Small Business Marketing: 6 Proven Strategies for More Reach

Small business marketing is a mix of strategies, tactics, and channels to promote your offerings to your target customers. It’s about putting your business in the spotlight, grabbing attention, and turning that into revenue.

This guide will teach you how to market your small business using six best practices.

You’ll learn:

• How to figure out who wants what you’re selling
• How to make your business stand out from the crowd
• How to use nine effective marketing channels

Ready to cut through the noise?

Let’s begin.

1. Define Your Target Audience

It’s essential to zero in on those with a genuine interest or need for what you offer to reach your target audience. Here’s how:

Do Market Research

Market research helps you understand your target customers on a deeper level. Including their needs, challenges, preferences, and behaviors.

Use Answer the Public, a free social listening tool, to identify phrases people use on search engines like Google and Bing. This can help you understand audience preferences and pain points.

For example, if you search for “healthy foods,” you’ll get a list of questions people ask about the topic. Such as, “Are healthy foods more expensive?” Knowing your target audience is concerned about the cost of healthy foods gives you insight into one of their challenges.

Compile a list of phrases to gain deeper insights into your audience. And inform your marketing strategies and product offerings.

Google Analytics also helps with market research. It provides essential audience data on who visits your website. Including demographic information. Like age, gender, and location.

See what devices your audience uses, how they found your site, and which pages they spend the most time on.

Use this information to analyze who your most active online audience is.

This includes your audience’s:

• Interests and buying habits
• Pain points
• Preferred methods of communication

Create Buyer Personas

Organize your findings into buyer personas.

A buyer persona is a detailed profile of an ideal customer that helps you better understand and relate to your target audience.

It includes your customers’ demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals.

Use Semrush’s free Buyer Persona tool to create personas for your target market. The tool has ready-to-use templates with customizable fields, including motivations and frustrations, to help you identify your ideal customer.

For example, we created a buyer persona for a fictional bakery’s ideal customer. And filled out details that would inform our small business marketing strategy. Like breakfast preferences and interest in loyalty programs.

Gather Customer Feedback

Refine your target audience by asking current customers about their needs, challenges, and opinions.

Use tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms to create surveys. Keep them short and focused to encourage responses.

For example, if you own a hair salon, you could ask the following survey questions:

• What do you look for most in a hair salon? For example, expertise, convenience, or price.
• How often do you typically get your hair cut/colored?
• What factors influence your loyalty to a hair salon? Examples: Stylist relationship, pricing, quality, etc.

Lastly, offer an incentive, like a discount or free product, to boost completion rates. Share your survey on social media and email to encourage participation.

2. Establish Your Unique Value Proposition

Differentiators, also known as unique selling propositions (USPs), are the qualities that make your business stand out from the rest.

They give customers a compelling reason to choose you over others in your market.

Here’s how you make sure they’re a core part of your business:

Identify Your Differentiators

Ask yourself what you offer that’s different or better than the competition.

Consider factors like:

• Unique products or services
• Exceptional customer service
• Expertise and experience

For example, Canadian restaurant Gyubee Japanese Grill differentiates itself by offering an all-you-can-eat Japanese barbecue experience.

Unlike typical Japanese spots, Gyubee’s menu doesn’t include sushi. It features a selection of raw proteins customers can grill at the table. Along with ready-to-eat side dishes. And a focus on high-quality, flavorful ingredients.

Like Gyubee, aim for differentiators that are relevant to your customers and defendable—aka not easily copied by competitors.

Develop Your Messaging

Make your differentiators a part of everything you do.

Highlight them in these crucial areas:

• Website and marketing copy
• Social media bios and posts
• Product descriptions and packaging

For example, Gyubee highlights its differentiators across various touchpoints.

Including its website. Which emphasizes the unique all-you-can-eat Japanese barbecue experience.

The restaurant also uses social media to highlight its differentiators. On Instagram, Gyubee posts images of meat being grilled to perfection.

Gyubee also uses video marketing to showcase menu items. Helping to engage its target market. And attract new and existing customers.

Differentiators give customers a clear reason to choose your small business over the competition.

Create a Visual Identity

Your brand’s visual identity should be a unique, memorable reflection of your business.

It includes your:

• Logo
• Color palette
• Typography
• Imagery style

A polished visual brand signals to customers that you’re credible, trustworthy, and attentive to detail.

Take baby clothes shop MiniOlie, for example.

Both its website and Instagram feed showcase a playful aesthetic.

Pastel colors, whimsical fonts, and fun imagery create a strong visual identity. That keeps the brand cohesive across marketing channels.

To create your distinct style:

• Define your brand personality
• Choose colors that align with your brand attributes. Like blue for trust or green for nature.
• Select one to two main typefaces
• Reflect your brand’s values and mood with images
• Document these choices and usage guidelines in a brand style guide

3. Set Clear Marketing Goals

Clear marketing goals direct your efforts. And help you measure success. Let’s break this down.

Define Your Business Objectives

Start by defining your key business objectives for the next six to 12 months.

Business objectives are the overarching, long-term targets you want to achieve. They guide your business’s overall direction.

Examples:

• Become the market leader in the industry
• Double revenue within 12 months
• Improve brand reputation and customer loyalty

Create Specific and Measurable Marketing Goals

Once you’ve set your objectives, brainstorm marketing goals to help achieve them.

Goals provide the context and direction for objectives. Defining your goals also helps align teams and allows for measuring success.

Use SMART goals to make them effective. Here’s what this means:

Suppose your objective is to improve brand reputation and customer loyalty.

Here’s how you’d create SMART goals to achieve these objectives:

• Increase positive online reviews by 25% in six months
• Launch a loyalty program that enrolls 30% of customers within three months

Maximize your return on investment (ROI) by aligning your marketing goals with your business’s current needs. And table any marketing ideas that don’t clearly support your business objectives.

4. Allocate Your Marketing Budget

Strategically allocating your marketing budget helps you maximize your return on investment.

Determine Your Budget

Your marketing budget impacts your ability to achieve your business goals.

But how much should you allocate to marketing tactics?

A common approach is to allocate a percentage of your revenue to marketing—typically between 5% and 10%. Depending on factors like industry, stage of growth, and objectives.

For example, a hair salon with an annual revenue of $150,000 might designate 7% of its revenue ($10,500) for marketing.

But a consulting agency might only dedicate 5% of its budget to marketing.

Why?

Because personal relationships and referrals are more effective for the consulting industry.

It’s also helpful to base your budget on your business goals.

Say you want to grow sales by 15% over the next 12 months. Determine how many new customers or orders you need to hit that target.

Then, estimate how much you can afford to acquire each new customer. While remaining profitable.

Rank Channels by Audience and Impact

Allocate your budget to marketing channels most likely to reach your target audience to get the best ROI.

For example, marketing agency Omniscient Digital knows its target market is on LinkedIn. So, the team developed a strong presence on the platform. And cross-promotes its podcast to LinkedIn followers to attract and retain clients.

The Secret Garden Company, a small B2C business, knows Instagram is a visual platform. This is why it uses the social media site to showcase its landscaping services with eye-catching images of customers’ green lawns and vibrant flowers.

Your audience’s preferences should also guide your channel strategy.

For example:

• If you target Gen Z or millennials, meet them where they spend their time. Nearly 85% of Instagram’s audience is under 45.
• If you sell software to other businesses, invest in assets that establish your expertise. Like white papers and case studies.

Allocate your budget to the channels that will help you meet your business goals. And provide the best ROI.

Tools like HubSpot’s marketing budget template can help you identify your most profitable marketing channels.

Plug in your total budget. And assign amounts to each channel based on your priorities. Track your spending and results over time to calculate each channel’s ROI.

5. Use Different Small Business Marketing Channels

Your customers interact with brands across various touchpoints. Online and offline.

Focusing on just one channel limits your reach.

A multi-channel strategy reinforces your message through repetition. And caters to different preferences and behaviors.

Website or Online Store

A website helps you create a professional, credible online presence. It allows you to share your brand story, showcase your products, and ensure a good user experience (UX).

Create a Great User Experience

Intuitive navigation and clear calls to action (CTAs) guide visitors through your website. And encourage them to take desired actions.

Let’s take a look at candle company Milkjar’s website for inspiration.

For starters, the colorful design communicates the brand’s lively visual identity.

And the header provides quick access to important pages like About, Shop, and Workshops.

This helps visitors quickly find the information they’re looking for.

They also have navigational bars for product categories. Like “Candles” and “Perfume Rollers.” The bars make it easy to browse product categories.

Navigational elements like arrows direct visitors toward relevant products.

Milkjar also makes excellent use of CTAs.

The “Add to Cart” button is evident when you hover over a product.

Lastly, the footer provides quick access to helpful links. Like FAQs, Contact, and Instagram.

All of these elements make it easy for visitors to browse the website. And connect with the brand.

Optimize for Conversions

Optimizing your website for conversions is all about turning visitors into leads or customers.

Here’s how:

Lead Capture Forms

Lead capture forms encourage visitors to provide their contact information in exchange for something of value. Like a discount code, free resource, or newsletter subscription.

This helps you build a list of potential customers. And establish trust with your audience.

Lead capture forms can be standard, with fields to collect names and email addresses. Or interactive. Like a spin-to-win form that gamifies lead capture.

Signup forms that promise exclusive access to new products or sales are also effective.

Persuasive Copy

Clearly communicate the value of your offer on your lead capture form to get visitors to take the action you want.

Use benefit-focused language that speaks to your target audience’s needs. And desires.

For example, jewelry company Axelle Joly highlights the benefits of signing up for their mailing list by offering 10% off to subscribers.

Tools like Constant Contact make it easy to create custom signup forms and landing pages to capture leads.

For instance, the Rochester Lilac Festival uses Constant Contact to create a lead capture form so customers can sign up for multiple email lists.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process of optimizing your website to improve its search engine rankings. And boost your business’s visibility when people search for products or services like yours.

But it isn’t just about attracting visitors.

It’s about bringing the right ones to your site. Those who want exactly what you have to offer.

Let’s explore the different types of SEO. And how you can use them to create an effective small business marketing plan.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual webpages to rank higher in search results. And attract more relevant traffic. Through keyword research, high-quality content, metadata, and more.

Start with keyword research to find out what your target audience uses to find businesses like yours.

SEO tools like Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool help identify keywords that align with your goals.

Enter a keyword to get a list of relevant keywords to add to your web copy or blog posts. Filter this list by search intent—the purpose behind a searcher’s query—and keyword difficulty. Which is how difficult it will be to rank for each term.

This step is vital for small businesses since it helps you get organic traffic, leads, and sales.

For example, California-based family bakery Pastreez used the Keyword Magic Tool to identify buyer-intent keywords to use in site and blog content.

Six months after launch, the bakery ranked number one for terms like “macarons near me,” drawing in valuable local traffic.

To get similar results, follow on-page SEO best practices.

This includes using your primary keyword in title tags. Which are titles that appear in search results.

For example, if we search for “hair salon toronto,” we get this result on Google:

Include keywords in your meta descriptions, too. This is a concise snippet under the title tag in search results.

Here’s what it looks like:

Add keywords to your header tags, too. These are the headings and subheadings that structure your content. Like the headline of each page (H1 tag) and subheads that organize your content (H2 through H6).

Integrate your main keyword and other related keywords into the body content. But ensure your content reads naturally or optimizing it won’t do you any good.

Avoid extra numbers or symbols in URLs—keep them concise and include your primary keyword.

For example: “www.yourbusiness.com/primary-keyword”

Avoid lengthy, complex URLs like: “www.yourbusiness.com/category/subcategory/date/primary-keyword”

As you create content, link to other relevant pages on your site using descriptive anchor text.

Here’s how we used “SEO trends” as the anchor text to link to an article on trends.

Internal linking helps search engines understand your site structure. And can boost page authority.

You’ll also want to implement schema markup to provide search engines with more context about your content.

Schema is code that tells search engines what type of content is on a page. Like a product, review, recipe, or article.

Use free tools like the Schema Markup Generator to create this code.

When implemented correctly, it can help you get rich snippets. These are search results that include extra information. Like star ratings or cooking times.

Optimizing these critical on-page elements helps search engines understand and rank your content better. Driving more qualified traffic to your small business site.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO involves actions taken outside of your website to improve your rankings within search engine results pages (SERPs). It helps search engines understand how others view your website’s relevance. And authority.

The most important off-page SEO factor is earning high-quality backlinks. Backlinks act as votes of confidence that tell search engines your content is valuable and trustworthy.

But quality trumps quantity. Focus on earning links from respected websites in your local community or industry.

One strategy is to create valuable content that showcases your expertise to encourage those in your industry to link to you. Create blog posts tackling common customer questions or guides featuring your unique products or services.

Another way is to partner with other small businesses or organizations and offer to contribute content to their websites. You’ll often get a link in your author bio when you do this.

Semrush’s Semrush – Link Building Tool can help you identify potential partners and track your backlink progress.

Building brand mentions and engaging in social media marketing also affect your off-page SEO.

Why?

Sharing your content on social platforms where your target audience is active increases your visibility. And drives more traffic to your website.

Encourage satisfied customers to share your posts or leave reviews on your social profiles.

Although social shares may not affect your search rankings, they can help you reach more potential customers.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO optimizes your website’s behind-the-scenes elements to help search engines find, crawl, and index your content.

Technical SEO includes:

• Crawlability: Search engines can access and “read” all your important pages
• Indexability: Search engines can add your pages to their database
• Site structure: A clear, logical organization of your pages
• Page speed: Ensuring your pages load quickly
• Mobile-friendliness: Optimizing your site for viewing and functionality on mobile devices

Tools like Semrush’s Site Audit help you identify technical SEO opportunities and alert you to site problems.

Here’s how to set up a project:

Click “+ Create project” and add your URL.

Select how many pages you want the audit to crawl (this depends on your Semrush subscription level).

If you need help, read the site audit configuration guide for more details on the various settings.

Select the “Start Site Audit” button.

Once the audit is complete, you can access the “Audit Dashboard.”

There you can check your Site Health score—this is like a grade for your website’s overall SEO health.

Also, review the issues flagged: errors (the most critical), warnings, and notices.

The beauty of Site Audit is how it compiles all your site’s issues through the “Issues” tab.

Click on each issue to see your affected pages.

Site Audit can help you identify and fix these common technical SEO issues (and more):

• Broken links: Links on your site that lead to non-existent pages
• Duplicate content: Pages with identical or very similar content
• Robots.txt issues: A file that tells search engines which pages they should and shouldn’t “crawl”

To find out how you can fix these issues, click the “Why and how to fix it” button:

This gives you a brief guide on how to fix these technical issues.

Keep your website in optimal shape for search engines by regularly running Site Audit.

Local SEO

Local SEO should be an important part of your small business marketing plan if you’re operating from a physical commercial space.

Why?

When people search for businesses like yours, you want to appear in the top few listings on Google to drive local traffic to your store and website.

Local SEO tactics can help make this happen.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Claiming and updating your Google Business Profile helps you appear in Google’s local search results and Google Maps.

For example, a local mechanic’s listing looks like this on Google:

Claim and optimize your profile with accurate info, photos, and posts to boost your local visibility.

Create a plan to get more Google reviews to make your Google Business Profile even more valuable. And ensure your information is always up to date.

Adding Local Business Schema

Local business schema gives search engines a better idea of your business’s location, contact details, and hours.

Adding schema can improve your local search rankings.

Schema Markup Generator can help you create this code for your local business. The tool automatically generates the code once you input details like name, URL, phone, price range, and address.

Respond to Customer Reviews

Responding to reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook shows potential customers you’re trustworthy.

Plus, reviews can positively impact your local search rankings.

Monitor and respond to reviews from one central hub with Semrush’s Review Management tool.

Review Management also allows you to distribute info to local directories and check your visibility on a local level.

Content Marketing

Content marketing builds trust, establishes expertise, and guides customers through the buyer’s journey. That’s why it can be advantageous to invest in high-quality, relevant content that addresses your target audience’s needs and pain points.

But you’ll need to align your content with your target audience’s needs and SEO goals for it to have an impact.

Tools like Semrush’s Topic Research help you identify your audience’s questions and the topics they care about most.

These insights help you create content in a variety of formats, like:

• Blog posts
• Video marketing
• Infographics
• Case studies
• Ebooks
• Podcasts

Diversifying your content gives you more chances to engage different segments.

But creating all this content can be time-consuming, especially if you’re juggling different tasks.

Generative AI tools, like Grammarly, can help with faster content ideation and creation. Grammarly lets you generate content ideas and write and edit content. Choose from set commands like “Improve it,” “Make it more descriptive,” and “Make it persuasive.”

Or write your own command to fine-tune your content.

Once you’ve created your content, the work isn’t over. Promote it heavily to get it in front of the right people.

Repurpose your infographics into slides, share your blog posts on social media, and use videos in your email newsletters.

The more places your content appears, the more likely it is to be seen, shared, and linked to— boosting your SEO and brand authority.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the practice of using social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to promote your business. And drive more traffic to your website or physical location.

Setting up social media accounts is quick and easy, and you can start connecting with your audience immediately.

But managing multiple social profiles can be time-consuming.

Consider using a social media management tool like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Later.

These tools allow you to:

• Find the best times to post for maximum engagement
• Monitor the top social media accounts in your niche and jump on trending topics early
• Consolidate all your messages, mentions, and tag alerts into one inbox
• Streamline your social calendar by scheduling posts to different platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)

User-generated content is any form of content created and shared by customers.

Encourage your customers to share their experiences to generate UGC for your brand. This free content can boost your credibility. And lead to more sales.

One way to encourage UGC is through hashtag campaigns.

Create a unique, branded hashtag.

Jewelry brand Lazy Daisy Creations does this with their hashtag #lazydaisysquad.

Customers post photos of themselves wearing the jewelry, which the brand can easily find and reshare.

Consider Influencer Marketing

Collaborate with micro-influencers in your niche to take advantage of their audiences. These are influencers with 1,000 to 100,000 followers.

While they may have smaller followings than mega-influencers, their audiences are often highly engaged.

This makes micro-influencer partnerships a cost-effective way to reach potential customers. Authenticity and alignment with your brand messaging are vital to these partnerships.

To streamline your influencer search, consider using Semrush’s Influencer Analytics. This app makes it easy to find micro-influencers or influencers of any size.

Small business owners can search through the app’s database using filters for their specific niche or local area, allowing them to pinpoint the right influencer for a partnership.

This targeted approach saves time and increases the likelihood of finding influencers whose audiences align closely with your target market.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful way to nurture leads, build customer loyalty, and drive sales.

But first, you need an engaged email list.

Offer lead magnets in exchange for an email address. Including ebooks, checklists, and discount codes.

But personalize your offers.

Send targeted messages based on demographics, interests, and purchase history by segmenting your list.

Email marketing platform Mailchimp’s tagging feature lets you organize contacts based on what matters to your business.

Apply these labels to contacts to categorize and segment them based on shared characteristics. Like “newsletter subscriber,” “customer,” or “VIP member.”

Self-service ticketing platforms Ticket Alternative and Freshtix saw higher open and click-through rates by using Mailchimp’s tags.

The brands segmented their audience, labeled them with tags, and tailored messages for each segment based on audience preferences.

Once you’ve built and segmented your list, automation is your best friend. Drip campaigns and email sequences help you deliver timely emails.

Create a welcome series for new subscribers, a post-purchase follow-up sequence, or a re-engagement campaign for inactive customers.

Paid Advertising

PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is a form of online advertising where you pay every time a user clicks one of your ads. Paid ads can be a powerful addition to your small business marketing strategy because they help drive targeted traffic to your website.

Instantly.

Here’s what a typical PPC ad looks like on Google:

But Google is not the only platform that offers PPC advertising. You can also buy ads on social platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.

Your approach to each platform would be different, though.

For example, Instagram is a visual platform. This ad showcases an outfit and has a “Shop Now” button to reduce any friction to purchase.

While LinkedIn is a platform that helps businesses build authority.

That’s why the environmental organization Call2Recycle used the platform to promote a blog post on how they’re combating climate change.

Social platforms know a lot about their users. They provide filters that allow you to target your audience by demographics and interests. Plus, each platform has unique features and its own audience.

Why is this important?

Understanding each platform’s unique characteristics and audience helps you tailor your ads to maximize engagement and ROI.

Vary your paid advertising strategy depending on where your target customers hang out online.

For example, the fashion industry does well with Instagram’s visual features.

Thai apparel brand Yuedpao tested two targeting strategies for their Instagram Ads.

One of these strategies involved targeting previous customers who had purchased Yuedpao apparel after chatting with the brand on Messenger.

This resulted in 60% more conversions than reaching out to a broad audience.

Small businesses can learn from this approach. Set clear campaign goals, budgets, and target audiences. Then, monitor your campaigns against those goals.

Every dollar counts. Use performance data to optimize your targeting, messaging, and creative.

Customer Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs reward customers for their repeat business. And loyal customers may spend more and refer more friends.

Why?

Because rewarding customers for purchases makes them feel appreciated. And more eager to engage with your brand.

Start by offering enticing rewards. Including points, discounts, or exclusive perks for repeat purchases.

Tools like Smile.io and ReferralCandy help you design loyalty programs. And create custom referral links so you know which customers led to which sale.

For example, skincare brand DMD Skin Sciences used ReferralCandy to entice existing customers to refer friends with a “give 10% off, get 10% off” discount.

This mutually beneficial incentive drove existing and new customer purchases for the brand.

Three percent of all their transactions were referral sales. Which amounted to about $18,000 in six months from their loyalty program alone.

Offline Marketing

Offline marketing allows you to connect with customers in a more personal and memorable way.

This includes promoting your business through the following channels:

• Print
• Radio
• Billboards
• Direct mail
• Events
• Business cards
• Flyers
• Networking

One effective strategy?

Setting up a booth at a farmers market, art fair, or community festival to boost brand exposure and sales. Face-to-face interactions also help increase word-of-mouth marketing.

For example, home decor business Pink Haathi participates in local craft festivals to increase awareness and sales.

If you want to participate in local events, consider offering samples, demos, or special event-only deals to attract customers to your booth.

Print flyers or business cards to give prospects an easy way to remember your brand’s name and website.

Public Relations and Media Outreach

Public relations (PR) and media outreach involve managing your business’s reputation and influencing the public’s opinion of your brand.

PR helps you build credibility, raise brand awareness, and reach new audiences.

PR ideas include:

• Speaking at industry events and conferences
• Organizing press conferences and media events
• Creating and distributing press releases
• Collaborating with local magazines for an interview or feature
• Offering expert quotes for online and print publications through services like Connectively and Help Every Reporter Out (HERO). Which connects sources with journalists.

For instance, furniture company Bina Sohail Design Studio collaborated with iOWN Magazine to generate interest in the brand’s pieces.

The feature offers a peek into the founder’s background and what inspires her work.

It also exposes her brand to a new audience.

Investing in PR for your business can be an effective way to build a local following. And generate national publicity for your brand.

6. Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Performance

Set Up Tracking and Analytics

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Analytics tools provide valuable marketing insights that show you what’s working—and what isn’t—with your marketing efforts.

Semrush’s toolkit can help you track the following:

• Organic traffic
• Keyword rankings
• Backlink profile
• Site health

Monitoring this data regularly allows you to spot opportunities and make informed decisions.

Set up tracking and analytics, closely monitor your key performance indicators (KPIs), and use that data to optimize your marketing strategy continually.

In addition to Semrush’s core features, small businesses can further improve their marketing efforts by exploring the Small Business Marketing Tools & Apps collection in Semrush’s App Center.

This curated selection offers specialized tools designed to complement your existing strategy and provide even more targeted solutions.

Monitor KPIs and Marketing Metrics

Measure your performance with KPIs and metrics aligned with your business goals.

Double down on what’s working, pivot away from what’s not, and identify where to focus your efforts for maximum impact.

Track these metrics:

• Website traffic (overall and by source)
• Conversion rates (like leads, sales, and email signups)
• Engagement rates (like clicks, shares, and comments)
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
• Customer lifetime value (CLV)
• Return on investment (ROI) for each marketing channel
• Brand sentiment and share of voice

What’s most important?

Focusing on the KPIs that directly relate to your objectives. And use that data to guide your marketing efforts.

Continuously Refine Your Marketing Strategy

Refine and optimize your small business’s marketing plan over time through A/B testing and experimentation.

A/B testing involves comparing two versions of a marketing asset to see which performs better. Like an email subject line, ad copy, or landing page.

Why is this important?

Because marketing is an iterative process.

What works today might not work tomorrow. And what works for one audience might not work for another.

Tests allow you to improve your results and find the tactics that resonate best with your audience.

For example, charity donation site Every.org tested two donation form CTAs using behavior analytics software from Hotjar.

The company found that one form increased conversions by 29.5%.

Over time, small optimizations like this add up to big improvements in your marketing performance.

Create a Comprehensive Small Business Marketing Plan

Focus on the marketing channels and tactics that align best with your business goals and target audience.

Need a little extra guidance on how to set up a marketing plan? Use our free templates to get started.

Download our Content Strategy Template to define your target audience and determine the best marketing channels for your strategy. And use our SEO Marketing Plan Template for more information on keyword research, optimizing webpages and content, and more.