Small Business Pro Tips: Marketing and Promotions – Part 2

Laura Galvin - NOV 29, 2018
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Costa Rica Marketing for Small Business: Pro Tips – Marketing and Promotions: Marketing is about creative communication and making lasting connections with your audience. How do you let your potential customers know that you provide something they want or need?

Last month we discussed defining your audience and branding your business. In order to start marketing your business successfully, you need to know who to direct your communications toward, and how to best appeal to them. If you missed Part 1: Audience & Brand Identity, Click here.

First, understand that you will need to set aside a marketing budget.

As a general rule of thumb, small businesses should spend between 5 percent and 10 percent of their revenue on marketing.

This can be tough for small business owners; however, if you use that budget wisely, you’ll soon see the investment pay off. You have to spend money to make money!

To begin planning, you’ll need to decide what you want to tell your audience, and consider the best ways to reach them. Where do they frequent or search for information? When will they be interested in your product or service, and why? These answers will help you decide where to spend your time and budget. To create a buzz and develop brand recognition, it’s more valuable to execute a few ideas around the same time.

Across the board, your marketing visuals should be eye-catching but clean, and your messaging should be concise yet meaningful. There is a limited amount of time to capture your audience’s attention, and you need to choose the most important points to communicate and actions to take. (If you need help, download our “Marketing Cheat Sheet” at nomaddesignhouse.com.)

One of the most traditional and reliable forms of advertising is with a print or online publication that shares the same target audience. For example, if you are targeting tourists or expats in Costa Rica, there are local publications (like the Howler!) that have an excellent following and allow you to easily and effectively communicate with their readership.

Having a strong online presence is key, beginning with a professionally designed, search engine optimized website.

Equally important is to create profiles on relevant social platforms or directories like Google, Trip Advisor or Facebook with detailed, up-to-date information that will make it more likely to be found in local searches.

Those are the essentials – now let’s talk about some more creative ways to get your brand noticed.

Creating educational or entertaining content that is relevant to your business is what’s known as content marketing.

This is done with blog posts, YouTube videos, Facebook groups, and Instagram accounts, just to name a few.

Other great ways to create interest in your business are by hosting a free event like a sampling or workshop, sponsoring an event or supporting a local charity. Find a business that shares your audience to collaborate with and co-host, or devise a promotion that benefits you both and adds value for the consumer, like a referral program or member discount.

For best results, all material created to execute your marketing plan should follow your brand guidelines, and ideally, be professionally designed. Ads, flyers, websites, signs and all other marketing material are important, long-lasting  communication tools, so you want to be sure they represent your brand in the best way, and convey your messaging clearly.

56% of customers find print marketing to be the most trustworthy form of marketing.

70-80% of people research a small business online before visiting or purchasing from them.

Content marketing generates 3X as many leads as traditional marketing.

48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business.

Marketing Pro Tips part 1
Marketing Pro Tips part 3

For more business and marketing consultation contact:
Laura Galvin
Nomad Design House
Tamarindo Costa Rica
Costa Rica: (506) 6282-6635
or Email: info@nomaddesignhouse.com

Be sure to tell Laura you found Nomad Design House via HOWLER