile marketing app are endless.
Leverage Marketing Channels Beyond Your Website
Every business owner should do a marketing initiative this month to think beyond their website when marketing online. Most consumers begin their research process by searching online to find what they’re seeking. So having a business presence on other websites, such as Yelp or Google, Facebook, and other platforms can prove productive and profitable.
If you are marketing a restaurant, retail store, or service business, marketing on review-based marketing sites such as Google and Yelp can help build consumer trust in your company. Customers are likely to post reviews about their purchases or shopping experiences on these marketing platforms with your business.
This marketing initiative provides another marketing avenue for consumers to see your marketing message, but it also provides you with marketing information that you can use as well. Marketing information such as customer reviews and marketing messages can help shape future marketing initiatives for your business.
Introduce a Rewards or Loyalty Program
While you might think that rewards and loyalty programs are reserved only for large companies, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Marketing a business to local customers requires marketing strategies that are just as effective — if not more so — than what larger companies use.
Marketing experts say that loyalty marketing initiatives can increase profits and better manage marketing costs. Customer loyalty programs have proven to increase customer spending by 10% or more.
Depending on your business model, you can frame your reward program to make marketing sense to your customers. For instance, if you’re a coffee shop, you might offer a free cup of coffee or breakfast sandwich after buying ten qualifying purchases or something along those lines.
Get Involved With Your Community
Nothing beats a grassroots effort to market your business. Getting involved in your community is a marketing initiative that every business owner should consider to build stronger ties to customers this month.
Possible ways to become more involved with the community include:
- Joining the local Alaska Chamber of Commerce.
- Sponsoring a hometown sports team.
- Being active in the Alaska small business community.
- Volunteering at a charity organization.
These marketing initiatives make sense because it shows that you care about your community and the people who live there.
Embrace the Power of Email Marketing
Just when everyone thought that email marketing was dead, it’s alive and well. Marketing experts predict that email marketing will become even more powerful in the marketing world. A recent survey found that email marketing is preferred by consumers when compared to other forms of marketing, including print advertising, social media marketing, and direct mail marketing.
For local companies with a limited marketing budget, it’s cost-effective and easy to measure and track results.
Transform Your Vehicle into a Moving Marketing Machine
You might be surprised to know that marketing experts say marketing with your car is an effective marketing initiative. Applying a custom vinyl vehicle wrap is an excellent cost-effective way to market your company. And vehicle wraps offer more than just the benefit of advertising your business when you’re driving around town.
The durable film helps protect your fleet or personal vehicles from UV sun damage and minor paint damage such as scratches or chips. For business owners with rental fleets, this investment can be a win-win marketing initiative for your business that offers tax benefits, too!
The Projects You Start Today Can Pay Off Tomorrow!
Undoubtedly, building a company from the ground up is quite an undertaking and involves thousands of details. But the excellent news is that marketing initiatives required to make your marketing foundation can also pay future dividends for marketing success.
Marketing is a challenge for every company out there — no matter its size or marketing budget. However, if you’re willing to invest time and effort to market your business, the chances are high that you can achieve success with excellent results.
We hope that these ten local marketing ideas will help to inspire you to make moves and get busy marketing.
Are you in need of Anchorage Web Design, Alaska Web Design, Anchorage Alaska Brand Strategy and Logo Design, Anchorage Alaska Graphic Design, or Anchorage Social Media Management contact Bianca Frank Design today!
